Tale of two halves tells story of Monroe City’s loss in Class 1 state quarterfinals

HAYTI, Mo. — For 24 minutes Saturday, the Monroe City football team did what no other team has done all year.

The Panthers physically dominated Hayti in the Class 1 state quarterfinal and the scoreboard showed it, as Monroe City took a 22-0 lead into the intermission.

But a high school football game is 48 minutes long, and the host Indians corrected themselves in a number of ways to score 26 unanswered points and rally for a 26-22 victory.

“We were establishing a new line of scrimmage,” Monroe City coach David Kirby said. “We were blocking well. We were running extremely hard.”

Boy, were the Panthers doing that.

Kirby’s strategy to contain the explosive Hayti offense — it averaged nearly 58 points per game entering Saturday’s contest — was to not allow it onto the field, as the Panthers lived on their power run game and misdirection of the Wing-T offense.

“We were sticking to our game plan and who we are,” Kirby said. “Our identity is a ground-and-pound offense.”

Panthers junior Ceaton Pennewell was a beast throughout the opening half, as he carried the ball 19 times for 97 yards. However, Monroe City took to the air to score its opening touchdown.

Senior quarterback Kyle Hays sucked the Indians defense in with run call after run call after run call, only to loft a perfect strike over the outstretched arms of the Hayti secondary into the hands of senior wide receiver Deion White for a 14-yard score at the 2:30 mark of the opening quarter for an 8-0 margin.

The Indians only had three offensive series in the opening half, and they killed themselves with penalties and turnovers on each.

Hayti senior quarterback Tray’von Thomas threw a pair of interceptions, as well as fumbling the ball on the opening drive, all of which fueled Monroe City’s momentum.

“We created some mismatches,” Kirby said, “and I thought we were doing well.”

In the second quarter, the Panthers (11-2) faced a tough fourth-down play, but it was converted due to another Hayti penalty. On the next play, senior running back Joshua Talton (94 yards rushing) bolted to the right side of his line for a 25-yard jaunt.

Monroe City junior Landon Utterback finished the drive with a short touchdown run at the 5:54 mark and the Panthers led 14-0.

Hayti was threatening late, but a Panthers defender picked off Thomas in the end zone and Talton had a nice run early in the ensuing drive late in the half.

Hays hooked up with sophomore wide receiver Waylon DeGrave for a 26-yard gain with a little more than a minute left in the half, before Pennewell (27 carries for 121 yards) scored on a 13-yard run to put his team up 22-0, shocking the Hayti crowd, which hadn’t seen their team trail all season.

“We were lining up wrong,” Thomas said of the Indian defense. “We went into halftime and adjusted it on the board. We came out (in the second half) and played a little bit harder.”

Hayti (12-0) wasted little time in living up to their reputation as a Bootheel powerhouse.

Thomas (12 of 21 for 200 yards) hit junior wide receiver Elijah Burnett for a 37-yard touchdown just 2:02 into the third quarter to pull Hayti to within 22-8. However, Monroe City (11-2) put together a methodical drive, just as it had throughout the opening half, and were threatening to score again.

Burnett, playing defensive back, picked off a pass from Hays in the end zone to squelch that drive, and with 11 minutes left in the game, took a pitch from Thomas and scored from 7 yards out for a 22-14 game.

“We fought hard today,” Burnett said. “I told my teammates, ‘I ain’t going home.’”

Burnett finished with seven receptions for 102 yards.

Hayti got a fortuitous bounce on an on-side kick-off and recovered the ball. The Indians were threatening to score, but on fourth down, Panthers senior defensive lineman William Ball chased down Thomas for a sack.

The Indians’ adjustments continued to stymie the Monroe City run game, and the Panthers punted the ball back to Hayti with 5:11 left in the game.

Thomas completed passes to Barber (19 yards), junior Quintral Clay (to the 15-yard line), and then he carried the ball to the 6-yard line before his right leg cramped up and he had to leave the game for a play. Burnett filled in at quarterback and ran the ball in to trim the Indians’ deficit to 22-20.

On the two-point conversion, Thomas tried to hit Indian senior Eddie Pirtle, but Monroe City senior defender Cade Chapman knocked the pass down.

With its run game stopped, Monroe City took to the air again on a third-and-long with just over two minutes remaining, but a Panthers receiver dropped the pass. Ultimately the Panthers punted the ball back to Hayti with 1:57 remaining.

Thomas quickly hit Burnett for a 51-yard gain and later connected with senior Zolyn Williams-Davis for a 24-yard score with 1:13 left.

On the Panthers’ final chance, Burnett picked off a Hays pass at the Indian 2-yard line in the final seconds to preserve the victory.

“When we went into halftime,” Thomas said, “we knew that we were going to come out and win this game. We never put our heads down. We knew that we were going to win.”

Hayti will travel to Marceline (11-1) for a state semifinal matchup at 1 p.m. next Saturday.