On Friday night Monrovia played their strongest game of the young season against a tough South Hills group. It didn’t look that way though initially as the visiting Huskies took a 13-7 lead midway through the 2nd quarter on a 3 yard touchdown run by Adam Goss. From that point forward however the Wildcat defense shut down South Hills’ offense while the ‘Cat offense got settled in and rattled off 24 straight points.
Monrovia’s offense received a much-needed boost as senior quarterback, Deshawn Potts, returned from a shoulder injury and accounted for 3 touchdowns. Potts found the end-zone twice with his legs on runs of 1 yard in the first quarter and 11 yards in the third quarter. He also connected with senior wideout Crayvon Gillespie for a 21 yard touchdown at the end of the third quarter. In the end Potts accounted for 95 yards on the ground and 100 yards through the air.
Potts presence was noticeable from the get-go, rallying his teammates on the sideline prior to kick-off. Per Monrovia head coach Ryan Maddox “He’s our leader… He had a great game tonight. He threw a number of really pretty balls…Deshawn makes our offense run at a completely different tempo and forces the defense to respect the pass rather than simply keying on the run. ”
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After giving up the 3 yard touchdown run from Goss the Wildcat defense really cranked up the intensity, leading to interceptions by Potts and senior Dariyan Huff on back to back Husky possessions to close out the first half.
The 2nd half was more of the same for the ‘Cat defense as they held South Hills without a first down through the 3rd quarter and halfway through the 4th quarter. Per Maddox, “we told our kids at half-time we just need to finish…In the end we played a complete game tonight. The offense got on track. The defense played a great game and special teams were solid.”
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Kurt Scoby also continued his strong season with 135 yards rushing on 20 carries, including a 1 yard touchdown run early in the 4th quarter.
The Wildcats play host to the Saint Francis Golden Knights next week in what figures to be their toughest test to date. Saint Francis comes in with a record of 4-0 including impressive victories over La Mirada and Damien in their last 2 games. Per Maddox though, the focus is on the ‘Cats “We just have to continue to get better. We’re not where we want to be yet but we’re heading in the right direction.”
