The Monticello Junior Billies did their part on rivalry week against the Warren Junior Lumberjacks on Thursday night.
The Junior Billies seem to lose just one thing on Thursday night, the opening kickoff.
Monticello won the opening coin toss and elected to defer to the second half, the Junior Lumberjacks would receive the football to begin the game.
On the opening kickoff, Jude Parke would kick the ball away 45 yards to the Warren 15 yard line with the Warren returner taking the ball back 85 yards for an opening game kickoff return touchdown.
Warren would attempt a two-point conversion that failed to give the Junior Lumberjacks a 6-0 lead.
Warren would get a 45-yard kickoff of their own with Joseph Accelus taking the ball at the Monticello 22 and returning it to the Monticello 40 but a face mask penalty against the Junior Billies would bring the ball back to their own 35.
Hudson Harvey completed his first pass of the game to Luke Reid for a 42-yard pickup to the Warren 23.
Accelus would move the ball to the 16 followed by a reception to get the ball to the Warren 10.
Accelus would get the call again, rushing for a 10-yard touchdown but a penalty against the Junior Billies would negate the run and bring the ball back to 15.
After an eight-yard gain by Accelus to the Warren seven, Harvey would connect with Jaxon Rawls for the Junior Billie touchdown.
The Junior Billies attempted a two-point conversion but was stopped short.
With 5:49 remaining in the first quarter, the Junior Billies had tied the contest 6-6.
Warren’s next drive would result in a turnover after Monticello’s Oscar Chavez would recover a Junior Lumberjack fumble at the Warren 13 after the snap went over the Warren Quarterback’s head.
After an incomplete pass, Accelus would advance the ball to the six.
Harvey would connect with Rawls for the second time in the contest on the next play for his second touchdown reception of the game, this time from six yards out.
Jude Parke would come out to attempt the extra point, but the kick would fall short with the Junior Billies taking a 12-0 lead with 3:42 remaining in the quarter.
Warren’s next possession would begin at the Waren 14.
After a run for no gain and an incomplete pass, the Warren snap would once more get by the Warren quarterback, this time rolling out of the back of the endzone for a safety to give Monticello a 14-6 lead.
Talyn Hoover would receive the Warren kick at the Monticello 48 and would return the ball into Warren territory to the 32.
After a series of penalties, Harvey would connect with Accelus to the Warren 27 with an added on personal foul penalty moving the ball to the 12 yard line.
Monticello would lose yardage back to the Warren 20 where on 4 and 18 Harvey would connect with Danner Loyd for a 20-yard touchdown strike.
Accelus added the two-point conversion to give the Junior Billies a 22-6 lead as the first quarter ended.
Monticello would block the Warren Lumberjack punt on the next possession with Rawls blocking the punt and lineman Kaison Jones catching the block and stepping into the endzone for the rare lineman touchdown.
The two point conversion failed to give the Junior Billies a 28-6 lead.
Accelus would intercept a Warren pass on the next possession with Monticello scoring on their drive on a touchdown run by Accelus.
Parke added the extra point to give Monticello a 35-6 halftime lead.
Monticello added the final score of the contest on the first drive of the third quarter on a 10-yard run by Jonah White to set up the final score of 41-6.
The Junior Billies will play in their final game of the 2023 football season on Thursday, October 26.
The Junior Billies will travel to Star City on Thursday to face the Junior Bulldogs.
The Monticello 7th Grade Billies will kickoff at 5:30 pm with the Junior Billies to follow at 7 pm.
