Despite having injury problems, Montgomery had a fantastic 1st Quarter, taking a 20-0 lead on Colton Whitstine’s two picks, one of which was returned for a pick six. The Monty secondary had 4 interceptions and it was thanks to a great defensive line lead by Waisea Bainibure, Donovan Patterson, Samuel Valenti and Owen Faustino. They brought consistent pressure and had a few sacks and TFLs. They stopped the Ukiah run game well and the whole defense held Ukiah to 4 first downs. The biggest sack came on a long Ukiah 4th Down where Faustino came rocketing off the edge much like Alabama's Will Anderson to sack Ukiah QB Johnny Silveira and force a turnover. Israel Ochoa and Nathan Garloff also pressured the QB and RB and made a few good tackles to stop the Ukiah run game. Montgomery's offense did well, especially after QB Lucas Foye went down in the 2nd quarter. Foye had thrown 4 completions for 56 yards with a 29 yard TD pass in the first quarter to star WR Keegan Peterson. Sam Valenti led the run game for Monty in the first half with 13 carries for 47 yards and a TD which he scored in the first quarter after Colton Whitestine returned his first pick to the Ukiah 4 yard line. Valenti went down with an ankle injury in the 3rd and didn't play much in the 2nd half. This departure of 2 top starters lead to Monty putting in junior Bobby McGovern at QB and senior Alex Alverez at RB. McGovern had 7 completions for 78 yards and a pick. He had great connections with Peterson, senior Joey Bowser and Faustino. Bowser was back, playing his first football game in a year because he was injured last year. He had 2 catches for 43 yards. Peterson had 6 catches for 80 yards and a TD. Peterson also had 4 carries for 19 yards. Alverez was great in the game, rushing the ball 18 times for 99 yards and a TD which he had in the 4th quarter. Sophomore Quinten Perez also was good on the gorund for the Vikings with 4 carries for 21 yards. Monty's defense did well and shut out Ukiah, leading to a 27-0 Monty victory.
Monty got to work on a lot of things that they showed to be tough spots for them in the scrimmage. They couldn't get their run game going because Newman had a good defensive line and while Monty's O-Line was good, they had problems getting open holes for their RBs. Monty can go many ways on their offense, from very slow but effective to very fast and straight into the endzone.
Ukiah had incredible special teams returns and a decent run game, but couldn't get their pass game going. Ky Parrish, Emery Mathis and Hunter Schnitzius led the run and return game for Ukiah. On returns, they couldn't be caught and returned kicks past the 50 yard line. Schnitzius had 26 yards rushing, Parrish had 3 returns for 85 yards and Emery Mathis had 1 return for 33 yards. Parrish, Schnitzius, Jared Williams, Marcus Fenk, and Dante Brown led the secondary for Ukiah, making great tackles that stopped Monty from getting massive gains. Robby Henderson and Julian Maldonado were crucial players for Ukiah on the defensive line and stepped up, making big plays that turned into TFLs, fumbles or sacks that pushed Monty back. Ukiah couldn't move the ball though and that's what stopped them from scoring. They also couldn't get their pass game going which held them back. Silveira went 1 for 14 in the game and Monty's secondary was great.
Ukiah faces Northgate at home next week and Monty faces Bethel in Vallejo next week. Colton Whitestine won YSN365 Community First Credit Union Player of the Game with 7 tackles, 2 interceptions and a TD. Whitestine had this to say about his picks:
"It's all about the team really. The team played really good and they gave me the opportunities to do that stuff and look they did the same thing. 7 turnovers in the game, it was a team effort."
He had this to say about the preparation before the game with the Monty defensive coordinator Jamon Heard:
"Jamon is the best. He sets us up for everything. He has us watch film all the time. He knows everything, he has everything in his head, helps us at practice, pushes us to the limit everyday and that's how we get our work done. He's a great coach."
Waisea Bainibure lead the Monty defensive line and in a postgame interview with me, he said this about the defensive line's performance:
"It's wonderful how we did our own thing, how we did our own individual jobs. That made individual success"
Alex Alverez stepped up after Sam Valenti went out with an injury and delivered 99 yards and a TD. His thoughts on his performance:
"It was really my O-Line, as you could see, you watch the film, the holes were there and my only job was just to hit them. They make it easy for me. That's all, props to my O-Line."
Bobby McGovern stepped up after Lucas Foye went out with an ankle injury and had 7 completions for 78 yards. Here were his thoughts on Foye:
"Obviously, a guy like him going down; Me and him are really close friends. We've been working together since January. Just getting our own works together, getting the receivers, getting this team together. Stepping up and I really admire his work ethic and everything that he does for me. I can't thank that guy enough and to see him go down, it really breaks my heart, but he's such a great teacher, preparing me for this moment. I got in there and I knew what to do."
Keegan Peterson had 99 all purpose yards and stepped up when some of the top players for Monty were hurt. Here were his thoughts:
"It was a great feeling. Like you said, we had a lot of people go out, this whole team is strong, this whole team has worked hard so one guy drops, and the next guy is ready. Everyone is ready. Like I said, I felt great. I've been working so hard for this moment and yeah, hard work pays off, work always works."