The Monrovia Wildcats avenged last year’s disappointing 16-15 loss to Ayala in Friday night’s season opener, downing the visiting Bulldogs by a final score of 21-13. While much of the focus coming into the game was the highly anticipated debut of running back Kurt Scoby, it was the defense that ultimately won the day for the ‘Cats.
After moving the ball fairly well throughout the 2nd half but failing to get in the end-zone, Ayala took possession at their own 43 yard line with 3:00 remaining, trailing 21-13. At that point the Monrovia defense took control, recording sacks on 1st & 2nd down before intercepting quarterback, Bryan Meyette, on 3rd down to seal the game. According to Wildcat head coach Ryan Maddox, “Our defense played great all game...On the final possession our defensive line got off, got the pressure and came up with 2 HUGE sacks.”
As Maddox noted at the beginning of fall camp, linebacker is a position at which Monrovia has question marks as they look to fill the shoes of departed stars, George Frazier and Brett Walsh. On Friday night the play of the position group pleased the coach, “they’re young but as a core group they contributed and ultimately the defense won the game for us tonight.”
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Senior linebacker Jacob Ramos had a strong game in particular, making tackles throughout the game, including stuffing the Bulldog running game including consecutive tackles for losses midway through the 2nd quarter. See attached video for Ramos' thoughts on the game.
Junior defensive back, James Jackson, also made several big plays on defense, including a critical pass breakup in the end zone on 4th down midway through the 3rd quarter which would have brought Ayala within 4 points at 21-17. Jackson gave up 5-6” in height to Ayala tight end, Austin Hopkins, but battled on the play to the end, ultimately dislodging the ball prior to Hopkins reaching the ground.
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Maddox approved of Jackson’s performance, “he is extremely competitive and feisty. He has great feet, great instincts…He’s a great ball-player.”
The Wildcat offense did all of its scoring in the first half with new starting quarterback, Deshawn Potts throwing 2 touchdown passes and the aforementioned Scoby, finding the end zone on the ground once from 2 yards out. Per Maddox, “(Potts) did an excellent job in the 1st half. Ultimately I think he got a little fatigued in the 2nd half. No matter how much conditioning one goes through during the summer it is difficult to play 4 quarters of football playing both ways. It’s only week 1 though. Again though, he made some excellent reads and some excellent throws for his first start.”
The Wildcats travel down Huntington Drive next Friday and kick off at Arcadia High against the Apaches at 7:00pm.
Special thanks to James Anderson of www.andersonsmemories.com for photos. Anyone interested in football photos from Pop Warner up through high school should contact James. Monrovia family & friends can get all of their favorite player's photos throughout the 2013 season for just $20.
