Monticello season ends with semifinal loss

by David Boyle
News Director
The Monticello Buckaroo football season came to an end in the 8-Player Utah State semifinals on November 7.
The #6 Buckaroos fell to the #2 Milford Tigers 83-24 at Southern Utah University’s Eccles Coliseum in Cedar City.
Monticello played the game without two-year starting quarterback Jackson Keyes who injured his leg in practice the week leading up to the game. Monticello received the opening kick and started their first drive at the 18 yard line.
Monticello’s second play of the drive saw junior quarterback Cache Young throw the ball to tight end Tommy Morrison on a route across the middle of the field.
Morrison broke an arm tackle and sprinted across the field getting Monticello all the way down to the ten yard line for a 72 yard gain.
On the next play Young threw a pass to Cash Mack for a seven-yard gain. Young added a two-yard run before Landon Shumway punched the ball into the end zone from one yard out to give Monticello a 6-0 lead with the two-point conversion failing with 10:16 left in the first quarter.
A good return for Milford set the Tigers up at their own 48 for their first possession and the Tigers’ explosive offense made quick work, scoring in just three plays and adding the extra point kick to make the score 7-6 with 9:50 remaining in the first quarter.
The Buckaroos’ next drive started at the 26 yard line. They gained one first down on a 23-yard run by Young but the drive stalled out with an incomplete pass thrown on fourth-and-ten at midfield.
Milford’s offense once again made quick work, going 52 yards in two plays to make the score 14-6 with 8:03 left in the first quarter.
Monticello’s next drive ended after three plays with an interception by Milford, setting the Tigers up at their own 44 yard line.
Milford once again took only two plays to score their third touchdown of the game, increasing their lead to 22-6 with 5:56 left in the first quarter.
The rest of the half saw much of the same with Milford adding six more takeaways and scoring eight additional touchdowns. The Monticello offense did put together one scoring drive in the second quarter.
Starting from their own 32 the Bucks drove across midfield in seven plays, capping off the drive with a 36-yard pass from Cache Young to Kord Young.
With a running clock in the second half Monticello did add two additional scores. Halfway through the third quarter Shumway broke a big 61-yard run for a touchdown. The Buckaroos added a final score in the fourth quarter on a nine-yard run by Shumway.
Monticello finished the game with 140 yards rushing. Shumway accounted for 111 yards on 13 carries and three touchdowns. Cache Young added 32 yards on four carries.
In the air Cache Young passed for 243 yards with 12 completions on 35 attempts with four interceptions and one touchdown thrown.
Morrison led the team with five catches for 132 yards, Kord Young pulled in two catches for 62 yards and a touchdown, Shumway had three catches for 36 yards, and Cash Mack had two catches for 14 yards.
The Buckaroos ended the season with a record of 5-6 on the year and made the semifinals after a win over #3 Altamont.
The Bucks will say goodbye to seniors Tommy Morrison, Peyton Hatathley, Seth Taylor, Ronnie Gutierrez, William “Bean” Rogers, Zadyn Tibbets, Jackson Keyes, Jaeden Camacho, Logan Bowles, and Landon Shumway.