By Chris Rossetti

NEW BETHLEHEM – It’s not how you start, its how you finish.

That’s what the Moniteau Warriors are out to prove.

When Moniteau dropped two of its first three games, things didn’t look good for the defending KSAC champions, but three wins in a row and five in their last six games including 49-21 pasting of Redbank Valley Friday night in New Bethlehem have the Warriors in the District 9 Class AA playoffs.

“It was tough,” Moniteau head coach Jeff Campbell said. “I kept saying that we have to take baby steps. We came out in Week Two and Week Three there in a little bit of a vanilla defense and just said that we have to start with the basics and build off that. Offensively, we shot ourselves in the foot early on. One of the things we have been stressing, is make the other team beat us, don’t beat ourselves.”

The loss could have been devastating for Redbank Valley considering the only way the Bulldogs were assured of a postseason berth was with a victory. But the chips appear to have fallen Redbank Valley’s way with Union, Ridgway and Johnsonburg all losing as well Friday night which should get the Bulldogs into the postseason. Redbank Valley and Johnsonburg are tied at 3-6 for the eighth and final District 9 Class A playoff spot, but the Bulldogs should finish with more District 9 Power Points than the Rams.

“It’s certainly not the way we wanted to get into the playoffs,” Redbank Valley’s second-year head coach Brandon Rapp said. “But the playoffs are a new season. Everyone starts at 0-0.”

Moniteau senior James Shope, the leading rusher in the KSAC, made sure Redbank Valley was going to have to sweat out its playoff chances by scoring four touchdowns and gaining 144 yards of total offense. He rushed for 117 and three scores on 21 carries and added a 27-yard touchdown catch.

Kyle Armagost added 78 yards rushing on nine carries and was 4 of 10 passing for 91 yards and two more scores.

Behind Shope and Armagost, the Warriors outrushed Redbank Valley 320-44 helping Moniteau outgain the Bulldogs 411-159 in the game.

“Our game plan was to come in and throw on them,” Campbell said. “When we saw how they were lining up, they were giving us the run. We are a team that is going to take what you give us. We can mix it up with the pass, we can mix it up with the pass. If you want to put nine guys in the box, we are going to throw the ball. If you want to chance it with seven guys in the box, we are going to run the ball. I think our line has proven its pretty good.”  

Shope gave Moniteau a 15-0 lead on scoring runs of 30 and 10 yards before a miscue by the Warrior senior helped get Redbank Valley back in the game.

As he was trying to get out of the way of a Brandon Bain punt, the punt hit him in the back of the foot with Redbank Valley recovering at the Moniteau 25.

Four plays later, quarterback Shiloh Buchleitner slipped on a fourth-and-6 play from the 21 but maintained his balance and found daylight and the end zone to cut the Moniteau lead to 15-7.

But the Warriors answered right back going 65 yards in six plays scoring on a 14-yard touchdown run by quarterback Kyle Armagost, who ran for 78 yards and threw for 91 and two scores.

“That was big,” Rapp said. “We have to be able to take advantage of the opportunities they give us, and we weren’t able to do that on both sides of the football.”

Moniteau then started to put the game away in the final minute of the first half when Tony Campbell got loose behind the defense to catch a 15-yard touchdown pass from Armagost in the back of the end zone giving the Warriors a 29-7 halftime lead.

“That definitely hurt us, there is no question,” Rapp said. “There were a couple of different scenarios that we could look at and say ‘man if we had just held them there or if we could have gotten that first down there.’ But that touchdown really hurt us. It put us behind a little bit.”

Shope and the Warriors made sure Redbank Valley wasn’t going to rally in the second half putting the game out of reach and the Mercy Rule into motion with two third-quarter touchdowns by the senior running back.

First, Armagost hit  Shope with a 27-yard screen pass for a touchdown, and then Shope found open ground on an 11-yard scoring run that made the score 43-7 at the end of three quarters.

Pat Goheen scored on a 1-yard run and on a 39-yard pass from Brandon Bain to start the fourth quarter for Redbank Valley before Moniteau’s Jay Wiley broke free on a 56-yard touchdown run with 2:52 left following a failed Redbank Valley on-side kick to set the final score.  

MONITEAU 49, REDBANK VALLEY 21

Moniteau 7 22 14 6 – 49

Redbank Valley 0 7 0 14 – 21  

First Quarter

M – James Shope 30 run (Tony Miller kick), 6:17

Second Quarter

M – Shope 10 run (Shope rush), 11:53

R – Shiloh Buchleitner 21 run (Brandon Bain kick), 7:52

M – Kyle Armagost 14 run (Miller kick), 5:07

M – Tony Campbell 15 pass from Armagost (Miller kick), 0:41

Third Quarter                            

M – Shope 27 pass from Armagost (Miller kick), 5:13

M – Shope 11 run (Miller kick), 0:00.4

Fourth Quarter

R – Pat Goheen 1 run (Buchleitner pass from Brandon Bain), 8:05

P – Goheen 39 pass from Bain (Pass failed), 3:25

M – Jay Wiles 56 run (Miller kick failed), 2:52

            M         R

First Downs    17        8

Rushes-Yards39-320  31-44

Passing Yards 91        115

Passing: Comp-Att-Int            4-10-1  10-17-0

Total Yardage 411      159

Fumbles-Lost  1-1       2-0

Penalties-Yards           5-60     0-0

Punts-Avg.      2-23.5  7-32.6

Individual Statistics

Rushing – Moniteau: James Shope 21-117, Kyle Armagost 9-78, Jay Wiley 2-60, Zach Wheeler 2-49, David Campbell 3-21, Team 1-negative 2, Victor Santoyo 1-negative 3. Redbank Valley: Pat Goheen 8-31, Curtis Lee 5-25, Shiloh Buchleitner 8-10, Keaton Truitt 1-8, Caleb Delp 1-1, Team 1-negative 15, Brandon Bain 7-negtaive 16.

Passing – Moniteau: Kyle Armagost 4-for-10, 91 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception. Redbank Valley: Brandon Bain 9 of 14, 106 yards, 1 touchdown. Shiloh Buchleitner 1-for-3, 9 yards.

Receiving – Moniteau: Tony Campbell 2-50, James Shope 1-27, Zach Wheeler 1-14. Redbank Valley: Shiloh Buchleitner 3-6, Keaton Truitt 2-52, Zach Dubia 2-12, Pat Goheen 1=30, Brady Shuster 1-7, Nolan Sovik 1-negative 1.

Interceptions – Redbank Valley: Keaton Truitt