By Mike McGraw
Executive Director
MONROVIA – Monrovia put together a simple – and very effective – game plan Oct. 3 for taking down undefeated Class 2A power North Putnam. But 2A third-ranked North Putnam made an even better halftime adjustment.
That, in a nutshell, is the story of visiting North Putnam’s 17-0 victory in this West Central Conference tilt.
(GO TO THE VIDEO PLAYER ON THE STATE HOME PAGE FOR VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS!!)
The home-standing Bulldogs’ approach was simple. Defensively, they keyed on North Putnam’s dynamic duo of Griffin Dahlstrom and Shawn Diebold. Offensively, they wanted to run the ball straight at the Cougars, chewing up clock and keeping Dahlstrom and crew on the sidelines.
It worked masterfully early in the contest. After stopping North Putnam on its first possession, the Bulldogs methodically marched down the field. They chewed up yardage – and clock – three, four, and five yards at a time on a drive deep into Cougar territory.
Unfortunately, it ended on a fumble at the North Putnam 14-yard line. (It was as close as Monrovia would come to scoring until the game’s final minute.) Still, the Bulldogs again stopped North Putnam on the ensuing drive and kept the game scoreless through the end of the first period.
The second quarter was one both coaches will undoubtedly use repeatedly as a motivational tool in coming weeks. By virtue of a short Monrovia punt and a nifty return early in the second stanza, the Cougars found themselves starting inside the Monrovia 30.
They quickly capitalized. Diebold finally broke loose, breaking two tackles and scampering 18 yards around the left side for the game’s first score.
Thanks to turnovers and poor punting by Monrovia, the Cougars found themselves inside the Bulldogs’ 25 three more times in the quarter. On each occasion, however, Monrovia’s defense stiffened, and the Cougars did not score again.
North Putnam certainly did not help itself by gaining several ill-timed and silly penalties during the drives. Nonetheless, at halftime the score was still just 7-0, and the Cougars knew they were just one big play away from being ripe for an upset.
Then came the adjustment. The Cougars obviously decided that if Monrovia was going to sew up their main weapons, they would put the offense in the hands – or, more accurately – on the legs of quarterback Scott Hunt.
Hunt ran a variety of sweeps and quarterback draws on North Putnam’s initial drive of the third quarter. The last of those was a 16-yard burst over the right side that made the score 14-0.
Monrovia stuck to its strategy of running the ball mostly inside on the Cougars but could never break a big play. After having success in the first half by simply being more physical than the Cougars, the Bulldogs were stymied in the second half by a resurgent North Putnam defense.
The game’s final score came on a 37-yard field goal midway through the final quarter. Still, the North Putnam coaching staff could not have been very happy with that as the Cougars had 1st and goal at the Monrovia 1 yet were stuffed twice before committing two careless penalties that made them settle for the three points.
The victory moves North Putnam to 7-0 on the season and sets up a showdown for the conference crown next week against 2A No. 13 Speedway (6-1, 5-0) on the Cougars’ home turf. Monrovia, will travel to hard-luck South Putnam (2-5, 1-3) next week, falls to 4-3 overall on the season and 2-3 in WCC play.
That, at least, is the Bulldogs’ record on the field. Monrovia forfeited a 30-7 victory over Greencastle in the first game of the year for inadvertently using an ineligible player late in the game.
(STAY TUNED FOR VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS AND POSTGAME INTERVIEWS!)
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