WEST COVINA – A change of defense in the second half made all the difference as Monrovia High School kicked off the 2019 football season with a 28-14 win over West Covina on Friday night.
The West Covina offensive line dominated the Wildcats in the first half as the teams battled to a 14-14 tie.
“We changed our defense in the second half,” Wildcats coach Chris Williams said. “We were looking for the ball in the first half and in the second we were reacting and our guys were flying to the ball.”
The Wildcats took the second half kickoff and marched 65 yards in nine plays to take a 21-14 lead on a one-yard run by Devon Mayes.
West Covina came right back and appeared to marching for the tying score when Hunter Nicely made two big defensive plays to stop the Bulldogs on the Wildcats 23-yard line.
Nicely sacked quarterback Juan Velazquez, then he and Christopher Caire broke up a sweep for a five-yard loss.
“We moved the ball pretty well,” Bulldogs coach Cory Tello said. “We controlled the clock just like we wanted to, but we just couldn’t finish the drives we needed to.”
The Wildcats only needed three plays to take a 28-14 lead.
Senior quarterback Nick Hernandez hit Mayes for a 26-yard score and that was enough to put the game out of reach.
Hernandez completed 14 of 21 passes for 277 yards and three touchdowns.
“Nick did a great job of getting the ball out early,” Williams said. “Our defense gave us a chance to get on top to get some momentum and get them down. We felt like if we could get on top we would have a chance to put them away.”
The Bulldogs rushed for 219 yards in the first half including a pair of touchdowns by Velazquez.
The first, for 29 yards, to give the Bulldogs a 7-6 lead and another for 83 yards on a fake punt to tie the score 2:04 left in the first half. He broke or ran through four tackles on his jaunt down the field.
Velazquez carried the ball 11 times for 133 yards and Eli Vivas carried the ball 16 times for 62 yards before cramping up in the second half.
“We’re so proud of Juan,” Tello said. “He’s a top sprinter in our league. He’s pretty small but he’s as tough as nails.”
Monrovia opened the scoring when Hernandez hit Mario Minor on an 81-yard scoring play.
Rudy Flores grabbed a slant pass from Hernandez and outran everyone to the end zone for the score.
“They’ve got half their offense from the Baseline league (transfers),” Tello said. “They’re used to playing against Upland and Ranch. We wanted to take away their big plays but, credit Monrovia, they started dinking and dunking passes and taking advantage of us playing off.”
