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Monroe County defeats Green County to capture second consecutive 2A regional championship

By JON WEBB

GREENSBURG — John Petett told his team before Friday’s game that their 2008 regional championship trophy needed one thing: a partner.

Now it has one.

Monroe County beat Green County 39-14 to capture its second consecutive regional championship and put itself one win away from playing for a state title.

“Awesome,” Petett said. “That’s the only word that describes it.”

“Awesome” could accurately describe Neil Wilson’s performance Friday night. The senior rushed for 169 yards and three touchdowns out of the Wildcat formation — or “Rusty cat,” named for the Falcons’ offensive coordinator Rusty Hawkins.

Wilson also returned an attempted Green County onside kick for a 40-plus yard touchdown, tossed a 51-yard pass to brother Chad Wilson and snagged a key interception late in the first half.

“He’s just a momentum killer,” Petett said. “He’s going to make some (coach) a great college football player one day.”

Monroe County’s defense did its fair share of momentum killing as well, holding Green County, whose offense put up 117 points in its first two postseason games, scoreless in the first half.

There wasn’t much that could kill Monroe’s offense on Friday.

After forcing a Green County three-and-out on its first possession, Neil Wilson scored on the Falcons’ second offensive play of the game, running 34 yards down the sideline to give Monroe a 7-0 lead with 9:20 to play in the first quarter.

Monroe forced another Dragon punt on Green’s second possession, and again answered with a touchdown. Monroe’s second drive was more methodical than its first, featuring medium rushing gains from Neil Wilson and Tanner Kendall.

The drive broke open when Neil Wilson threw a short screen out to Chad Wilson, who saw nothing but green field ahead of him and sprinted up the left side of the field for a 51-one yard gain that put Monroe five-yards away from the endzone.

Neil Wilson finished the drive two plays later when he scored on a three-yard run to give Monroe a two-touchdown advantage late in the first quarter.

Green managed to stop Monroe on its next possession, but excellent field position and two passes from quarterback Jackson Arnett to wide receiver Trent Tooley led to a six-yard Dillion Vickery run that stretched the Falcons’ lead to 21-0.

And then the game would come to a halt.

On a Green County third and 11 pass play, Monroe defensive end Jake Proctor went down with a leg injury while trying to get to Dragon quarterback John Stone.

Proctor was unable to get up. Trainers wrapped his leg with a splint and carried a stretcher onto the field. Proctor opted to be carried off the field by coaches instead, and watched the rest of the game from a sideline bench.

After the game, Petett said there was no solid diagnosis for Proctor’s injury.

“We don't know much yet,” he said. “It's either a deep bruise or he may have broken a bone in his leg.”

Neil Wilson picked off a Stone pass on the next play to give Monroe the ball just outside Green territory.

The subsequent drive was marred by tension and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties from both teams stemming from reaction to Proctor’s injury. Monroe was forced to punt.

Despite a 53-yard Neil Wilson run to open the second half, Monroe’s offense stalled in the third quarter.

Green finally located the endzone with a three-yard Ricky Garrett touchdown with 9:13 to play in the fourth to cut Monroe’s lead to 14.

Any Dragon enthusiasm wouldn’t last long, though.

The play after an attempted Green onside kick bounced out of bounds, Neil Wilson scored on a 44-yard run. Green blocked the extra point to give Monroe a 20-point advantage with just over nine minutes remaining in the game.

A long Stone pass to Cody Gupton set up another Green touchdown at 7:34, but again Neil Wilson quelled Dragon excitement by taking Green’s attempted onside kick in for his fourth touchdown on the night.

Another Vickery touchdown at 4:09 officially put the game out of reach for the Dragons, and gave Monroe County High School its first back-to-back football regional championships in school history.

Monroe beat Green in last year’s final to capture its first regional title since 1989.

Aside from Neil Wilson, Monroe was led in rushing by Kendall (27 yards on 11 carries) and Vickery (two touchdowns). The overwhelming majority of the Falcon offense came on the ground. Arnett and Neil Wilson combined to go 6-10 for 73 yards through the air.

Defensively, Monroe largely neutralized Green’s potent rushing attack. The Falcons managed to control Dragon lead-rusher Chavis McDermott, who ran for 1,636 yards and 17 touchdowns in the first 12 games of the season.

“We've played spectacular the last five or six weeks,” Petett said. “We knew they had a great running game, so we keyed on the run and made them beat us with the pass.”

Monroe will now move on to face undefeated Fort Campbell in the 2A state semifinal.

Fort Campbell eked out a 28-21 win over Murray on Friday to advance.

Monroe fell to Fort Campbell 34-18 in last year’s semifinals. Fort Campbell eventually went on to defeat Newport Central Catholic 26-23 to capture the 2A state title.

The team has won the 2A state championship two out of the last three years.

Fort Campbell’s game against Murray represents the closest any opponent has come to the team this year. Through 13 games, Campbell is outscoring its adversaries by an average of 43 points a game.

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