STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Stephenville and Lubbock Monterey High Schools met Friday night at Tarleton State University’s Memorial Stadium in a matchup that both teams were looking to uses to bounce back from losses suffered the previous week.
In the end, Monterey’s Plainsmen made enough plays to come out with a 20-17 win on the road.
“I thought Stephenville’s defense was really good coming into the game. It showed,” Head Coach Wayne Hutchinson said. “They were good and fortunately our defense was good too.”
Neither team could muster much of anything on offense in a scoreless first quarter. But it was Stephenville who broke through first midway through the second quarter with a four-yard touchdown run from Blue Caylor.
On the ensuing drive, Monterey took the ball down the field for what resulted in a Plainsmen field goal from Briley Alexander. Following Alexander’s score, Stephenville answered back with a Chase Carrillo 40-yard field goal, giving the Yellow Jackets a 10-3 lead going into halftime.
Things heated up in the second half after Monterey recovered a Stephenville fumble just inside midfield to open up the third quarter. Monterey quarterback Brylon Lawson-Young made the most of the opportunity and found the end zone and added an Alexander extra point to even the game at 10.
It wasn’t long before Stephenville returned the favor, adding a Blue Caylor scored in the third quarter. It, however, would be the last Stephenville score of the game.
After Alexander kicked his second field goal, Brylon Lawson-Young ran one in with less than six minutes left in the fourth quarter to put the Plainsmen ahead for good. Stephenville tried to recover, but a three-and-out with three incomplete passes sealed the Jackets fate.
Following the game, Hutchinson had nothing but praise for the way his team fought.
“I’m really proud of our guys,” he said Friday night. “We didn’t get a good start but we persevered. We found a way in the third and fourth quarter, put a couple of drives together and punched it into the end zone to take the lead. I thought our defense played well all night long. It was a good, hard-fought ball game.”
Lubbock Monterey moves to 2-3 overall, while Stephenville moves to 4-2 on the season, 1-0 in District 3-4A. Monterey will face Abilene Cooper High School next week in Lubbock, while Stephenville has a bye before facing Brownwood High School on Oct 20 at Gordon Wood Stadium.
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