Monett Cubs fail to escape Aurora Houn’ Dawg pressure

A second-half surge by Monett was not enough to overcome Aurora on Friday as the football Houn’ Dawgs prevailed 26-18 in gridiron action.
Trailing 14-0 to begin the third period, Aurora extended its advantage with a 78-yard catch and a run by Clayton Jaramillo to elevate the score to 20-0. The Cubs then found their legs and Colin Umfleet capped a seven-play, 56-yard drive with an 8-yard run to trim the lead to 20-8 with 8:04 left in the third quarter.
“I like how our kids bounced back and gave themselves a chance there at the end,” said Ben Mauk, Monett coach. “I saw our kids compete. These guys care. They care about the score. They care about winning games. We are going to do everything we have to do as coaches to help this team win games.”
Dylan Washick found Landyn Brandt for a 20-yard strike to end the third quarter and Monett pulled within 20-12.
Aurora countered with a 1-yard touchdown run by Sean Creasey to make it 26-12 with 8:27 left in the game. Monett fought back with an Aaron Soriano 20-yard catch and run with 6:24 remaining but could get no closer.
“I think our kids are starting to believe and play together,” Mauk said. “We just have to play together all the time. We’ll go back and watch the film and fix those times we shot ourselves in the foot. But those things are fixable.”
Aurora asserted pressure early in the game using a pair of 11-play drives on its initial two possessions to take a 14-0 lead with touchdowns coming from Brennon Diaz and Todd Rackley with a 5-yard reception.
Monett outgained Aurora in total yardage 328 to 326. The Cubs were 33-of-45 passing for 290 yards. Aurora rushed for 142 yards and threw for 184.
Both teams struggled with penalties. Monett was flagged 20 times for 178 yards and Aurora was dinged 14 times for 135 yards.
Monett, 0-3, hits the road on Friday as they head to Seneca. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Aurora improves to 1-2 for the season but the schedule does them no favors as the #4 team in Class 2 Lafayette County comes to Aurora this Friday night ahead of the week five showdown with Seneca.