Tiger Cubs fall to Bulldogs

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Greencastle couldn't overcome a lifeless second quarter Friday in its football season opener and fell to Monrovia, 30-7, in a West Central Conference game on the Tiger Cubs' field.

The Bulldogs (1-0, 1-0 WCC) scored its four touchdowns with a crunching ground attack in the second quarter to take a 30-0 halftime lead. Monrovia had 258 yards rushing in the first half.

The Tiger Cubs (0-1, 0-1 WCC) were held to minus-three yards total offense in the first half, 1-yard passing and -4 rushing.

"They came to play and they ground us up," Greencastle coach Mike Meyer said. "We made some mistakes that made it worse. We don't have any excuses, they just took it to us. I don't know if it was first-game jitters.. That's a good football team."

The Tiger Cubs outscored the Bulldogs 7-0 in the second half.

"We played better," Meyer said. "We still made some mistakes. We played hard in the second half and didn't throw it in. I'm happy about that."

Jordan Hickham ran 6 yards for Greencastle's touchdown with 6:32 to play. The junior runningback ran for 56 yards, all of them in the second half, on 16 carries.

Tiger Cubs' senior quarterback Graham Shuee completed 5-of-18 passes for 21 yards and was intercepted twice. He was sacked twice and was under constant pressure from Monrovia's defense.

Greencastle's inability to move the ball in the first half when it had only one first down kept the Tiger Cubs' defense on the field and Monrovia's Wing-T option eventually took its toll.

The Bulldogs scored on their third possession. Starting from their 20-yard line, Matt Hickey gained 19 yards with tough inside running.

On second -and-five, Monrovia quarterback Dalton Clements faked to Hickey inside and handed off to wingback Austin Parks, who found wide open running room around end and went 61 yards for a touchdown. The Bulldogs' Garrett Johnson ran for the two-point conversion.

Following the ensuing kickoff, Shuee was intercepted on the first play by Parks. Monrovia drove 57 yards on five plays, with Hickey scoring from the 2.

Johnson ran for the conversion and the Tiger Cubs trailed, 16-0.

Monrovia's Dean Reeves lofted a chip-shot kickoff that landed untouched about the 25-yard line and the Bulldogs' Shawn Wilson won the race to the ball, recovering at the 22.

Monrovia punched it in against the weary Tiger Cubs' defense in two plays, with Hickey scoring on a 15-yard frun for a 22-0 lead.

On its next possession, Greencastle had its initial first down--critical at that point of the game to keep its defense off the field--nullified by a penalty. It was forced to punt and Monrovia marched 55 yards on 11 plays to its fourth touchdown of the second quarter, a 2-yard run by Garrett Johnson.

Monrovia had only 45 yards rushing in the second half. All of its 303 total yards were on the ground.

The Tiger Cubs moved the ball better in the second half, but was able to sustain only one scoring drive.

Monrovia went for a first down on fourth-and-1 from its 29 and fumbled. Greencastle's Patrick Richardson recovered at the 27.

Hickham had runs of six, one, eight and four yards to move Greencastle to the 8. Ashton Marshall ran 8 yards for a touchdown, but it was nullified by a penalty.

On third-and-16, Monrovia committed pass interference and the Tiger Cubs had a first-and-goal at the 9. Marshall gained 3 yards and, on third down, Hickham scored form the six.

Greencastle's Jacob Wright had a sack and a fumble recovery. Freshman Ryan Pettit had a sack for the Tiger Cubs.

At Greencastle

Monrovia 0 30 0 0 -- 30

Greencastle 0 0 0 0 -- 7

Second quarter

M--Parks 61 run (Johnson run), 11:51

M--Hickey 2 run (Johnson run), 9:01

M--Hickey 15 run (run failed), 8:09

M--Johnson 2 run (Clements run), :37

Fourth quarter

G--Hickham 6 run (Deer kick), 6:32

Individual statistics

Rushing: M--Hickey 19-103, Parks 5-103, Johnson 18-81, McCleerey 2-18, Clements 6-0; G--Hickham 16-56, Marshall 1-3, Shuee 5-(-15).

Passing: M--Clements 0-2-0, 0; G--Shuee 5-18-2, 21.

Receiving: M--None; G--Marshall 4-11, Nobles 1-10.

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