Football: Monahans crushes Greenwood to clinch outright district title

MONAHANS With temperatures in the 60s, the “Klingon” proverb that revenge is a dish best served cold wasn’t really applicable.

But in its 42-0 rout Friday night at Estes Memorial Stadium, Monahans (10-0, 5-0 District 3-3A) made last season’s regular-season ending loss to Greenwood seem like a generation ago.

Along with a payback for last seasons 21-14 overtime loss at Greenwood, a perfect regular season and a guaranteed top five finish in the Associated Press final regular season poll, the victory also brought Monahans coach Mickey Owens his 100th career victory. But Owens said only one thing mattered to him.

“The district championship,” Owens said moments after injured quarterback Quincy Titus lifted the championship trophy while wearing a neck brace. “More than the 100th win, more than the 10-0. I wouldn’t care if we were 7-3, the district championship was everything.”

With the loss, Greenwood fell into a three-way tie with Seminole and Andrews for second place in the district. The Rangers lost out at a coin flip in Andrews, as Seminole won the first flip to finish second and Andrews won the next flip to eliminate the Rangers.

In this game, defense was everything. Monahans had 29 first downs to one for Greenwood (6-4, 3-2). The Loboes outgained the Rangers 474 yards to 26.

“We didn’t want to share the district title at all,” said Monahans quarterback Wade Roark, who started for Titus the last three games of the season. “We just wanted to have it for ourselves. We just came out and executed.”

Roark completed 9 of 16 passes for 190 yards and three touchdown passes. On defense, he got one of three interceptions against Greenwood quarterback Kaden Hatley.

Hatley completed 1 of 15 passes on the game for -6 yards.

Meanwhile, the Monahans rushing game compiled 284 yards, which is slightly below its average for the season. Sophomore Byron Scharf led the way with 116 yards on 12 carries. He had four touchdowns in the game, all coming in the first half, when the Loboes took a 35-0 lead to the locker room. He said the key to his improvement has been getting used to the different speed on varsity.

Owens said he didn’t look at the game as revenge for the 2008 loss that sent Monahans to a three-way tie for the district title with Greenwood and Seminole, just “a little redemption.”

Now, Monahans turns its focus to the postseason and a bi-district meeting against a Pecos team the Loboes beat 57-7 earlier this season. The Loboes face the rival Eagles at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Ratliff Stadium.

“You’ve got to play great defense,” Owens said of the playoffs. “Your kicking game has to be big. The good ones change gears. Starting next week, you’ve got to change gears.”

Tight end and linebacker Ricky Robledo, who led Monahans with three catches for 110 yards, including a 60-yard second quarter touchdown, said the team is up to the challenge.

“It’s gonna take a lot of hard practice, hard work, keep up the good defense and good offense,” he said. “I think we’ll be fine.”

Greenwood coach Steve Taylor’s team had a more uncertain fate. Once again the Rangers were in a three-way tie, but this time it was for second place with Seminole and Andrews. He was going to have to attend a coin flip at an undisclosed location later Friday night in order to find out whether his team would get one of three available postseason spots in the district.

But the fifth-year Greenwood coach said one thing was certain — this was a dominant Monahans team.

“This is the best team I’ve played since I’ve been at Greenwood,” he said. “We got to the quarterfinals and played Graham and Vernon. Monahans would beat them by three touchdowns at least.”

Monahans 42, Greenwood 0

Greenwood......................... 0    0    0  0 —  0

Monahans........................ 13  22    7  0 — 42

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter

Monahans: Byron Scharf 2 run (Ty Horton kick), 8:16.

Monahans: Scharf 5 pass from Wade Roark (kick failed), 2:17.

Second Quarter

Monahans: Scharf 7 run (Ricky Robledo pass from Roark), 6:36.

Monahans: Robledo 60 pass from Roark (Horton kick), 3:56.

Monahans: Scharf 3 run (Horton kick), 1:38.

Third Quarter

Monahans: Rex Rose 8 pass from Roark (Horton kick) 1:39.

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TEAM STATISTICS

                                  Greenwood Monahans

First downs................................ 1............. 29

Total yards.............................. 26........... 474

Rushes-yards................... 19-32...... 54-284

Passing................................... -6........... 190

Comp-Att-Int.................... 1-15-3...... 9-16-0

Punts-Avg......................... 7-38.1....... 2-52.5

Fumbles-Lost........................ 2-0............ 4-1

Penalties-Yards..................... 1-5.......... 6-65

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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

Greenwood: Kaden Hatley 7-13, Kyle Young 6-13, Cole Barton 4-13, Jesse Madrid 1-1.

Monahans: Byron Scharf 12-116, Colby Denton 17-94, Micah Ramsey 6-27, Wade Roark 4-8, Ricky Robledo 1-2, Andrew Gaona 7-24, Logan Mitchell 3-19, Mathew Santiago 1-3, Ricky Chandler 2-(-5).

Passing

Greenwood: Kaden Hatley 1-15-3—(-6).

Monahans: Wade Roark 9-16-0—190.

Receiving

Greenwood: Aaron Norris 1-(-6).

Monahans: Ricky Robledo 3-110, Ty Horton 1-24, Byron Scharf 1-19, Martin Marquez 1-19, Colby Denton 1-10, Rex Rose 1-5.