Buckaroo football squad drops 42-28 game to Bulldogs

The Monticello High School football team experienced their first loss of the season to the visiting Gunnison Valley Bulldogs on Friday, August 20.

The Buckaroos rallied late in the game and came close to evening the score late in the fourth quarter when they lost their senior quarterback Devin Hatch to an injury.

Minutes later, a late Gunnison score all but sealed the win for the visiting Bulldogs, by a final score of 42 to 28.

Before his late game injury, Hatch had led the Buckaroos back within six points late in the game.

Over the course of the game, Hatch completed 23 of 42 pass attempts for 323 yards and three touchdowns. He also threw one interception. 

Hatch also led the way on the ground for the Buckaroos, rushing 23 times for 87 yards and a touchdown. It was on a run late in the fourth when Hatch was injured after a tackle and had to sit the rest of the game.

In the end, Gunnison’s strong run game opened up passing lanes as the Bulldogs had 257 rushing yards and 148 yards through the air in their win.

Gunnison jumped to an early lead in the game, scoring on a 60-yard touchdown pass and later an eight-yard touchdown pass to give the Bulldogs a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.

The Buckaroos responded with a 60-yard bomb down the field from Hatch to receiver Landon Ewart for the Buckaroo’s first score of the game. Hatch ran in a two-point conversion to cut the lead to 14-8.

From there, Gunnison scored two more touchdowns to give the Bulldogs a 28-8 lead.

However, on the final drive of the first half, Monticello drove down to the 12-yard line.

With time for one more play, Hatch scrambled around before finding Logan Draper for a 12-yard touchdown pass as time expired in the half.

The end of the first half looked familiar to Buckaroo fans as Hatch and Draper connected for a touchdown on the final play of the first half of their game the previous week in Moab.

In the second half, Monticello drove the field again to set-up a four-yard run into the endzone by Hatch. It pulled the Bucks within one score.

Gunnion responded with a 14-yard touchdown pass and Monticello re-responded with a long touchdown pass from Hatch to Ewart, this time for 55 yards.

Following the score, an onside kick by JD Keyes was recovered by the Buckaroos giving them a shot to tie the game at mid-field.

The Buckaroo drives faced some steep challenges with penalty calls against the Bucks.

After a punt set up Gunnison in their own territory, Monticello got the ball back when Hatch had a second interception of the game.

With 7:30 to go in the game, down six points, Hatch looked to pass and with pressure coming instead ran the ball up the field to pick up some needed yardage.

However, an open field tackle resulted in an injury to the senior quarterback and he sat out the rest of the game.

Sophomore JD McDonald came in as backup and threw a completion to Draper for a five-yard pickup on third down. Short of the first down marker, a pass on fourth fell incomplete.

Stopping Gunnison’s run game and the clock was a challenge. With under two minutes to go, Monticello had the Bulldogs in third down and long and another chance to tie the game.

However, the Bulldogs executed a screen pass for a 45-yard touchdown, effectively shutting the door on a Monticello comeback.

Hatch completed 23 of 42 passes for 323 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception.

Backup JD McDonald completed four of seven passes for 39 yards.

Logan Draper caught 15 balls for 142 yards and one touchdown.

Landon Ewart caught four passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns over 50 yards.

Tate Ramsey had three catches for 39 yards, Michael Peterson had two for 28 and Javlin Robison had two catches for six yards.

The Bucks racked up 131 rushing yards. They were led by Hatch with 23 runs for 87 yards and a four yard touchdown. Robison ran ten times for 25 yards.

Cameron Bailey had three runs for nine yards, Draper ran twice for five, and McDonald had one five yard rush.

On the defensive side, Hatch caught two interceptions while Thomas Fullmer and Zac Thayn each caused a fumble.

Fullmer led the team with seven tackles. Cameron Bailey had six. McDonald, Robison, Hatch and Draper each had five tackles. Tyler Thayn had two tackles for loss and Draper had one tackle for loss.

Monticello takes on 1A foe Milford on Friday August 27 in Monticello. Both teams are 1-1. The game will be broadcast live on PictureItPalmer.com