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Monett coach Derek Uhl may have a hard time turning away play ideas from his own players in the future.
The Cubs went with a player-popular pass call drawn from a college football rivalry to clinch their third state championship in program history and first since 1977, defeating Maryville 27-18 Saturday afternoon at Plaster Stadium in Springfield.
“I’m still processing everything. I’m still shocked that we won a state championship. It’s always been a dream, I’m guessing for all of us here,” said Cubs senior quarterback Ian Meyer. “To achieve it, it’s an awesome feeling.”
The pivotal touchdown pass came on 4th and 7 from the Maryville 10 with 2:57 remaining and the Cubs clinging to a 20-18 lead.
Monett’s “Iron Bowl” play saw Meyer take a shotgun snap and rollout to his right, before lobbing a pass across his body back to the left side and a wide open Alex Turner, who began the play by faking pass protection.
“The kids come up to me all the time with trick plays,” Uhl said. “Sometimes we use them, sometimes we don’t. That play was actually called, ‘Iron Bowl.’ It turned out to be an iron fist, actually. It ended up winning the game for us.”
After Monett missed the extra point kick on its previous touchdown, Uhl and the Cubs opted against a field goal in favor of an all-or-nothing 4th down play.
Uhl said it’s a game, after all, so why not take the high-risk, high-reward scenario? It was one of several gambles Monett tried against the Spoofhounds. The Cubs were successful on three of four fourth-down conversion attempts and also benefited from a plus-three advantage in the turnover department.
“Here’s the thing, these kids are so confident. They came to me and actually said, ‘Let’s run Iron Bowl.’ And I was like, ‘Let’s do it.’ We’re here to win a game,” Uhl said. “Coming in to today, I told them this: ‘We’re either going to lose by 50 or we’re going to win this.’ That’s the mindset I had going into it.
“We didn’t have any pressure on our end. I thought our kids were loose and we’ve been that way all year. If I continue to coach, that’s the way my teams are going to be. It’s a game and that’s how we’re playing it.”
The touchdown and extra point made it a two-possession game, and the Cubs intercepted a Maryville pass on the Spoofhounds’ ensuing drive before going into victory formation.
The fourth quarter swung dramatically in Monett’s favor, despite Maryville taking an 18-14 lead as Eli Dowis scored on a 5-yard touchdown run on the second play of the period.
The Spoofhounds were forced to attempt a punt on their next drive, but on 4th and 8 from their own 35, the snap went over the head of punter Jacob Reuter.
Monett senior Onis Howard was the first to meet Reuter about 30 yards into the backfield, delivering a big hit at the Maryville 1 to give Monett possession.
“It was pretty great,” Howard said of the hit. “I was surprised that (the snap) went over his head. When it went over, I was full blast and I wasn’t slowing down. I knew I was going to run that (punter) over.”
Monett overcame an illegal formation penalty to find the endzone three plays later, as Ian Meyer scored on a 1-yard sneak on 3rd and goal to give the Cubs an 20-18 lead with 7:15 remaining.
“It was huge – the fact that (Howard) reacted to it,” Uhl said. “Sometimes, the snap goes over the punter’s head and kids don’t think that’s going to happen. But (Onis), it was like blood in the water. He saw the ball down there and made a heck of a play. He’s a heck of a kid. He does a lot for us and he’s an example of another guy just stepping up.”
Monett’s defense came up with the third of four forced turnovers on Maryville’s next drive, as Monett defensive back Jedd Anderson intercepted a pass at the Spoofhounds 39.
Maryville quarterback Trey Oglesby entered the game with only five interceptions on the season, but Monett’s defense picked him off three times and also recovered a fumble by running back Elijah Green.
“We pride ourselves on forcing turnovers and taking care of the ball. The turnover margin is the biggest statistic that defines wins and losses,” said Spoofhounds coach Matt Webb. “Today, we were behind that mark.”
Monett was also aided by a Maryville turnover in the third quarter, after trailing 12-7 at halftime. The Cubs’ pass rush got to Oglesby and he flung a pass in the air that was intercepted by Mason Swearingen at the Monett 45.
Monett’s ensuing drive appeared to have stalled on 4th and 8 at the Maryville 23. But after calling back-to-back timeouts, Monett got a crucial first-down conversion as Meyer scrambled for an 18-yard gain.
Cubs running back Michael Branch plowed into the endzone on the next play from five yards out, giving Monett a 14-12 lead.
“When we called those two timeouts back-to-back, that looks bad on me as a coach, but we couldn’t run the play so we had to burn another timeout,” Uhl said. “The thing about that play was, it was designed to go to Alex (Turner) and kind of in the huddle, I was like, ‘If Alex isn’t open, (Ian) you run for it.’
“That’s one thing Ian does – he can scramble. I don’t know how much film Maryville had on us, but that’s something Ian’s done all year. Maybe not necessarily the last three games, but in tight ball games, he’s beat people with his legs. When receivers are covered, Ian’s able to run the ball.”
Monett and Maryville traded lengthy drives to start the game.
Maryville drove 75 yards in 19 plays but turned the ball over on downs at the Cubs’ 5 yard-line.
Monett responded with a 14-play, 95-yard drive that consumed 6:22 off the clock, culminating in a 2-yard QB sneak by Meyer to take a 7-0 lead.
The Spoofhounds answered back on their next drive, going 80 yards in 10 plays and finding the endzone when Oglesby hit Spencer Morrison for a 9-yard touchdown pass on 3rd and goal.
Maryville’s rushing attacked gashed Monett early. The Spoofhounds ran for 166 yards on 32 carries in the first half, but only tallied 64 rushing yards after halftime.
“We just had to stop their run,” Turner said. “They kept running it up the middle on us, running some traps. But we stopped that and then covered them deep; they couldn’t pass on us.”
Monett was less than two minutes away from taking a 7-6 lead into halftime, but the Cubs’ failed to convert on a fake punt attempt from their own 37. Two plays later, Oglesby burned Monett with a 40-yard touchdown pass to John Zimmerman with 1:15 that put the Spoofhounds ahead 12-7 at intermission.
The final outcome gave Maryville (14-1 overall) its first loss of the season and denied the Spoofhounds their third state championship in five years.
“We’ve been able to win two state titles since I’ve been here and our mindset going into these types of games has been, ‘You don’t feel your way into it, you attack. You leave it all on the field,’” Webb said. “I think Monett did the same thing. As far as being surprised on the 4th down calls, I don’t think we were surprised. I was glad we covered the fake punt. We left some opportunities on the field that I thought we could have converted.”
Like Lamar in Friday’s Class 2 title game, Monett had a sizable advantage in fan support. Several thousands of purple-clad fans were boisterous throughout the game.
“They did a great job of keeping our kids going,” Uhl said. “We heard them throughout. It was loud on our sideline. We couldn’t yell, we had to write stuff on a marker board.”
Added Turner: “Best atmosphere I’ve ever played in. It was loud the whole time and everyone was pumped up and helped us stay pumped up when we were down.”
Monett 27, Maryville 18
Maryville 0 12 0 6 — 18
Monett 7 0 7 13 — 27
First quarter
Monett – Meyer 2 run (Cody kick)
Second quarter
Maryville – Morrison 9 pass from Oglesby (kick failed)
Maryville – Zimmerman 40 pass from Oglesby (pass failed)
Third quarter
Monett – Branch 5 run (Cody kick)
Fourth quarter
Maryville – Dowis 5 run (pass failed)
Monett – Meyer 1 run (kick failed)
Monett – Turner 10 pass from Meyer (Cody kick)
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