By Rob Potter
MONTICELLO — October 12, 2010 — With 8:20 to go in the first quarter of Friday afternoon’s Class A football game at Monticello High School’s Ed Kennedy Field, the hometown fans had plenty to cheer about as Monticello sophomore quarterback Shane Jackson threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to junior tight end Sean Reuss to bring the Panthers to within a point of the Cornwall Dragons at 7-6.
Jackson then ran for the two-point conversion to give Monticello an 8-7 lead.
With 8:26 remaining in the second quarter, Jackson broke through the line and ran for a 37-yard touchdown to extend the Panthers’ lead to 14-7.
But Cornwall (5-1, 3-1 Class A) responded with 42 unanswered points to post a 49-14 victory over the Panthers.
The Dragons cut the Monticello lead to 14-13 when Tyree Smallwood ran for a 33-yard touchdown with 6:45 remaining in the second quarter.
After forcing Monticello (4-1, 3-1 Class A) to punt on its next possession, Cornwall took the lead for good. With 2:15 to go until halftime, quarterback Tyler Lawlor threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Joe White. Sam Tellefsen then made the PAT kick to give the Dragons a 20-14 advantage.
Cornwall stretched its lead to 26-14 with 2:25 left in the third quarter as Lawlor connected with White on a 33-yard TD pass.
The Dragons scored three TDs in the fourth quarter. The first was a 15-yard pass from Lawlor to Alex Cruz with 9:59 to go. The second was a 26-yard strike from Lawlor to White with 6:49 remaining. The third was a 13-yard run by Peter Catal with 4:07 left.
Cornwall took a 7-0 lead with 10:22 to go in the first quarter as Lawlor threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to White on the third play from scrimmage.
White finished the game with five receptions for 139 yards and four TDs. Lawlor completed 10 of 22 passes for 172 yards and those four TDs to White.
Smallwood led the Dragons’ rushing attack with 17 carries for 198 yards. Lawlor ran nine times for 52 yards, while Rashard Wroten had five carries for 42 yards and Catal gained 33 yards on five rushes.
“They stepped up and did some things really well today,” Cornwall Coach Marcus Hughes said of his players. “We played better defense in the second half.”
Hughes also praised the Panthers for their performance.
“They are a well-coached team with a lot of good athletes,” he said. “Their quarterback, [Shane] Jackson is some kind of player and he’s only a sophomore.”
Jackson ran the ball 16 times for 133 yards and completed 10 of 23 passes for 104 yards.
Jose Cruz also contributed to the Panthers’ rushing attack with 7 yards on six carries. Chandler Williams was Monticello’s leading receiver with six catches for 63 yards. Anthony Gray had two receptions for 27 yards and Bobby Wagner made one catch for 14 yards.
“We played a great half of football in the first half,” Monticello Coach Matt Buddenhagen said. “They gave a great effort. We were right with them, a team that’s in the top five in the whole darn state.”
But Buddenhagen noted that mistakes hurt his team.
“Our tackling was awful,” he said. “We have to improve our pass defense.”
Buddenhagen is looking for his players to forget about the loss quickly and prepare to host Wallkill this Saturday in a Class A game.
“We’ve still got a long way to go,” he said. “It’s a loss. It’s not the end of the world. You’ve got to bounce back.”