Marks leads Coyotes to 48-12 victory with 5 TD’s and 249 yards.
Head Coach Phil Bravo had shirts made for the football team with the slogan “Beast Mode Never Sleeps” to set the tone for his team during their season. Beast mode was wide awake on Friday night at Warrior Stadium as the Monarch Coyotes pounded the Broomfield Eagles 48-12.
The game had been shaping up during the week to be a major battle between two 4A Mountain League contenders. The game also held extra importance due to the long-standing rivalry between the schools. Separated by only 6.5 miles the matchup between the two schools is highly anticipated each year.
Marks made his presence felt in the game early and often. He started off the Coyote’s night with a touchdown on the opening drive. Marks finished the night with five of Monarch’s seven touchdowns. Marks said, “It’s a great feeling, we have to learn from this win though, we can’t get too confident or cocky before playoffs.”
Monarch’s offensive line was crucial to the victory as usual for the Coyotes. The unit lost four of five members to graduation following the Coyote’s 2012 4A State Championship but new members have filled this void. One such player, senior offensive tackle Kody Mommaerts said, “we worked hard as at team tonight, all season people have been saying that we have an inexperienced offensive line but tonight we really opened up some holes for Ethan and Jay.” The Coyote running attack accounted for 491 yards of offense. Senior quarterback Jay MacIntyre was the second highest contributor behind Marks with 130 yards on 11 carries.
MacIntyre said, “at halftime we wrote the Montrose halftime score, 21-7, on the board and made sure that we didn’t let them back in this game tonight.”
Following a commanding win against a rival many teams would try to savor the moment, not Monarch. Head coach Phil Bravo said, “I hope we can recover quickly, mentally and physically for Standley Lake, and give them a good game on Friday.” With the win the Coyotes sealed at least a share of the 4A Mountain League title but can win the title outright against Standley Lake on Friday, November 1st.
In the Coyote’s sole loss of the season on September 27th the Coyotes allowed Montrose’s Angelo Youngren to explode for 266 yards. The defense was stout against Broomfield allowing only 104 total yards on the ground against a normally potent Eagle rushing attack. Senior defensive end Zach Hilliard said, “we had a great week of practice and we came out tonight with something to prove.”
The win marked Monarch’s 4th straight win against Broomfield. If the Coyotes beat Standley Lake it will mark their 5th straight Mountain League Title.
With the playoffs squarely in sight for the Coyotes some playoff traditions are being resurrected. While the likes of the Boston Red Sox have grown playoff beards this fall, senior nose tackle Cody Powers said, “I can’t grow a beard, I’ll be shaving that off, but I’m growing out my playoff mustache for sure.”
