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Garrett Johnson of Monrovia stops a Speedway drive with this interception in the last minute of the first half. Video by Mike McGraw
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By Mike McGraw
Executive Director

MONROVIA –The philosophy behind Class 2A 12th-ranked Monrovia’s resurgence in football has been simple. It is called “smashmouth.” 

Defensively, the Bulldogs smother their opponent’s running game and force passing situations that most small schools do not like. Offensively, they use a stable of talented running backs in a power rushing attack that eats up clock and wears down defenses. 

Through the first four weeks of the season, the style had worked to perfection as Monrovia entered its Sept. 18 West Central Conference showdown with 2A No. 5 Speedway at 4-0, having outscored its foes by a combined 201-0. Nonetheless, the Bulldogs still had their share of doubters – after all, they had run up those glossy numbers versus a schedule of teams that were a combined 3-13. 

Several questions remained. First, what would happen against quality competition? Second, what would happen when Monrovia faced a team that had a solid passing game? Third, did the Bulldog offense have the ability to generate big plays if needed? Finally, what would happen if they had to play from behind? 

After the 34-15 beatdown that Monrovia (5-0 overall, 4-0 in WCC play) placed on the Sparkplugs Friday, all of those questions have been answered.

Nobody will question that Speedway is quality opposition. The Sparkplugs entered the game at 3-1 overall and 2-0 in league play and have been the perennial bully in the WCC since they joined the league. On this night, however, Speedway never enjoyed more than a one-point lead and was totally outclassed after halftime. 

Trailing 15-14 at intermission, Monrovia dominated play and outscored the visitors, 20-0, in the second half.

Speedway’s talented quarterback Jonny West went 20 for 33 on the night, but it was for a rather harmless 164 yards. He threw two touchdown passes in the first half, but was intercepted a whopping four times on the night by the Bulldog secondary. 

One of those picks came in the end zone in the latter stages of the second quarter. Three of them came from the same source, senior linebacker Garrett Johnson. West was just 2 of 10 with two INTs in the second half and was running for his life on several occasions.

It took very little time for the Bulldogs to answer the question about big-play capability. Monrovia scored on its first possession of the night when senior Austin Parks dashed 59 yards to paydirt. Parks – one of two Monrovia runners who would top the 100-yard mark – would later scamper nearly 50 yards to set up another Bulldog touchdown.

The passing of West and some careless penalties by Monrovia kept this one close in the first half. Aided by a costly face mask penalty, Speedway answered Monrovia’s opening salvo with a five-yard touchdown pass from West to J.T. Bouwman, and the first quarter ended in an 8-8 deadlock. 

After Monrovia went ahead 14-8 on a two-yard plunge by quarterback Tim Connor midway through the second stanza, West again responded by hitting Bouwman with a 16-yard scoring strike to stake Speedway to a 15-14 advantage with just under three minutes to play in the half. 

That set up the key sequence of events in this contest. 

Connor fumbled a snap from center on Monrovia’s next possession, giving Speedway the ball in Bulldog territory. The Sparkplugs drove inside the 5 and appeared poised to take a more commanding lead in the final minute of the half, but Johnson intercepted a fade route in the end zone.

The huge momentum shifter meant the Bulldogs went to the locker room only down a single point.

Monrovia controlled the ball for nearly eight minutes on its opening drive of the second half before the drive stalled inside the Speedway 20. On the next series of plays, however, the Bulldog secondary again picked West and returned the ball deep into Sparkplug territory. 

Monrovia quickly capitalized on a three-yard plunge from Johnson to take command, 20-15. Speedway failed to move the ball, and Monrovia struck again early in the fourth period on a three-yard run by Brent McCleerey to increase the margin to 28-15. 

From there, the rout was on as Monrovia rushed for 308 yards on 48 attempts compared with just 101 yards on 26 carries for the visitors.

The Bulldogs received scoring runs from five different players. The last of those was Jake Hadley, the unsung hero of the evening for the hosts. Parks will get the headlines for gaining 179 yards on his 14 carries, but it was Hadley (19 rushes for 102 yards) who did the tough inside running that broke the back of the Speedway defense repeatedly.

Next up for Monrovia is a Sept. 25 home game against non-conference opponent Brown County (2-3), a 50-0 Week 5 loser to Indian Creek. Speedway will host WCC foe Cascade (1-4, 1-2), a 14-8 winner at Cloverdale.

Speedway 8 7 0 0 – 15
Monrovia 8 6 6 14 – 34

Monrovia – Austin Parks 59 run (Tim Connor run)
Speedway – J.T. Bouwman 5 pass from Jonny West (West pass to Jake Dunn)

Monrovia – Connor 2 run (2-point conversion failed)
Speedway – Bouwman 16 pass from Jonny West (Courtney Walton kick)

Monrovia – Garrett Johnson 3 run (2-point conversion failed)

Monrovia – Brent McCleerey 3 run (Connor run)
Monrovia – Jake Hadley 10 run (Dean Reeves kick failed)

       S M
First Downs 17 15
Rushes-Yards 26-101 48-308
Passing Yards 176 8
Comp-Att-Int    20-32-4 1-2-0
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 1-1
Penalties-Yards 7-33 7-56

Rushing
Speedway: Dunn 12-69, Michael Hubbard 9-49, West 5-[-17]
Monrovia: Parks 14-179, Hadley 19-102, Connor 8-12, Johnson 4-11, McCleerey 2-6, Team 1-[-2]

Passing
Speedway: West 20-32-4 176
Monrovia: Connor 1-1-0 8, Dalton Clements 0-1-0 0

Receiving
Speedway: Wes Shambaugh 5-59, Hubbard 5-53, Tyler Shaw 5-50, Bouwman 3-25, Dunn 2-[-11]
Monrovia: Reeves 1-8