Long runs spark Hawks during win over Monroe

FAIRBANKS — The Monroe Catholic High School football team’s 27-20 loss to the Houston Hawks on Saturday afternoon was educational.

“The biggest thing you can do is learn from it,’’ Rams head coach Marcus Cogley said after the Division III nonconference game.

“We’re going back to watch the film, figure out and clean up the things we need to clean up and use those things as building points for next week so we can avoid situations like that.”

The Rams grabbed a 7-0 with less than two minutes into the first quarter. Not long after cutting the Hawks’ lead to 27-20, Monroe Catholic was driving with less than two minutes remaining in the game at Kiwanis Field before a turnover ended the host team’s momentum.

The Rams, of the Aurora Conference, slipped to 1-1 on the season but found something to build on from the loss to the 1-1 Hawks, of the Peninsula Conference.

“We had too many simple mistakes,’” Cogley said. “We had penalties, jumping offsides, missing blocks in the middle and not completing the passes we needed to when it counted.

“We played well otherwise. Being down last couple of years to the game finishing (with a drive) in the last two minutes is something we can definitely hang our hats on.”

The Rams produced the game’s first touchdown with senior quarterback Tre Puryear’s 18-yard pass to senior wide receiver Isaac Minnema at 8:28 left in the opening quarter.

About five minutes later, the Hawks trimmed the lead to 7-6 after junior quarterback Gavin Mulhaney scored on a 50-yard burst along the left sidelines.

Sixteen seconds into the second quarter, Apete Sasiu, a 5-foot-7, 145-pound junior, peeled off a 61-yard run that included breaking a few tackles around the Monroe 30-yard.

Sasiu credited divine intervention for the go-ahead touchdown.

“That was all Jesus Christ, he got me through that run,’’ the 5-foot-7, 145-pound junior said.

The Hawks’ offensive lined helped, too.

“They did good. Without them, I wouldn’t have those yards I had,’’ he said.

Sasiu also made a game-saving interception in the end zone of Puryear’s pass intended for Minnema with less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter.

“Our (defensive coordinator) Jared Barrett had our defense ready to go, and they had some good stopped and bailed us out,’’ Houston head coach Glenn Nelson said.

With 9:05 left in the second quarter, Kennedy Fono, a 6-1 and 190-pound junior, churned out a five-yard run to help stretch Houston’s lead to 21-7.

Jordan Higbee, a junior cornerback and wide receiver for Monroe, got the Rams and their fans amped by collecting a fumble on a Houston pass play and returning the ball 60 yards into the end zone. He also made the point-after kick to cut the Hawks’ lead to 21-14 with 30 seconds before halftime.

Mulhaney visited the end zone for the second time Saturday, stretching Houston’s lead to 27-14 with a 75-yard burst with 5:15 left in the third quarter.

A 51-yard punt by Higbee put Houston at its 1-yard line. Higbee continued his defensive effectiveness by recovering a fumble at the Hawks’ 2-yard line to set up senior Isaac Garcia’s two-touchdown run and make it 27-20 with 5:50 left in the game.

Higbee and Houston’s Denali Whitted each converted two point-after kicks.

The Rams play another Peninsula Conference team, the Homer Mariners, on Saturday in Homer.

Contact News-Miner sports editor Danny Martin at 459-7586. Follow him on Twitter: @newsminersports.