Kearny Komets 27, Monte Vista Monarchs 28
The Kearny High School Komets came out swinging early, but the Monte Vista Monarchs fought their way back to defend their home field.
Kearny snuck in the onside kick on the game’s opening kick, and they recovered the football. That led to a 48 yard touchdown run by Takoda Browne, PAT failed. On the following kick, the Komets onside kicked again, recovered it again, and scored again; 13-7 Komets early. Monarch’s Tre Owens scored his first touchdown of the night in the second quarter to bring the score to 13-7 Komets. Takoda brown would answer by taking a scene pass 31 yards for a touchdown. The score was 20-7 Komets at the break.
The Monarchs scored early in the second half with a 65 yard pass from Dennis Dahlin to Owens. That made it a one-touchdown game; 20-13 Komets. The fourth quarter is when the true slug-fest began. Owens began the quarter with a touchdown catch on a slant route, on 4th and 3. Following the good PAT kick, the game was tied, 20-20. Kearny would answer back on the very next drive though, with a 45-yard touchdown pass from Lerone Randle to Takoda Browne; 27-20 Komets. But the Monarchs weren’t done, Owens would make an amazing 29-yard catch to move them into scoring territory. A few plays later they made their way into the redzone, and Owens finished it off with a 19-yard touchdown run – his fourth touchdown of the night. Following that touchdown, the Monarchs were down 27-26. Instead of kicking the PAT for the tie, they elected to go for the 2 point conversion. They were successful with a handoff to Elijah Bell, putting them up for the first time in the game, 28-27. The excitement didn’t end there, Kearny would march down the field with time expiring. With 28 second left, they were on the 6 yard line, but the Frank Gallaway rush came up 2 yards shy of the goal line. Having no timeouts left, Randle spiked the ball. On maybe the biggest play of the game, 3rd and goal on the 2 yard line, Gallaway was stopped again at the goal line. The Komets had one last chance, 4th and 2 with seven seconds left in the game, they elected to go for the field goal to win. The ball snapped, holder got it down, kick was off… blocked by the Monarchs. Monarchs hold on to win, 28-27, late in the game.
As I predicted, it was an extremely tight one and the home field advantage gave the Monarchs the very slight advantage – just enough to sneak by. The Monarchs move to 2-4 on the season, as the Komets drop to 1-5.
Preview: The Kearny High School Komets football team will travel over to Monte Vista High School to face off against the Monte Vista Monarchs in the battle of the 1-4’s, Friday night at 7:00 p.m.
These two teams are pretty evenly matched. Though, I’m going to have to give the slight edge to Monte Vista in this one. Reasoning behind that is due to one main factor… home field advantage. Yes, Monte Vista has put up some cringe worthy matchups in their 1-4 start – losing 40-0, 48-7 and 47-0 in weeks 2-4. Awful, but if you look closely, those were all decently tough matchups and they were all away games. That plays a big factor. In Monte Vista’s two home games this season, the script was written much differently. Hoover High School has a 2-2 record, but they are very heavily under-manned and as the season goes on that only gets worse due to fatigue injuries and unfortunately player grades and conduct issues. But they boast one of the most talented players in the county, Demontauz Gray. And at the beginning of the season, they have what they consider to be a full squad. So Monte Vista’s 37-26 loss in the first game of the season should be considered a good fight. The Monarchs most recent game was their second home game and it resulted in the team’s first win of the season, 21-14 over Crawford. This week marks the third home game for Monte Vista, and it seems they play much more comfortably with home field advantage. Add in the fact that Kearny loss to Crawford at home, 35-28 in week three.
Monte Vista has a slight edge due to the home field advantage, but it should be emphasized that that is a very slight edge, as Kearny can score. They aren’t amazing, but they don’t get shut out like Monte Vista has. Their lowest scoring effort was a 2 touchdown game and they boast a 55-10 win at the beginning of the season. They’ll score, that’s not the key to this game. The key is, can Monte Vista score and can they contain RB Frank Gallaway and all-purpose back Takoda Browne. Gallaway is averaging roughly 100 rushing yards a game, and Browne is a very diverse player. Second on the team in rushing, receiving, and passing – first on the team in kick returns, punt returns, interceptions and interception returns. If Monte vista can limit Browne, they have a good chance to sneak by in this one. Consider the fact that Demontauz Gray put up roughly 200 all-purpose yards, and all five touchdowns against the Monarchs in that week one matchup.
Expect this one to be an all out slug-fest, with Monte Vista winning by one touchdown, if their defense shows up to play.
Be sure to tune in to KUSI News at 10:30 p.m. Friday night for highlights of this game and all others, on The Prep Pigskin Report.
