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The Monticello Billies entered Friday’s contest against the Crossett Eagles needing one win to guarantee the Billies at least one more game in the 2025 season.
A win over Crossett would put the Billies in position to finish no worse than fifth in the 4A-8 Conference which would put them in the final playoff spot.
In the final contest at Hyatt Field of the season, the Billies would select the senior players as the captains for the opening coin toss that Crossett would win and elect to receive the ball.
Jude Parke would kick the ball away for the Billies with Crossett starting their drive at their own 40.
The Eagles would move the ball into Monticello territory on the drive, but the Billies would force the Eagles to turn the ball over on downs at the Monticello 44.
Hudson Harvey would complete his first pass of the contest, a 37-yard gain to Jackson Hines down to the Crossett 19.
Joseph Accelus would carry the ball to the five with Hines getting the next carry to cover the five yards for the Billies touchdown with 8:07 left in the first quarter.
Parke added the extra point to give the Billies a 7-0 lead.
Crossett would begin their second drive at their own 38 after an 18-yard return.
The Eagles would drive down to the Monticello 18 yard line, but the drive would come to an end after Crossett quarterback Cash Forrest was hit by Luke Fakouri, forcing the fumble that was recovered by Keilyn Green who scooped up the ball and lumbered 70 yards before being brought down at the Crossett nine yard line.
Accelus would get the call on the first play from scrimmage, covering the six yards for the Billie touchdown.
Parke would add the extra point to give the Billies a 14-0 lead with 3:55 remaining in the first quarter.
Crossett would begin their next drive at their own 44 and after a two-yard gain would move the ball into Monticello territory after an offsides penalty against the Billies.
Crossett moved the ball down to the 21, when the Eagles would turn the ball over for the second time on a fumble with Ryker Harvey recovering the ball for the Billies at the Monticello 34.
The Billies drive would extend into the second quarter, but the drive ended after Harvey’s pass was intercepted by Crossett’s Tamarious McCone at the Crossett 28 with a return to the Monticello 48.
The Eagles would drive to the nine with Forrest taking the ball in for the score.
After the extra-point, Crosset cut the lead to 14-7.
Monticello would get the big play on the next drive after Accelus would score on a 57-yard run.
The extra-point failed as the Billies led 20-7 and would go on to take a 28-7 lead at the half after a completion from Harvey to Jax Rawls for 14-yard score with Hines adding a two-point conversion.
Hines would get his second touchdown of the contest after a two yard run in the first drive of the third quarter with the extra-point missed its target giving the Billies a 34-7 lead.
Hines would get a third score with a 21-yard completion from Harvey to put the score 40-7.
Crossett would get one final touchdown before the end of the game on a 10-yard run by Forrest and an extra-point to set up the 40-14 final.
WIth the win Monticello improves to 3-3 in conference play and currently sits in fourth place in the conference standings.
The Billies will look to remain as the fourth seed, but will have to be successful in their final contest of the regular season on Friday, November 7, travelling to DeWitt to face the Dragons at 7 pm.
The winner of the contest will be the fourth seed with the losing team being the fifth seed.
