Monticello uses strong second half to distance Whitehorse in battle of top two 8-man teams

by David Boyle
News Director
The Monticello Buckaroos (4-1) earned a hard fought win against the Whitehorse Raiders (4-2) in a clash between top-four teams in the Utah 8-player ranks on Monday September 21.
The game originally scheduled for Friday September 18 was rescheduled due to flooding in Montezuma Creek. Monticello prevailed 48-12 behind a big flurry of second half points as the Raiders had pulled to within four points in the third quarter.
The game opened with a good return on the opening kick by Cash Mack and a penalty set Monticello up first and ten at the Whitehorse 32 yard line. Monticello moved the ball to the 10 yard line in seven plays to set up a first and goal but penalties and some sacks by the Raiders moved them backwards and resulted in a turnover on downs at the Whitehorse 35 yard line.
The Raiders first offensive possession only lasted one play however as Miles Coleman stripped Hunter Tsinigine and the ball was fumbled and recovered by Canyon Christensen.
Monticello’s second offensive drive started at the Whitehorse 41 yard line, but the Bucks went four and out to give Whitehorse the ball again behind the Raiders stingy defense.
The Raiders next possessions saw a few first downs picked up but on a third down Tristan Burtenshaw held up the Raiders quarterback who threw the ball away with defensive lineman Avery Hedrick waiting. Hedrick grabbed the interception and raced down the field for a 55-touchdown. 
Speaking after the game Hedrick broke down the play
“We had been coaching all year to not crash too hard on the defensive line and not to go too deep. So I pushed in and I saw the sack happening, but I saw the quarterback was looking to throw the ball. So I wanted to stay on the edge just in case he threw it up and I could get the ball and it ended up coming right to me.”
Quarterback Cache Young completed a pass to Hedrick for the two point conversion to put Monticello up 8-0 with 2:36 left in the first quarter.
The next Raider possession started at their own 24 yard line with Whitehorse going back on penalties and a short punt set up Monticello at the 22 yard line.
The Buckaroo drive ended six plays later with a fourth and goal touchdown throw by Young to Brandt Mack for an eight-yard score. Young completed the two point try to Hedrick making the score 16-0 at the end of the first quarter.
The Raiders next possession started at the Raider 38-yard line with Whitehorse picking up two first downs on runs by Tsinigine, but were unable to convert another and punted into the end zone to set up Monticello at their own 20 yard line.
After one first down the Buckaroos also punted the ball away to Whitehorse at the 43 yard line, with Whitehorse returning the favor and the Bucks Brandt Mack returning the punt 30 yards to set up Monticello at the Whitehorse 45-yard line.
After a 15 yard catch by Mack and a five yard penalty Monticello threw a deep pass that was intercepted by Dillon Leo in the end zone with Leo returning the ball out to the 30 yard line. The Raiders followed it up with big play completion from quarterback Tyrell Black to Adam Joe for a big 33 yard gain. After the game Joe reflected on the play.
“Well, really I ran around, looked for the ball, I saw it, caught it, and I just broke that tackle and I tried running it for a big play.”
Joe was able to push off a high tackle attempt by Brandt Mack who shared after the game he learned to go low on tackles instead.
The Raiders finished the rest of the 11 play drive on the ground with Black rushing for six yards and Tsinigine running the other 41 yards on the drive including the three yard touchdown to make the score 16-6 which would hold at halftime.
With a bunch of punishing short run plays Tsinigine said he just keeps working every down in the run game.
“Sometimes it doesn’t go as planned, but you just kind of got to work things out, scramble a little here and there, but eventually it comes together.”
The second half started with a failed onside kick attempt by Monticello giving the Raiders the ball at the 50 yard line. The Raiders kept the same momentum from the second quarter with a 37-yard run by Tsinigine matched with a six yard catch by Joe and a three yard run by Black setting up the two yard touchdown run by Tsinigine to make the score 16-12 with 9:45 remaining in the third quarter.
After the game Joe shared that Tsinigine helps motivate the team.
“He’s a great player. He conditions us at practice, just hits us hard. So, when it comes to the in-game contacts, we hardly feel it. Got to say thank you to Hunter because he’s a huge key player on our team.”
Tsinigine says his motivation comes from a desire to win.
“I just kind of don’t like being at the bottom, it sucks to be at the bottom.”
At that point in the game the Raiders had outgained the Buckaroos 202 yards to 52 yards but that was about to change.
A flag against Monticello set them up at their own nine-yard line, but the Buckaroos found some offensive fireworks with their backs against the wall the Buckaroos threw a quick pass from Young to Brandt Mack who found the sideline and raced down the field for a 86-yard touchdown.
