SAN JOSE — Before the season, the Mitty Monarchs were labeled as a dark horse to compete for the WCAL title, with a healthy Shamir Bey at quarterback and an offense full of playmakers.
On Friday night, playing their lone on-campus game of the year, they delivered on that hype, finding the end zone four times in the first half en route to a 32-21 win over St. Francis. It marked Mitty’s first win over the Lancers since 2013, snapping a five-year streak that included six losses.
Bey was thoroughly dominant, throwing for 311 yards on 21-of-27 passing. St. Francis (2-6, 1-4 WCAL) struggled defensively for a third week in a row, once again falling behind by three scores before trying to make up the lost ground, closing the gap but ultimately coming up short.
“Same story, different day,” Lancer defensive coordinator Matt Scharrenberg said. “We’re young, but that’s not an excuse at this point in the season.”
Unlike the prior two games, though, the Lancers weren’t able to make up the deficit through the air. They passed for just 58 yards, struggling with the Mitty secondary of Adam Fox, Zach Ng-Posey and Derrick Chiou.
Meanwhile, the Monarchs were flying high offensively from the get-go, announcing their presence with a 37-yard touchdown pass on a trick play to cap off their opening drive. Bey took the snap and tossed to Reymello Murphy, who threw to a wide-open Hunter Lucas for the score. Murphy, a junior who filled in at quarterback last year when Bey was injured, unsurprisingly threw a perfect pass. He also had a game-high seven catches for 70 yards and ran for a touchdown to make it 13-0 before the first quarter came to a close. That score, set up after Mitty (6-2, 4-1) forced a three-and-out on the first St. Francis possession, was set up by a pair of remarkable passes from Bey. He hit Connor Gambelin over the middle off his back foot for an 11-yard gain, then escaped a sack on third-and-9 for a 20-yard completion to Lucas, who had three catches on the night for 61 yards. The Monarchs even tried to reach the end zone with another trick play as Ian Collier tried to pass to Bey on a reincarnation of the Philly special, but the pass was a hair too long. Undeterred, they scored on fourth-and-goal with Murphy’s two-yard run on a sweep.
A Michael Mosko sack set up a second St. Francis punt and the third Monarch touchdown, a four-yard Zach Webb run that followed a 53-yard pass to Gambelin. Both Webb and Gambelin had outstanding nights, with Gambelin hauling in six patches for a game-high 125 yards and Webb, who didn’t have a single carry until last week, ran 16 times for 52 yards.
“He’s got a lot of heart,” head coach Sione Ta’ufo’ou said of Webb. “That kid packs a punch. He’s grown up a lot in the last five months.”
Webb was third on the depth chart at running back to begin the year, but James Thomas got hurt three games into the season and Zach Tabangcura went down with an ankle injury during last week’s win at Sacred Heart Cathedral.
“It was a hard week in practice,” Webb said of his preparation. “Our teammates push each other each and every day. Tabby helped me a lot too, showing me a lot of film.”
While Webb had just one carry of more than five yards, a 13-yard run in the fourth that helped ice the game, he gained at least three yards on 12 of his 16 runs.
“For him to step up the last two games has been big,” Bey said. “We really needed it.”
The 13-yard run set up the second Gunnar Weidick field goal of the night, a 38-yarder with 2:33 left that restored a two-score lead after a fierce St. Francis comeback. The Lancers finally managed to come to life in the final 18 minutes of the game, getting within eight with 7:12 left on Juju Teu’s second touchdown run of the night, but Mitty shut the door with a 10-play, 59-yard drive that finished on Weidick’s second field goal of the fourth quarter. His night started off on a shaky note, with a bad snap thwarting his second extra point attempt and a badly missed 46-yard try that may have been tipped at the line, but he took care of business in the fourth.
The Monarchs led 26-7 at half, answering a heavy dose of Camilo Arquette and Adonis Hernandez with two passes to Gambelin and a 39-yard score to Ian Collier, whose prowess rounded out what was an already-potent Mitty passing game.
“Thanks to Reymello, I usually don’t have the best DB on me,” a beaming Collier said after his four-catch, 81-yard performance. Not only did he play a key role in a win that entertained a near-capacity crowd at Mitty, he also helped settle a score for his family. “I’ve watched my two brothers lose to St. Francis every year. We’ve grinded so hard for this and it’s just an amazing feeling.”
Mitty looked to pull away early in the third, driving with a chance to build on the lead, but after getting stopped at the 6-yard line after a shanked punt and missing the 46-yarder, Teu went to work. 85 of his 97 yards came in the second half, with runs of 19 and 25 yards to set up a two-yard Arquette touchdown, cutting the lead to 12 with 1:38 left in the quarter. Arquette finished with 19 carries for 109 yards, his second-highest output of the year.
A 22-yard Collier reception set up a 36-yard Weidick field goal to make it 29-14, but the Lancers drove 73 yards in less than four minutes to get within one score for the first time since the opening quarter. None of the 15 plays went for more than 14 yards, but they finally managed to play like the offense that they strive to bring to the field.
Though Teu’s 10-yard score made it an eight-point game, Mitty was able to run the clock as needed to ensure there would be no miraculous comeback. Murphy had four catches on the ensuing drive, and only when sophomore Wyatt King prevented a fifth reception would Weidick be called on again to put an end to the contest.
King was among nine sophomores who saw time for the Lancers on the night, including new kicker Matthew Karic, who made all three of his extra points. A young St. Francis roster was pushed to play even more underclassmen throughout the night as Travis Bell-Dzide, Joe Pilawski and Liam Quinn all went down with injuries.
