Monticello football team suffers tough loss in Dolores

by David Boyle
News Director
The Monticello Buckaroo football team suffered their first loss of the season 56-7 after a trip to Colorado to play the Dolores Bears on September 5.
The Monticello High School football team started the night as well as it could with Jackson Keyes finding Cache Young for a deep pass and a 50-yard gain on the first play from scrimmage. A penalty and a first down pickup gave the Buckaroos four chances from withinside the five yard line with Young running the ball into the end zone on fourth down to give Monticello a 7-0 lead with John Leber adding the point after kick.
Dolores responded in-kind with their first play from scrimmage being a run up the middle going for 80-yards and the equalizing score.
Monticello’s next possession went three-and-out but an issue with the snap on the punt resulted in Monticello giving up a safety.
The Bears offense once again saw immediate success with the third play of the drive being a 57-yard touchdown run making the score 16-7.
The Buckaroos next drive moved the ball over midfield but a deep ball was intercepted by the Bears to turn the ball over deep in Dolores territory.
The Bucks held Dolores forcing a punt returned to the 20-yard line by Cash Mack. The Buckaroo offense stalled in the red zone resulting in a turnover with Dolores picking up a first down before going for another big 65-yard touchdown pass giving Dolores the 22-7 lead early in the second quarter.
The ensuing kickoff was kicked short and fumbled recovered by Dolores at the Monticello 45-yard line.
The Bears responded with a 6-play drive capped off by a 10-yard touchdown run. The point after kick made the score 29-7 nine minutes left in the half.
The Buckaroo’s next drive stalled with an unsuccessful fourth down conversion attempt. The Bears scored on the next play a 41-yard run making the score 36-7.
Dolores held on to that momentum while Monticello was unable to get their offense going and the Bears added more and more points to earn a 56-7 victory.
The Buckaroos defense was gashed giving up 445 rush yards on 29 attempts and six touchdowns. Through the air Dolores completed five of nine attempts for 248 yards and two touchdowns. Landon Shumway led the defense with nine tackles, while Leber had seven and Young recorded five. Young and Seth Taylor also had tackles for losses for the Bucks in the game.
On offense Keyes completed eight of 27 passes for 178 yards and one interception.
Young had 86 yards through the air on three receptions, Shumway had three catches for 30 yard, Arturo Gutierrez had one grab for 14 yards, and Tommy Morrison had one catch for six yards.
On the ground Shumway had 27 yards on 10 runs, Keyes had 19 yards on four runs, and Young had 11 yards on three runs including the lone touchdown of the game for Monticello.
The Buckaroos will look to bounce back on September 12 against Altamont. The game is the highlight of the Monticello High School Homecoming week. The Longhorns are also 2-1 on the season.
Kickoff is set for 7:00 pm and if you can’t make the game you can catch it on StreamUtah.Live.