Mack shared after the game his four touchdown effort was thanks to trusting his quarterback
“Well, I just really wanted to get my routes down and get open for the ball and Cash found me, so I just got open.”
Monticello was unable to add the two-point conversion with the score favoring Monticello 22-12 with 8:40 left in the third quarter. Monticello was able to force a three-and-out and get the ball back at their own 23 yard line. The Whitehorse defense returned the favor and the Raiders received the Monticello punt at their own 47 yard line but Monticello’s Hedrick stepped in front of another pass for his second interception of the night to give Monticello the ball at mid-field.
Hedrick would also recover an offensive fumble for Monticello. His effort would earn praise from Mack.
“Avery was an absolute dog. He was in on all the plays, just fighting his best. But yeah, he was just a dog.”
Hedrick shared his thoughts after his two interception game.
“It showed me that I’ve really been putting in the work and that the work ends up paying off. I was excited that I finally got to show out on the field and it was my first night that I had a great game that I could say.”
 The next play Young found Cash Mack down the sideline for a 45 yard touchdown grab to make the score 28-12 with 7:30 left in the third quarter.
Monticello’s defense again forced a quick three-and-out and got the ball back on a punt at their own 36-yard line.
Monticello put together a 10 play drive including a 15 yard run by Coleman, and capped by a 25 yard touchdown throw from Young to Brandt Mack. Mack said after the game at halftime they talked about picking up the pace.
“We just kind of started off slow and we just said we need to pick it up and we went out there and got the dub.”
John Leber added the point after kick to make the score 35-12 with 2:40 left in the third quarter.
The Raiders next offensive possession saw a high snap fumbled and recovered by Burtenshaw at the four yard line. Two plays later the Buckaroos scored on a four yard pass from Young to Cash Mack with a point after kick added to make the score 42-12 with 1:30 left in the third quarter.
The game continued back and forth with the final score coming with four minutes left in the fourth quarter with Young finding Brandt Mack for a 77-yard touchdown to make the final score 48-12.
Monticello was led in the game by Cache Young who completed 15 passes on 39 attempts for 315 yards, six touchdowns and one interception.
Young’s effort brought praise from his teammates with Mack talking about how Young makes it easy for him.
“When he gets those deep balls, they’re really good and just like right in the basket and that makes it really easy on me because I know my quarterback will get it to me.”
Hedrick also was impressed with Young.
“Cache was throwing some great balls tonight and he was making some great decisions in the pocket and I really liked his effort tonight and what he did.”
Young’s leading receiver was Brandt Mack who has nine catches for 250 yards and four touchdowns. Cash Mack had two catches for 50 yards and two touchdowns. While Canyon Christensen had two catches for 11 yards.
Miles Coleman led Monticello on the ground with 38 yards on 14 carries.
Monticello’s defense was led by Leber who had 20 tackles, Coleman had 11 and Brandt Mack had nine. The Bucks defense also had four turnovers with the two Hedrick interceptions and fumble recoveries by Burtenshaw and Christensen.
The Raiders were led offensively by Tsinigine who finished with 194 yards rushing on 32 carries with two touchdowns.
Tsinigine offered thanks to his teammates for making the run game so powerful this season.
“I like to shout out my line for blocking, Tyshaun (Begay), Taylor (Black), and Eliyeontay (Silas), to be able to open up those gaps and for my tight ends and three backs to block up the middle.”
Tyrell Black also rushed for two yards on 12 carries.
Black completed five passes on 22 attempts for 58 yards
Adam Joe had four catches for 52 yards while Dillon Leo had one for six yards.
Cayden Leo also completed one pass to his brother Dillon in the fourth quarter for 20 yards.
The Raiders are one of the top four teams in 1A 8-man football for the second year in a row. Joe says that turnaround is based on teamwork.
“It just comes down to teamwork because everyone’s just working together. We need to get that team bond connection. The first game we played horribly and over the time we worked on ourselves, worked as a team and we got together. So that’s just It’s just a team effort all together to bring us to what our record is now.”
Tsinigine agreed and shared praise to his coaches, “Just my coaches for always being there for us, for not giving up on us for 10 years.”
Coach Andrae Beard shared that Joe and Tsinigine help lead the team.
“Those two they really push the rest of the team. They tell the rest of the team where they need to stand up. What helps me the most is they help others in their positions. They show them how to go about it and how they should work at it. Theyalso  hold the boys back themselves for later practices and that’s what really helps us out the most.”
Both teams have a quick turnaround before road trips. The Raiders are in Moab playing Grand County on September 25 at 7 p.m. The Buckaroos are at Altamont on the same date at the same time. If you can’t make that game in Duchesne county you can catch it on StreamUtah.Live.