Monticello High Football wins opener 68-35

The Monticello Buckaroo football team opened their season with a 68-35 road win over Utah Military Academy - Camp Williams on August 21.
Putting up 68 on the board meant a complete team effort. With Senior Canyon Christensen shouting out the entire team following the victory.
“We played for each other, no one played for themselves. Everyone played for the team.”
The game opened as good as it could for the Buckaroos with Cash Mack receiving the opening kick at the 15 yard line and taking it 85-yards for a touchdown on the first play of the game.
Reflecting on it after the game Mack said he simply followd the play design.
“The call was to the left and I got the ball and I just kind of slowed down to see what I had and then I just booked it off to the left and got some good blocks and was able to use my speed to get out there.”
John Leber added the point after kick to put the Bucks up 7-0. Monticello’s special teams kept it rolling with Bryson Adiar recovering the following kick to give their offense the ball at the 40-yard line already up by a touchdown in the opening seconds of the game.
Monticello’s offense moved down the field in an eight play drive capped by a nine yard touchdown pass from Cache Young to Brandston Mack. Young threw a two-point conversion pass to Arturo Gutierrez to make the score 15-0 with 8 minutes left in the first quarter.
Monticello’s first defensive series was successful, forcing a three-and-out with the punt giving the Bucks the ball at the 29 yard line. Monticello needed just one play with Miles Coleman running 71 yards for yet another Buckaroo touchdown, with another Leber point after kick Monticello went up 22-0 with 5:45 left in the first quarter.
The following UMA possession saw the Marauders attempt a fourth-down conversion but the Bucks were able to sack the quarterback and get the ball back at the 20 yard line.
The Bucks got down to the 7 yard line but a tipped pass was intercepted and gave UMA the ball at the two yard line.
Monticello’s defense went right to work however, with the defense collapsing in on the UMA offense and Leber sacking the quarterback in the endzone for a two-point safety, making the score 24-0 with 2:30 left in the first quarter.
Monticello started its next drive at the 48-yard line with underclassmen on the field. Under the new UHSAA mercy rules a 35-point lead at any time in the game results in a running clock and a 44 point lead in the fourth quarter results in the end of the game.
The underclassmen kept that some momentum driving the field in six plays capped with Damon Bunker throwing a 17-yard touchdown pass to Jaxon Breedlove giving Monticello a 30-0 lead with 11:52 remaining in the first half.
UMA responded with a touchdown drive to make the score 30-6.
Monticello’s starters came back on the field for the next drive starting at the 32 yard line.
The Buckaroos drove the field in 8 plays with a big chunk coming from a 39 yard pass from Young to Tristan Burtenshaw. The drive was capped by a one yard touchdown run by Gutierrez. Making the score 36-6 with 8 minutes left in the first half.
Monticello’s underclassmen once again saw the field holding UMA on a fourth down attempt near the goal line but the Bucks gave up a safety to make the score 36-8. UMA’s next possession resulted in a touchdown and conversion making the score 36-16 with three minutes left in the first half.
The Buckaroo starters again took the field but had their second turnover of the half with UMA intercepting a pass and driving against the second string defense adding a touchdown to make the score 36-23 with 40 seconds left in the half.
With momentum starting to swing with UMA the Buckaroos got to work in the last minute of the half. The first play of the Buckaroo drive was a quick hit pass from Young to Cash Mack. Mack found the edge and sprinted 80-yards for the touchdown. Both of Mack’s touchdowns in the game were big plays thanks to his speed, which he says is a work in progress.
“It's some hard work. I mean, keeping your mobility good, keeping you strong, so you're not injury prone, and just training that fast twitch muscle fibers.”
Leber added the kick making the score 43- 23 with 25 seconds left in the half.
Monticello’s defense also turned up the heat with Tristan Burtenshaw forcing a fumble and Brandt Mack scooping up the ball returning it 42 yards for a touchdown giving Monticello the 49-23 lead at halftime.
In the second half UMA scored a touchdown in the third quarter. The Buckaroo starters drove 65-yards on their next drive capped by a nine yard touchdown pass from Young to Gutierrez making the score 56-29.
The Monticello defense then forced a turnover on downs. Set up at the 27 yard line on the first play of the drive, Young threw a touchdown pass to Canyon Christensen making the score 62-29.
Christensen said after the game that he and Young had good communication on the play with Christensen angling more towards the corner.
“It was wide open and it was a good throw and we scored.”
The defense again forced a punt and got the ball back at the 14 yard line where Coleman added another rushing touchdown, making the score 68-29 and forcing a running clock with five minutes left in the game. UMA would add a score at the end of the game with the final score favoring Monticello 68-35.
Monticello gained 464 yards of offense with 298 coming through the air and 166 on the ground.
Cache Young completed 15 passes on 21 attempts for 267 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions. Damon Bunker was two-for-two with 31 yards and a touchdown.
Leading the receivers was Cash Mack who had five catches for 148 yards and a touchdown. Arturo Gutierrez had six catches for 28 yards and a touchdown. Jaxon Breedlove had two catches for 31 yards and a touchdown, Brand Mack had two catches for 25 yards and a touchdown, Canyon Christensen had one catch for a 27 yard touchdown and Tristan Burtenshaw also had a catch for 39 yards.
On the ground the Bucks were led by Miles Coleman who had 94 yards on four carries and two touchdowns. Gutierrez had four carries for 13 yards and a touchdown, and Young had 35 yards on five carries.
Defensively the Bucks gave up 458 yards but did score twice. Burtenshaw forced a fumble leading to a Brandt Mack scoop and score and John Leber earned a safety.
Leber also recorded two tackles for loss while Noah Dilts, McKay Nielson and Cash Mack each had one tackles for loss as well.
Bryson Adair led the team with 12 tackles on the game. Freshmen Jacob Camacho and Lucas Morrison had six tackles each and Christensen recorded five.
Playing at the corner position open field tackles are important for Christensen which he said is all about patience.
“You don't want to bite on a run play or a tight end screen, you really have the patience to look for the open field and then once you see it's a run, you bite to it.”
Mack added “He's good at those. He seems to know how to get out there and get off that block and make a clutch tackle.”
Monticello is next in action this Friday August 28 playing at Water Canyon High School at 7:00 pm. If you can’t make the game you can watch it online at StreamUtah.Live.