MONTEREY — The Monterey seniors stepped foot onto Medley Field wearing the Wildcat purple for the final time during regular season play Friday night to take on the Yellow Jackets of Trousdale County.

And it was a game they would most likely want to forget, losing by a score of 41-22. 

The Wildcats (5-4, 4-3 Region 4-A), who ran 63 offensive plays compared to Trousdale County’s (5-3, 4-2 Region 4-A) 35, could never find a consistent rhythm on the offensive side of the ball. Any possible momentum in the Wildcats favor was, more often than not, stopped by penalties, turnovers or failed fourth-down conversions, giving the Yellow Jackets fantastic field position throughout the game. 

Monterey was also plagued by many defensive miscues. 

“I’m taking the blame for that,” Monterey coach Billy Heady said of his team’s defensive woes. “I’ve been trying to put some schemes in there, trying to give our kids a chance and it’s just not worked. We’re just going to have to get back to the basics defensively and see what we can do there.”

The Wildcats (5-4, 4-3 Region 4-A) looked to be poised for a strong game right out of the gate, orchestrating a 14-play, 74-yard drive that was kept alive by a Yellow Jacket facemask penalty on what would have been a turnover on downs. Instead, it resulted in a three-yard touchdown run by Logan Jones. 

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, this would be the only time they would cross the goal line until the fourth quarter. 

Trousdale County quickly answered back with scoring drive of its own, moving the ball 67 yards on five plays, including an 18-yard score by Kenyan Harper. 

The Yellow Jackets (5-3, 4-2) then took advantage of a Monterey fumble and quickly scored on a 46-yard run by Marquel Claiborne that capped off a three-play, 50-yard drive. 

The Wildcats were rolling through their next possession, racking up plays of 23, 14 and 15 yards, but could not convert a 4th-and-2 deep in Yellow Jacket territory. 

This was just the start of the miserable second quarter that was about to ensue — a quarter that Coach Heady said “doomed” the Wildcats. 

On the third play of the Yellow Jackets’ next possession, Claiborne hit a wide-open Kale Satterfield for 58 yards that lead to a four-yard score by Harper. 

Monterey found itself in another fourth-down situation and tried to catch the Trousdale special teams off guard by faking a punt to no avail. The Yellow Jackets needed only one play to score as Claiborne found Harper for a 33-yard touchdown.

Things got scary late in the first half. For a few minutes, football was no longer the first thing on anyone’s mind.

Monterey was forced to punt on its next possession. A Yellow Jacket fielded the punt and was promptly hit causing a fumble in which the Wildcats recovered. Controversially, it was ruled the returner had called for a fair catch and that Monterey would have to re-punt the ball. 

The next punt was returned 52 yards for a touchdown by Harper. However it was negated by a Yellow Jacket holding penalty.

And it may not have been the only penalty on the play.

Monterey’s Logan Henderson took a vicious blindside hit that could have been called for a block-in-the-back penalty and laid motionless on the ground for quite some time. Henderson was later carted off on a stretcher and taken to a local hospital. 

“I think he’s going to be OK, but I’m not a doctor,” Heady said. “He took a good shot. He didn’t see it coming. It was one of those blindside type shots. And those hurt. It’s kind of like a boxer that gets hit and doesn’t see the punch coming,” he said. 

When asked whether he thought it was a legal hit, Heady stated, “I don’t know. I’ll have to go watch film. The referees thought it was. Our fans didn’t think it was. I didn’t think it was. But things like that happen in football. I don’t think it was anything that the Trousdale County kid was trying to hurt him. He’s playing football. That happens in football.

“I think he’s going to be OK. We’re going to pray for him and just pray that he’ll be OK,” he said. 

After the delay, the Yellow Jackets scored on one play, a 34-yard run by Victor Hardwick, and entered halftime with a 34-6 lead. 

Trousdale County went on to score only once more, a 20-yard run by Seth Calhoun in the third quarter, while Monterey would see the end-zone twice more, a four-yard run by Jesse Puckett and a 59-yard pass to Taylor Raines from Corey Heiderich, both in the fourth quarter. 

Trousdale County coach Kevin Creasy was extremely pleased with his team’s performance Friday night.

“We felt like we came out better than we have all year,” Creasy said. “We felt like we came out strong after they came out strong on their opening possession and went right down the field on us.

“We knew it was a must-win. We’ve got a long playoff streak of many, many years and we don’t want that broken this year. A win tonight meant we were going to stick with the playoffs and our guys seemed pumped up about that. 

Heady took time to praise the careers of his seniors after the game. 

“If this is their last game (at home), I feel like they played hard. They played with heart. They have nothing to be ashamed of. They gave everything they could for four years to be out here on this field. One game never defines a senior. I’m proud of everything they’ve put into this program.”

Monterey has a bye week Friday night, but will travel to Friendship Christian on Friday, Oct. 26, while Trousdale County will take on Watertown at home this Friday night. 

Trousdale Co. 41, Monterey 22

TCHS 14 20 7 0 — 41

MHS 6 0 0 16 — 22

SCORING PLAYS

First quarter

MHS — Logan Jones 3-yard run (run failed), 6:49

TCHS — Kenyan Harper 18-yard run (run failed), 5:10

TCHS — Marquel Claiborne 46-yard run (Seth Calhoun run), 0:56

Second quarter

TCHS — Harper 4-yard run (Taidrian Seay kick), 6:36

TCHS — Harper 33-yard pass from Claiborne (Seay kick), 4:26

TCHS — Victor Hardwick 34-yard run (Seay kick no good), 2:11

Third quarter

TCHS — Seth Calhoun 20-yard run (Seay kick), 9:46

Fourth quarter

MHS — Jesse Puckett 4-yard run (Jones run), 8:21

MHS — Taylor Raines 59-yard pass from Corey Heiderich (Caleb Phillips run), 1:40

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

TCHS — Kenyan Harper 10-85, Seth Calhoun 6-71, Victor Hardwick 5-60, Marquel Claiborne 3-51, Ricky Harrison 2-29, Kale Satterfield 3-9, Dillon Burnley 1-5, Chase Dallas 2-minus 2.

MHS — Isaiah Walker 13-87, Jesse Puckett 18-55, Dalton Phillips 6-37, Logan Jones 6-28, Levi Blaylock 6-20, Corey Heiderich 1-8, Caleb Phillips 1-6, Logan Henderson 3-4, William Phillips 1-2.

Passing

TCHS — Marquel Claiborne 2-3, 91 yards.

MHS — Logan Jones 2-7-1, 9 yards; Corey Heiderich 1-1-0, 59 yards; Dillon Stults 0-1-0, 0 yards.

Receiving 

TCHS — Kale Satterfield 1-58, Kenyan Harper 1-33.

MHS — Taylor Raines 1-59, William Phillips 1-6, Dalton Phillips 1-3.