The Monroe Mustangs football team came literally within a foot of pulling off a miracle, Hail Mary, final-second comeback in their game against Hudson Valley at City Park on Saturday night. Down 20-14 on the game's final play, quarterback freshman
Darius Taylor avoided the rush and threw one to the back of the end zone that, much to the delight of the Mustangs and their fans, was caught cleanly by freshman receiver
Elijah Smith. The only problem was, his right foot was just over the end line. And so by that much, that one foot, Monroe's fate was sealed. They're now 2-4 on the season.
"We had our chances, but the thing is, we never quit," said Coach
Terry Karg after a game that Monroe played somewhat inconsistently. "The defense stopped 'em and we got the ball back. We had our chance. "
Hudson Valley had gotten the ball back for what looked to be the last possession of the game nursing their six-point lead with 1:35, but when Monroe's 'D' forced a three-and-out, Monroe had a slim shot with the ball on their own 45 with just :16 showing on the clock. A 22-yard pass got the Mustangs within striking range and then with 6.1 seconds left Taylor took the snap for the games' final – and fateful – play.
Monroe got its two scores on short-yardage plunges by sophomore running back
Greg Jones, who ran it in from the five in the first quarter and from the one-yard line in the third to knot the game at 14.
The Vikings had a good passing game going amassing 270 yards in the air. And they also benefitted from a number of Monroe miscues, as the Mustangs gave away 136 yards on 12 penalties.
"Our mindset this week is that we need to continue to work and get better," Coach Karg told his team after the game. "There's games to be won. We will be rewarded for efforts like tonight, but when we clean things up and execute better. "
Monroe will travel to Lackawana for the Falcons homecoming game on October 18, and they'll be at City Park for their own homecoming game on Saturday, October 25 against Thaddeus Stevens with kickoff at 1:30pm.
