By Josh Ouellette
(Monrovia)- The Ellis McCarthy-less Monrovia Wildcats dropped the ball against the San Dimas Saints Friday night, losing at home 31-14.
Monrovia struggled to move the ball in the first half with dropped passes and fumbles being the key reason.
The Saints struck first thanks to Domonic Jollevet capping a drive with a seven-yard touchdown run with 4:16 remaining in the first quarter.
It took Monrovia four more chances with the ball before they got on the scoreboard. With just under three minutes to go in the half Wildcat quarterback Blake Heyworth dropped back and fired finding De’Shawn Ramirez who blew by the San Dimas defense and darted into open field for the score. Mason Bryant attempted the point after but it bounced off the wrong side of the goal post.
The score at the break was 7-6 Saints.
Monrovia received the ball to open the half and found yardage quickly as Ramirez juked and burst his way for a 26-yard carry on the second play from scrimmage. The Wildcats couldn’t move the ball after the long run and were forced to punt.
San Dimas started the drive with 9:50 left in the third quarter at their 14-yard line and began to march down field. Big runs by Jollevet, DeVante Brown, Shawn Kennedy, Andrew Espinoza and a Wildcat penalty set up Saints kicker Dillon Corona for a 28-yard field goal. He nailed the kick through the uprights with 53 seconds left in the quarter, icing an 8:57 long drive to make the score 10-6.
The Saints immediately got the ball back. M-Town set up to punt thanks to another three and out, but the snap sailed over Bryant’s head giving the ball back to SD on the Monrovia 19 yard line.
San Dimas scored on it’s second play on an eight yard run up the gut by Brown. Following the Corona point after the score was 17-6.
The Saints scored again on their next possession. This time thanks to a 21-yard blast to the left and paydirt by Jollevet for his second score of the night to widen the gap to 24-6.
The Wildcats threatened late thanks to Heyworth airing it out and finding his receivers with balls too good to drop. The bulk of the yards came on a 54-yard pass to Ramirez to the SD 11 yard line. The Saints defense looked like they were going to force M-Town to remain scoreless in the second half until on their last chance Heyworth found Luke Williams for a 12-yard touchdown pass. After the Monrovia two-point conversion the score was 24-14 Saints.
San Dimas began yet another long march down the field eating away at the clock and moving the ball methodically down field. The 4:58 drive was capped off by a two yard punch in to give Jollevet 140 yards rushing and his third touchdown of the night to make it 31-14.
Heyworth led M-Town down the field again making key completions to Brandon Wigenbach, only to have a last ditch pass intercepted by James Morris with 20 seconds left ending the contest.
San Dimas (3-1) will host Nogales next week while Monrovia (1-2) is also home to face South Hills.
“Because of my knee, I hurt it last week,” said McCarthy about not being in uniform. “Yeah it’s minor. I irritated a ligament.”
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