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PUBLISHED: Sunday, September 23, 2007
Offensive explosion carries Rams to gridiron win, 48-20
MONTROSE A week after their defense carried them to a 21-0 victory at Goodrich, Montrose's offense came to the front, propelling the Rams to a 48-20 football triumph over visiting Mt. Morris last Friday. Behind the hard running of Cody Groulx, Dennis Reinhart's squad churned out 419 of its 504 total yards on the ground, scoring seven touchdowns over the final three quarters of play. "I'm pleased with the way we played offensively tonight," assessed Reinhart after the contest. "However, I'm disappointed in our defense, especially since we gave up at least three big plays during the early part of the game." It took the Ram offense a while to warm up its engines, and Mt. Morris took advantage by striking first, via a 42-yard pass on third-and-long with just 43 seconds to go in the opening quarter. The PAT was no good and Mt. Morris carried a 6-0 advantage into the second quarter. Montrose responded quickly, scoring on a one-yard quarterback keeper by Joe Lamay at 10:57 of the second stanza. Lamay's score was set up by a 43-yard aerial from Lamay to James Person earlier in the drive. The Rams also missed their extra point and the score stood knotted at 6-6. On the next Ram possession, Groulx broke loose for a 73-yard jaunt into the end zone. The senior running back then bulled in for the two-point conversion, and Montrose took the lead, 14-6, with 7:26 left before intermission. Groulx found pay dirt again, just five minutes later on a 4-yard run, and after the two-point conversion failed, Montrose led, 20-6. But the Panthers retaliated the next time they got the ball, again gaining big yardage through the air as they scored on a 33-yard pass to narrow the deficit. The two-point conversion pulled the Panthers to within 20-14 heading into the locker room. "Specifically, it is our pass defense that hurt us tonight. They did some good things on offense, but we should never give up that many big passing plays." Said Reinhart, in reference to Mt. Morris gaining 208 of its 255 total yards through the air. "It is our job now as coaches to correct that." Montrose gave itself a little breathing room by taking the opening kick-off of the second half and marching 60 yards for the score. Groulx once again capped the drive, this time running the ball in from 35 yards out. The two-point attempt failed, but Montrose still led, 26-14, at 8:53 of the period. Mt. Morris refused to go away, however, as the Panthers capitalized on a fumbled punt and later scored on a 35-yard drive. The missed PAT left the Rams still clinging to a 26-20 edge at 6:30 of the third quarter. But the Rams would yield no more points to the Panthers for the rest of the evening and their high-powered offense kicked it up another notch. James Person scored on a 16-yard run with 44 seconds to go in the period and Groulx ran in the two-pointer to expand the lead to 34-20. Then Groulx rushed for his fourth touchdown of the night, this time a two-yard plunge, and followed with the two-point conversion run to up the lead to 42-20. Groulx's score was set up by a 34-yard scamper by Jon Hall earlier in the drive.
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Adam Campbell finished the scoring when he reached the end zone from 36 yards away with 2:08 remaining to give the Rams their final margin of victory. Groulx led the Rams on offense, rushing for 204 yards on 22 carries. Person toted the ball 15 times while covering 113 yards. Hall and Campbell each had two carries, gaining 46 and 38 yards, resectively. Defensively, Derek Elston led the Rams with nine tackles, supported by Mike Foster, who recorded seven stops. Zach Kuzniar pitched in with six tackles. Person, Brandon Rose and Ricky Genson each had an interception. The Rams amassed 19 first downs to just eight for Mt. Morris. The win improves Montrose's record to 2-1 in the GAC-Red and 4-1 overall heading into this Friday's contest at LakeVille.
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