Monroeville cruises past New London

MONROEVILLE — Monroeville celebrated the military in style. The Eagles hosted their Military Appreciation night against visiting New London on Friday at Marsh Field. That was the big picture to Monroeville coach Tylor Nester after the Eagles beat the Wildcats, 55-13, in the Firelands Conference game that improved them to 3-2 overall and 2-0 in the FC. "We do this every year to say thank you to all of those military veterans from Monroeville, New London and everybody abroad," Nester said. "We're grateful for the freedoms and opportunities we have, and one of those opportunities is to play football. "So we're very thankful for all those men and women that serve our country." Quarterback Colt Clark and the Eagles needed just 48 seconds to open the scoring in the easy win. He scored on a 40-yard run and Isaac Krueger's first of seven extra points gave Monroeville a 7-0 lead. Monroeville's defense and special teams also got in on the action early. After a huge third down sack, Maverick Myers blocked a punt and was able to pick it up for the scoop and score to put the Eagles up 14-0. "Special teams came up big today and that's something we've been working really hard at in practice the last couple of weeks," Nester said. "It's nice to see it come to fruition for those kids, to just completely buy in and sell out for the offense and defense." After another forced three and out by the Eagles defense, Clark and the offense went back to work. Clark ripped off a 25-yard run that set up a two-yard touchdown pass to Colton Koch to extend the lead to 20-0. Problems continued for the Wildcats on their next drive. In just two plays, Derek Ackerman intercepted Jarrett Mencl's pass and returned it 29 yards for a touchdown to push the lead out to 27-0. Monroeville then scored a fifth time to end the opening 12 minutes, as Clark added a 21-yard run for a 34-0 lead. After another short drive by New London (2-3, 0-2), Monroeville just needed four plays to score again. Clark went 4-of-4 passing for 50 yards, the last a 19-yard touchdown pass to Blake Ackerman for a 41-0 lead. The Wildcats offense finally broke out on their next drive. Keith Squire broke a tackle and found an open lane to make a 67 yard touchdown pass from a pass by Mencl to put New London on the scoreboard. Monroeville responded again when senior Connor Bores sparked a drive with a 38-yard run to get the Eagles into New London territory. Just one play later, Myers fought his way in for a 24-yard touchdown pass from Clark to put the Eagles up 48-6 at halftime. Clark came out one last time for the Eagles, and again went 4-of-4 for 73 yards. He capped off the drive with a 14 yard touchdown pass to Myers to increase the lead to 55-6. New London put one last drive together to finish off the game. As time expired, Landon Harrison found Jackson Mitchell for a 22-yard touchdown pass to close out the scoring for the night. Mencl finished 9-of-11 passing for 110 yards and the touchdown pass for NL. Hunter Chandley ran for 39 yards on 12 attempts, while Squire caught three passes for 89 yards and Mitchell caught five passes for 57 yards. Clark finished the game completing 15-of-16 passing for 225 yards and four touchdowns. The Eagles finished with 226 yards of rushing on just 15 attempts. Nester gave a ton of credit to his offensive linemen, who continue to make Clark and the Eagles run the ball effectively week in and week out. "Colt is definitely settling in and it helps to have the experience and the heart up front with our linemen," he said. "So they're showing out for him, and he's doing the vice versa and just feeding off of their energy for a nice team win tonight."