Tascosa football team overcomes slow start, snaps skid with win over Monterey
After an agonizing five weeks, the Tascosa football team is back in the win column after a 33-21 win over Lubbock Monterey on Thursday night at Dick Bivins Stadium.
After winning the opening game of the season against Palo Duro to give head coach Ken Plunk his 100th victory at Tascosa, it took more than a month to win another one. But win No. 101 came Thursday after the Rebels lost five straight by multiple possessions. It looked like Thursday would be the same result early as the Rebels fumbled the second play of the game and found themselves behind 14-0 by the end of the first quarter.
From there, though, the Rebels (2-5, 1-2) seemed to flip a switch. Quarterback Coltyn Fulton pulled off a series of impressive plays on the opening drive of the second quarter, culminating in a 9-yard scoring run to get the Rebs on the board. Tascosa recovered a mishandled kickoff right after and Andrew Merrell ended up putting the ball in from three yards out to pull the Rebels within 14-12.
Fulton later made magic happen as he placed a perfect ball right at the one to Tauren Johnson who reached in to the end zone for a 33-yard score to put the Rebs up 20-14 just before halftime. A short pass to TJ Tillman in the third saw the future Division I player turn on the jets for a 50-yard score. Fulton added a late touchdown run before Monterey (2-4, 0-2) added one last score with a second left to give the game its final score.
"It feels really good," Plunk said. "We were not playing very good and we started this game kind of the same. I was thinking, 'Oh my gosh this is not going to be good' and all of a sudden we flipped a switch."
Credit the Rebel defense for responding after a rough opening quarter by forcing three turnovers the rest of the game. Fulton finished with four total touchdowns to lead the way.
Monterey hasn't won a game since starting 2-0. Tascosa's hope is that it can win at least two of their last three and make the postseason.
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Tascosa 33, Monterey 21
MHS 14 0 0 7 -- 21
THS 0 20 6 7 -- 33
First Quarter
MHS – Ja’Marcus Smith 16 run (Gio Cardenas kick) 9:53
MHS – Smith 19 run (Cardenas kick) 1:21
Second Quarter
THS – Coltyn Fulton 9 run (kick no good) 7:02
THS – Andrew Merrell 3 run (2-pt no good) 4:12
THS – Taurean Johnson 33 from Fulton (2-pt good) 0:52
Third Quarter
THS – TJ Tillman 50 from Fulton (2-pt no good) 7:45
Fourth Quarter
THS – Fulton 5 run (Jack Cung kick) 1:36
MHS – Kash Lewis 5 from Luke Arrington (Cardenas kick) 0:01
TEAM STATISTICS
THS MHS
First downs 14 11
Rushes-yards 48-190 28-172
Passing yards 121 106
Comp.-att.-int 5-6-0 8-17-0
Punts-avg. 2-89 4-154
Fumbles-lost 3-1 4-3
Penalties-yards 10-80 7-65
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
MHS – Ja’Marcus Smith 15-135, Deuce Moore 4-11, Christian Williams 1-7, Luke Arlington 3-8, Dez Williams 2-10, Kash Lewis 1-4, Zay Uvalle 1-0, Q Boyd 1-(-3)
THS – TJ Tillman 3-15, Zaq Edwards 3-5, Andrew Merrell 22-69, Coltyn Fulton 16-71, Za’Cory Fisher 2-16, Derrion Howard 1-13, Xavier Presas 1-1
PASSING
MHS - Luke Arrington 8-17-0, 106
THS – Coltyn Fulton 5-6-0, 121
RECEIVING
MHS – Q Boyd 2-38, Kash Lewis 4-28, Jarrett Berridge 1-18, Gavin Guardiola 1-22
THS – TJ Tillman 2-67, Sheppard Stapp 1-10, Taurean Johnson 1-33, Za’Corey Fisher 1-11
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Tascosa High School football snaps losing skid with win over Monterey
