Schools
Football: San Dimas Runs Wild Over 'Cats
Wildcats come up short in an early test against CIF-rival San Dimas.
In a battle of Mid-Valley CIF champions of the last two seasons, the San Dimas football team established itself as the early divisional favorite with a 31-14 victory over Monrovia on Friday.
Monrovia quarterback Blake Heyworth led the Wildcats on an impressive scoring drive in the fourth quarter to draw within ten points, but the Saints’ running back tandem of De Vante Brown and Domonic Jollevet proved unstoppable.
“This game is an important measuring stick for us each year, but no more,” said Monrovia coach Ryan Maddox. “In fact, the loser of this game the last two years has gone on to win CIF (Div. XI Mid-Valley).”
The Wildcats were defeated by San Dimas in the Mid-Valley championship game in 2009, but eliminated the Saints in last year’s playoffs en route to their own Mid-Valley championship. The teams commonly meet in a nonleague matchup.
San Dimas gained early momentum on its second possession when quarterback Shawn Kennedy connected with Noah Reep for a 38-yard gain on a fourth down and two situation. Jollevet finished the drive with an eight-yard touchdown run to put the Saints up 7-0.
The Wildcats punted on each of their first four possessions and struggled to establish any sort of running attack against the San Dimas defense.
“Their plan was to crowd the box and force us to throw the ball,” said Maddox.
De ‘Shawn Ramirez and Marquise Bias combined for a net loss in rushing yardage for the Wildcats in the first half, but with two and a half minutes left in the half, Ramirez came through in a big way.
After the Monrovia defense forced an essential turnover on downs at its own 34-yard line, Heyworth threw a pass near the right sideline to Ramirez who made the catch and tiptoed along the sideline before cutting back inside and racing past the Saints’ defensive secondary for a 66-yard touchdown.
“We were struggling to get the offense going so we needed that play,” said Ramirez.
Mason Bryant’s point after attempt sailed wide and Monrovia trailed 7-6 at halftime.
Monrovia punted on its first possession of the third quarter and the rest of the quarter was eaten up by a long, 8-minute drive that eventually led to a 28-yard field goal.
Disaster struck on Monrovia’s ensuing possession. Facing third down with two yards to go, Heyworth found an open receiver, but the pass was dropped, forcing a punt. However, the long snap sailed over kicker Mason Bryant’s head and the Saints took over on downs at Monrovia’s 19-yard line.
It took San Dimas just three plays to run the ball in with Brown. The Saints totaled 323 rushing yards in the game.
“We had some mental mistakes and their were effective moving our line,” said Maddox. “We really missed Ellis (McCarthy) on defense tonight. He can help us stop the run.”
McCarthy is dealing with a knee injury, but is expected back next week.
Trailing 17-6 Monrovia again was forced to punt on its next possession and again had trouble in doing so. Bryant struggled to get the punt off quickly and instead rushed up the middle for a short gain.
San Dimas (3-1) took over on downs near the Monrovia 30-yard line and again pounded the ball in, this time on a 21-yard run by Jollevet.
With the deficit seemingly insurmountable, Heyworth engineered a great scoring drive for the Wildcats in which he connected on another long pass of 65 yards to Ramirez.
Facing fourth down and 11 yards to go on the San Dimas 13-yard line, Heyworth found Luke Williams wide open in the end zone for a touchdown. Heyworth added two points on a pass to Brett Walsh.
“This was Heyworth’s first start as a varsity quarterback and he looked pretty good,” said Maddox. “I’m sure we’ll see some things to improve when we look at film, but he handled himself well.”
The score gave Monrovia momentum, but not an answer for the San Dimas running game. A defensive holding penalty set up a game-clinching two-yard touchdown run by Jollevet.
Monrovia (1-2) will look to get back to its winning ways next week when they host South Hills.
Scoring Summary
San Dimas
Monrovia
1st Quarter
SD: Jollevet 8 run (Corona kick)
2nd Quarter
M: Ramirez 66 pass from Heyworth (kick fail)
3rd Quarter
SD: Corona 28 kick
SD: Brown 9 run (Corona kick)
4th Quarter
SD: Jollevet 21 run (Corona kick
M: Williams 13 pass from Heyworth (Walsh pass from Heyworth)
SD: Jollevet 2 run (Corona kick)
Offensive Statistics
Passing – SD: Kennedy (5-11-82); M: Heyworth (9-22-214, 2 TD, INT). Rushing –
SD: Jollevet (17-114, 3 TD), Brown (20-110, TD); M: Ramirez (5-10). Receiving – SD:
Reep (3-73); M: Ramirez (2-131, TD), Williams (3-38, TD).
