BY CONOR FOLEY, Times-Shamrock Writer
It wasn’t the start to Monday night’s football game that Montrose wanted.
After its defense forced visiting Northwest Area to go three and out on the opening drive, its offense immediately turned the ball over with fumble from the first play from scrimmage.
Five plays later, Northwest took the lead on a 3-yard touchdown run by Tony Politz and never looked back, downing the Meteors, 30-8.
“Obviously, (the game) didn’t go the way we wanted it to,” Montrose coach Russell Canevari said. “Any time you give a 14-point lead in the first quarter, it’s very difficult to
dig yourself out of the hole. One of the biggest challenges we have here is learning how to win, and we thought we were working toward that today.
Politz led Northwest’s offensive charge all game, piling up 162 yards on 20 carries, and adding three touchdowns.
The junior running back followed his 3-yard score by outrunning the Montrose defense for a 57-yard touchdown with just over five minutes remaining in the first quarter. Kicker Christian Foley tacked on one of his three extra points on the day and Northwest had an early 14-0 lead.
Montrose tried to sway the game’s momentum in its favor early in the second quarter, when their defense blew up a Northwest screen play, allowing Brenton Warner to pick off Gunner Majer’s pass attempt and return it 16 yards for a touchdown. Fullback John Lawson bulldozed his way into the goal on the two-point conversion, and Montrose cut the deficit to 14-8.
But Majer quickly rebounded, leading his team on a
nine-play, 65-yard scoring drive that he capped off by sneaking into the end zone from less than a yard out with 5:43 left in the first half.
The 6-foot-3, 230 pound quarterback rushed for 42 yards on 12 attempts while also completing five passes for 51 yards.
Politz added a 27-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, and Foley finished off the game’s scoring by blasting a 45-yard field goal down the center of the uprights on the first play of the fourth quarter.
John Lawson led Montrose with 51 rushing yards, but left the game in the third quarter with a hip injury and did not return, Canevari said.
Northwest 14 7 6 3 – 30
Montrose 0 8 0 0 – 8
Team Statistics
NW MON
First Downs 11 9
Rushing-Yards 44-246 33-122
Comp-Att-Int 5-12-1 5-15-2
Passing Yards 52 60
Total Yards 298 182
Punts-Average 3-29.0 5-25.0
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 4-2
Penalties-Yards 6-55 7-45
Individual Statistics
Rushing: MON – J. Lawson 7-58; D. Zapolski 3-18; W. Ely 4-18; E. Castrogiovanni 5-13; N. Clark 1-8; T. Tompkins 2-6; J. Dibble 7-3; D. Heeman 3-3; D. Harder 1-(-5)
Passing: MON – J. Dibble 3-10-1, 36; D. Heeman 2-3-1, 24; W. Ely 0-1-0, 0.
Receiving: MON – L. Mock 1-11;W. Ely 1-6;E. Castrogiovanni 1-16; J. Lawson 1-19.
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