Lafayette – Wade Landowski’s specialty is making big plays with his feet.
Friday night against Green Mountain, the Monarch senior running back made his biggest play with his hands.
Landowski hauled in a 30-yard catch with 22 seconds remaining and punched in a 3-yard touchdown two plays later as the Coyotes rallied for a 28-24 Class 4A nonleague victory over the Rams at Howard P. Spangenberg Field.
Landowski’s second touchdown of the night capped off a 61-yard drive the run-happy Coyotes engineered without any timeouts. On third down, senior quarterback Josh Vaughn threw to the right side, where Landowski beat double coverage.
“Wade brought in the play and basically told me just to put it up there,” said Vaughn, who rushed for a touchdown in the first quarter.
Said Landowski: “We needed a big play. They were stopping our running game.”
Landowski, a bruising runner, scored two touchdowns and carried the ball 40 times for 162 yards to give No. 2 Monarch (6-0) its first win this season over a team with a winning record. Speedy junior Rocky Borgstrom gave Monarch a nice change of pace, rushing for 88 yards and a score.
Fifth-ranked Green Mountain (4-2) was unable to wear down Monarch with its running game but made enough big plays to stay ahead.
Quarterback Marc Amos ran for a 52-yard touchdown in the second quarter and hooked up with backup quarterback Jeremy Opperman for a 76-yard touchdown pass to give the Rams a 24-14 lead with 7:18 left in the third quarter.
But the Rams missed several chances to make things tough on Monarch. The Rams got the ball on the Monarch 33 in the second quarter and were stuffed, botched a pitch early in the fourth quarter to kill a drive and went for a deep pass with 3:02 remaining instead of trying to run time off the clock.
Rams coach Kevin Rice said he had no regrets on the late pass attempt and tipped his hat to Monarch’s late-game moxie.
“They deserve credit for making plays when they had to,” Rice said. “That’s gutsy. They’re not a passing team.”
Running back Kheeland Hicks rushed for 59 yards and a touchdown.
Green Mountain 7 7 10 0 – 24
Monarch 0 7 14 7 – 28
GM – Hicks 3 run (Bayer kick). M – Vaughn 1 run (Henry kick). GM – Amos 52 run (Bayer kick). GM – FG Brovsky 29. M – Borgstrom 8 run (kick failed). GM – Opperman 76 pass from Amos (Bayer kick). M – Landowski 8 run (Landowski run). M – Landowski 3 run (Henry kick).
