Clay County shuts out Monterey, 34-0

The Monterey Wildcats ran into a pack of rabid Bulldogs Friday night as they took on the top 10-ranked 1A Clay County Bulldogs in Celina and were shutout, 34-0.

Clay’s stifling run defense shut down the Wildcat run game for the night and their secondary picked off three pass attempts to keep the Cats out of the end zone.

“The effort tonight was tremendously better than last week, from start to finish,” said Monterey High School Coach Scott Hughes. “We go out tonight and get stopped, and then we came up with some crucial stops ourselves. When you look at guys like (freshman) Roman Cook makes a few plays, (sophomore) Pedro Guzman and (junior) Kobe Natvick showed up tonight, and I can continue that list.”

Monterey opened the game with a gamble after taking the opening kickoff. On fourth and five from the Clay 44-yard line, the Wildcats decided to go for it, and quarterback Eli Phillips found Zach Leonard at the 34 to sustain the drive.

A few plays later, an overthrown ball resulted in a Clay pick-six with a 78-yard return to score.

A failed two-point attempt, the first of three such, made in 6-0 with 8:32 left in the first quarter.

Later in the first, a Wildcat defensive line push coupled with a low kick, resulted in the Clay punter hitting one of his linemen and Monterey recovered the loose ball to take over on the Clay 15-yard line.

Monterey took another gamble, looking at a fourth and seven from the 12, but an incomplete pass forced a turnover on downs.

Monterey’s defense stood tall, forcing a Clay punt and Monterey was forced to punt away to end the quarter.

Clay exploded in the second for 28 points, the first on a 63-yard catch and run with 10:45 left in the second. Another failed two-pointer kept it 12-0.

A few minutes later, Clay scored on a 48-yard rush over left tackle with 7:18 left and a fumble on the failed conversion kept it at 18-0.

Another bad Clay kickoff gave Monterey a short field at their 48 and they advanced it down to the Clay 18, before another interception and return ended that drive at the 27 with 3:46 left.

Clay scored on a 24-yard pass with 1:10 left in the half and finally converted a two-point conversion to make it 26-0.

The final score came after another pick by the Bulldog secondary, and Clay would score as the buzzer sounded on a 23-yard reception to the right front corner on the end zone. The two pointer with no time left showing was good to make it 34-0.

Monterey kept Clay County out of the end zone in the second half of action, credit the Monterey defensive players and halftime adjustments by the Wildcat coaching staff for a major improvement on the defensive side of the ball.

“I was proud of senior leadership tonight. Charlie Agustin and that senior class, Brian Winnett, Jack Blaylock, just all of our senior class are fighting,” Hughes said. “It’s just a phenomenal effort those guys are giving every day, it matters to them, and they are good young men.

“Our younger guys, finally tonight, I think it clicked just a bit. We had some guys show up we have been harping on and trying to make better, and they showed some good fight tonight.

It just didn’t go our way, and we must get back in and continue to push. We must stop shooting ourselves in the foot; that’s our kryptonite right now – it’s ourselves.”