LAKEWOOD — It was all Monarch after halftime Thursday night at Trailblazer Stadium.
Bear Creek jumped out to a 14-0 lead with a pair of touchdowns by senior Elijah Hargrove, but the Coyotes answered by tying the game by halftime before going on a run in the second half to an eventual 50-14 victory.
Monarch senior quarterback Nico Rizzello had four touchdown runs of 1, 1, 2 and 22 yards to spearhead the offense for the Coyotes (5-1, 2-0 in Class 4A Front Range League). Senior running back Malakhi Payne also had a big night with a trio of touchdown runs of 2, 8 and 35 yards.
Bear Creek (5-1, 1-1) suffered its first loss of the season.
Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Public Schools
The game started promising for the Bears. A 14-play drive that covered 53 yards ended in a 3-yard touchdown run by Hargrove with 5:03 left in the first quarter. On the first play of the second quarter, senior quarterback Riley Wilson hit Hargrove for a 9-yard touchdown pass to give the Bears a 14-0 lead.
Monarch scored twice in the final minutes before halftime on short touchdown runs by Rizzello and Payne to tie things up 14-14 at the break. The Coyotes took their first lead on an 8-yard touchdown by Payne midway through the third quarter at 21-14 and never looked back.
The Coyotes scored five touchdown after halftime, only being stopped once when Payne took a hard hit and fumbled. Bear Creek’s lone touchdown in the second half was a 51-yard touchdown pass from Wilson to senior Dylan Thomas that cut Monarch’s lead to 29-21 in the third quarter.
Monarch gets back to action next week when it hosts Dakota Ridge (1-4, 1-0) on Thursday night up in Boulder.
Bear Creek will get another big test against Golden at 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9, at the North Area Athletic Complex. The Demons (5-1, 3-0) dominated Mountain Range to the tune of 45-8 on Thursday night to extend Golden’s winning steak to five.
Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Public Schools
