Marietta had no answer for Dalton Cooper (232 yards, 3 touchdowns) and the John Marshall Monarchs last night at Monarch Stadium in Moundsville. Cooper started early for the Monarchs on the second play from scrimmage, he went 75 yards for the John Marshall touchdown Reid Hamrick’s point after was good putting the Monarchs on top early 7-0. Marietta came right back to answer the score with Trenton McVey touchdown on the quarterback keeper, the PAT was good by McMahon tying the score at 7.
It was a defensive battle for the rest of the half. The Monarchs were able to drive deep into Tiger territory, keyed by a Tiler Clemons reception from Kayden Knapp, but a turnover gave the Tigers the ball back. After trading punts the Tigers were able to put a drive together that put them inside the 2 yard line with seconds to go. A big stop by Mason Markonich, Cain Martin, Kain Ankrom, Hayden Fordyce, Xavier Wells (who showed his speed all game on offense, defense, and special teams) and the Monarch defense kept the game tied at 7 going into halftime.
Earyl in the second half a Marietta interception by Coby Alexander set the Tigers up inside the Monarch 10-yard line. Alexander did the rest of the damage and took a handoff in for the Tiger touchdown. McMahon was true on the point after, putting the Tigers ahead 14-7. The Monarchs turned to the run game and Cooper again after regaining possession of the ball. Cooper broke another run to the outside to go in from 67 yards out, Hamrick hit another PAT tying the score at 14-14.
The Monarchs attempted an onside kick following the score it was about a yard short of the necessary 10 yards, giving the Tigers good field position to start their next possession. The Monarch defense was able to come up big again with another stop giving John Marshall the ball back. Quarterback Kayden Knapp led another good Monarch drive inside the Tiger 20 yard line. The drive was assisted by a couple of big completions by Knapp, one by Martin, the other by Landen Snyder, who was all over the field on offense and defense on the night. The drive ended when a Knapp flipped the ball to Cooper on a mishandled snap, who took it in for a touchdown. The score was now 20-14 in favor of the Monarchs.
Marietta was able to drive down the field due to some big plays from McVey, Alexander, and Lucas Miller. The Tigers faced a 4th and 15 pass at around the 25 yard line, when McVey hit Own Riley over the middle for the touchdown pass. The McMahon extra point was good putting Marietta ahead 21-20 with a little over 9 minutes left to play.
On the ensuing drive the Monarchs failed on 4th and 4 attempt on the Monarchs side of the field. Marietta was able to drive deep into Monarch territory trying to put the game away. Again, John Marshall’s defense was able to get another big stop to give their offense the ball back with just under 3 minutes to go in the game.
In what looked like would be the Monarchs’ last possession to win the game, Knapp broke a long run to give the Monarchs good field position. Knapp on the next play threw a pick under duress to give the Tigers the ball back with 2:35 left in the game.
Again JM’s D comes up big again with a 3 and out with around 1:30 to go. The Monarchs took over with 1:30 to go on their 35. JM’s drive began with a Cooper run and backed it up with another Cooper run Knapp then hit Snyder with a pass. Knapp then scrambled for about 12 yard. Martin caught another Knapp pass; Knapp then went to Zeke Young to set the Monarchs up on the 17-yard line with under 10 seconds to go. John Marshall then sent out sophomore Reid Hamrick to attempt the 34-yard field goal. Reid who’s as cool as the other side of the pillow, nailed the field goal with 8 seconds left giving the Monarchs the victory.
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