West Liberty ends Panthers' season, 6-0

     The irony of Iowa’s high school football playoffs is that at the end of any game in the first three rounds, the losing team – not the winning team is awarded a trophy for its participation.

     That dubious honor fell to the Monticello Panthers Friday, Nov. 1 at West Liberty, as the Comets scored the game’s only touchdown early in the third quarter and held on for a 6-0 victory, ending Monticello’s season.

     On a cool night with off-and-on drizzle, West Liberty fought off three red zone chances for Monticello, holding the often-explosive Panther offense to 171 total yards.              

     “The weather might have affected us some, but we still had plenty of opportunities. We just needed to execute better on offense,” Monticello coach Wes Wilson said.

     Still, the Panthers finished 6-4, and earned a playoff spot for the first time since 2014, when 32 teams qualified in each class. In 16-team playoff formats, Monticello had not reached the postseason since 1991.

     “This is a great group of guys,” Wilson said. “They did something this year that most thought they wouldn’t be able to do. Making the playoffs for the first time in 28 years with a 16-team field was a great accomplishment.”

     Against West Liberty, the Panthers had three big chances. After the two teams stayed mostly near midfield in a scoreless first quarter, two of those chances came late in the first half.

     Justin Recker recovered a fumble on a West Liberty punt return, giving Monticello the ball at the Comets’ 46-yard line. Three short gains, and two penalties on West Liberty – one a personal foul and one an offside call – moved the ball to the 19, but the Panthers were stopped there on downs.

     Another West Liberty turnover, an interception by the Panthers’ Justin Recker, gave Monticello the ball at the Comets’ 17 with 2:12 left in the half. But a two-yard loss and three incomplete passes ended that threat, and West Liberty was able to escape the half with the scoreless tie still intact.

     Wilson said that in each case, the soggy field conditions were not good for a field goal try.

     “We were struggling in warmups kicking in the mud and the field wasn't getting any better,” Wilson said. “We felt we had a better opportunity to score a touchdown.”

     Monticello’s defense held West Liberty to just 28 yards offensively in the first half, all on the ground.

     “Our defense played extremely well,” Wilson said. “Coach (Jon) Kyte and the rest of the defensive staff really had a great game plan, and the kids executed it all night. We knew they wanted to run the ball. Esmoil is a big part of what they do, and we wanted to contain him.”

     The only scoring drive of the game was the first one of the second half. West Liberty took the ball at its 30 and drove 70 yards in 12 plays, consuming almost half of the third quarter. Eight of those were runs by the Comets’ Will Esmoil, including a touchdown run of one yard.

     A bobbled snap prevented the Comets from kicking the extra point, so their lead remained 6-0 with 6:40 left in the third quarter.

     The Panthers had two more chances in West Liberty territory. They drove from their 38 late in the third quarter to the Comets’ 10 early in the fourth. An 18-yard pass from Jeff Carlson to Devin Kraus brought the ball to the 20. Three plays later, on a fourth-and-10, pass interference was called against West Liberty, moving the ball to the 10, first-and-goal.

     But again the Comets came up big defensively. Bo Kramer gained two yards to the 8, and a fumble, recovered by Monticello, moved it back to the 10. Two incomplete passes ended the drive.

     Monticello almost got a big break when a high snap nearly went over the head of Esmoil, the punter, at about the 15-yard line. He was able to reach up and bat the ball down to himself, and barely got the kick away.

     The Panthers did take over at their 49 with 5:30 to play, and two plays later got a first down on a 14-yard pass from Carlson to Kain Luensman, bringing the ball to the 32.

     Two short runs and two incomplete passes later, however, Monticello was stopped on downs, and West Liberty took over at its 28 with 3:26 to play.

     “We really stopped ourselves offensively,” Wilson said. “Penalties, dropped balls and botched snaps all put us in second-and-long or third-and-long situations. It was very tough to convert in those situations against a good team, especially in the postseason.”

     The Comets then picked up two key first downs, both on runs by Esmoil, enabling them to run out the clock.

     Whereas Esmoil had just 21 rushing yards in the first half, he had 115 in the second half to finish with 136 yards on 30 carries.

     The Panthers did force three turnovers, the aforementioned interception by Recker, another interception by Riley Manternach that was returned 17 yards, and a fumble recovery by Kramer.

     Wilson praised his team, particularly the departing seniors.

     “It’s amazing to sit back and reflect on how far this group of seniors has come over the last four years,” the coach said. “They had limited success early in their careers and they just kept working hard. They did everything asked of them for the past four years. They are a great group of guys and they deserve the success they got this year.”

     The coach also expressed optimism for the team’s future.

     “We are excited for where the program is headed,” he said. “We are going to celebrate what this group has done this year, and then we will get back to work in the next few weeks.”

Nov. 1

Class 2A State Playoffs

First Round

(at West Liberty)

Monti        0   0   0   0 – 0

W. Lib.      0   0   6   0 – 6

SCORING SUMMARY

FIRST QUARTER

     No scoring.

SECOND QUARTER

     No scoring.

THIRD QUARTER

     WL – Esmoil 1 run (run failed), 6:40 remaining.

FOURTH QUARTER                                                      

     No scoring.

TEAM STATISTICS

                                 Monti            WL

First downs             11                  8

Rushing yards        85               149

Passing yards         86                14

Comp.-att. Int.  13-28-1         1-6-2

Total yards             171              163

Penalties-yards    6-45             5-40

Fumbles lost            0                   1

MONTICELLO STATISTICS

     Rushing – Jordan 17-54, Kramer 8-32, C. Weber 1-2, Carlson 4 (-3).

     Passing – Carlson 13-28-86-0-1.

     Receiving – K. Luensman 4-31, Kraus 1-19, T. Luensman 4-18, Lambert 3-16, Jordan 1-2.

     Interception – Manternach, Recker.

     Fumble recovery – Kramer.

     Tackles – K. Luensman 6.5, Kramer 6, Cleeton 5, Lambert 4.5, C. Weber 4.5, Manternach 4, Folken 3.5, L. Weber 3, Reuter 2.5, T. Luensman 2, Recker 2, Martensen 1.

     Tackles-for-loss – Kramer 1, Cleeton 1, Lambert 0.5, K. Luensman 0.5, L. Weber 0.5, C. Weber 0.5.

     Punting – Recker 4-134; (longest 42).