Photos and story are courtesy of former Long Beach Press-Telegram Sports Editor, Jim McCormack
Football:
When you’re in the CIF-SS Division 9 football playoffs, it’s probably not a good idea to spot your opponent a 27-point fourth-quarter lead.
That’s where Monrovia found itself Friday night against Troy at Fullerton High School.
The Wildcats did their best to rally, trimming the disadvantage to 13 with 9:41 remaining before the magic wore off and Troy prevailed, 41-28.
Monrovia and its explosive offense entered the contest averaging 37.3 points a game, and what the Wildcats went through in the first 24 minutes of Friday’s match had to be unthinkable.
The Wildcats’ brilliant senior quarterback, Brian Salazar Jr., who had thrown only eight interceptions in nine games, was picked three times in the first half by an upstart Warrior defense that had its best defensive effort of the season.
The result was Troy had a 14-0 lead after one, 28-0 after two.
The first half ended in frustration for Monrovia, which, in the closing minutes, had its first effective drive of the evening.
The Wildcats marched inside the Troy 20, but, out of timeouts, Vincent Pace was tackled before he could get out of bounds with five seconds to play and time ran out before Monrovia coull run another play, although Coach Jose Casagran and his players complained that Pace should have been ruled out of bounds.
Monrovia received the second-half kickoff and promptly drove to its first score.
That was offset by a Troy TD and the teams entered the final period with the Wildcats facing a 27-point deficit.
That changed quickly when the Wildcats’ offense got untracked, first on a 30-yard run by Dante Jones and then less than two minutes later, when Salazar Jr. found Noah Ellison in the end zone on a 32-yard scoring play.
The second score was set up by a perfectly placed high-bounce onside kick, recovered by the Wildcats.
Monrovia went for the onside kick again after the Ellison TD, and got the same high bounce, but this time Troy recovered the ball.
The Warriors, who rushed for 297 yards, then went on a sustained drive before the Monrovia defense came up with three successive defensive stops, after Troy had a first down at the Wildcat two.
Three plays lost 14 yards, but fourth down was a dagger in the heart when Troy’s Declan Kai Healey made a remarkable one-handed grab of a Rudy Alcala pass in the end zone on an 18-yard scoring play that effectively ended the Wildcats’ chances for a comeback victory.
Salazar Jr. passed for 258 yards and two touchdowns, Jones rushed for 82 yards and a score and Ellison had 12 catches for 127 yards and two scores.
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Box Score:
M: 0-0-7-21-(28)
T: 14-14-6-7-(41)
Division 9 Scores:
Rio Hondo Prep 28, St. Margaret’s 26
Orange 19, Diamond Bar 12
Vista Del Lago 24, Marina 7
Sonora 35, Rancho Mirage 34
Santa Monica 33, Santa Ana 27
Troy 41, Monrovia 28
Kaiser 17, Dominguez 14
Los Osos 30, South Pasadena 27
Division 9 Schedule:
Rio Hondo Prep at Orange
Vista Del Lago at Sonora
Santa Monica at Troy
Los Osos at Kaiser
Records: Monrovia (6-4); Troy (7-4)
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