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By Riley Bean
Ferguson, MO – From the opening drive to the final possession, the Monett Cubs dominated McCluer South-Berkeley 42-0 in Ferguson on Saturday.
With the win, the Cubs earn a trip to the state championship game for the first time since 1977.
“It’s incredible,” said star running back Michael Branch. “To be a part of a state championship game, Monett has never been to one in thirty-some years, so it’s incredible just to be a part of that with this amazing football team.”
The previously unbeaten Berkeley Bulldogs committed five turnovers in the ballgame, including a fumble on just the second play from scrimmage. Monett recovered the fumble and marched 40 yards down the field, capped off by a Michael Branch touchdown run.
Branch finished the game with 159 yards on 27 carries, two rushing touchdowns and a six-yard receiving touchdown.
“I’ll tell ya, if you asked me last night, I don’t know if we would have been able to do it,” Coach Derrek Uhl said when asked about the 42-0 drubbing. “We’ve got a loose bunch of guys that when it comes down to the game, they focus up.
“We were able to run the football. That’s what we talked about, we had to run the football. It’s windy, which kind of helped us a little bit, but I thought we played physical. That was the main thing.”
Quarterback Ian Meyer had a career day on both sides of the ball. The senior recovered the first fumble, then capped off a sixteen-play drive with a ten-yard touchdown run of his own in the second quarter to put Monett up 14-0.
Berkeley fumbled the ensuing kickoff, giving Monett a first-and-goal from the five yard line. Meyer scored again, giving him two rushing touchdowns in a matter of seconds.
But he wasn’t done yet. On Berkeley’s very next possession, a tipped pass ended up in Meyer’s arms for an interception. Eight plays later, Branch punched in another Monett touchdown.
“It’s just doing whatever I can for my team,” Meyer said. “They put me on defense, so I’m just playing wherever I need to be and just playing my hardest wherever it is. So I’m just out there playing my heart out. Things just happened to fall to me today. That pick was tipped, and the fumble recovery just kind of hopped into my hands, we had some good blocks on the runs, so it just kind of all went my way today.”
Meyer rushed the ball 13 times for 59 yards and three rushing touchdowns. He was also 2-2 passing for 25 yards and a touchdown, and added the interception and fumble recovery on defense for good measure.
“Ian was all over the place,” said Uhl. “We put a couple run plays in for Ian this week and he did a good job just to mix it up, but he’s a gamer. Ian’s a gamer and he’s physical and he took some shots days. We didn’t throw the ball that much, but he understands we were going to run the football.”
The final sequence of the first half summarized the entire game for both teams.
With Monett leading 27-0, Berkeley desperately needed to put points on the board before the half. The Bulldogs drove 80 yards on their next possession, setting them up with a first-and-goal at the one yard line with less than 30 seconds in the half.
Monett stuffed the run twice, setting up a third-and-goal from the five. With no timeouts remaining, Berkeley attempted one last play before the half. They were stopped short of the goal line despite committing a holding penalty as the half expired. Monett declined the penalty and trotted to the locker room leading 27-0.
They added 15 second-half points to secure their spot in the state championship game.
“It’s weird,” Uhl said. “I think it will sink in once we get back to Monett. But coming out here and really beating them the way we did, I wouldn’t have predicted that. That’s a good football team. That’s an undefeated football team. For our kids to come out the way they did, it kind of shocked me.”
“We’ve got another week, so it’s always nice to have another week,” Meyer said. “It’s just an amazing feeling right now.”
The Cubs (13-1) will take on the Maryville (14-0) in the MSHSAA Class 3 State Championship game at Plaster Stadium at Missouri State University on Saturday, Nov. 26 at 11 a.m.
“We know we’ll be remembered for a long time,” said Meyer. “We’re still making memories and we’ve got a couple more memories to make in that state championship game.”
Monett 42, McCluer South-Berkeley 0
Monett – 7 – 20 – 8 – 7 – 42
Berkeley – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
1st Quarter Scoring
Monett – Branch 14-yard TD run (xp good)
2nd Quarter
Monett – Meyer 10-yard TD run (xp good)
Monett – Meyer 2-yard TD run (xp good)
Monett – Branch 2-yard TD run (xp no good)
3rd Quarter
Monett – Meyer 1-yard TD run (2-pt conv. good)
4th Quarter
Monett – Meyer 6-yard TD pass to Branch (xp good)
