PARKER CITY — Eastern Hancock couldn’t catch Monroe Central in their Mid-Eastern Conference game on Friday.
The Golden Bears defeated the Royals 30-16.
The first quarter was a different story than the rest of the game. The Royals had a decent first drive followed by a 19-play drive that finished out the quarter and ended with a touchdown.
Victor Olivo found the holes and took them for 40 yards in six plays to start the drive.
This was followed by passes to Cole Rainbolt and Connor Schultz. With first down and 11 yards to go, a five-yard pass to Schultz put the Royals on the 6-yard line, but then a few futile rushes and passes turned into fourth down on the 2-yard line. An Olivo run was enough to get a first down at the 1-yard line and it took four more downs for Houston Swan to find Schultz for the 10-yard touchdown pass.
The Royals had chipped away for seven minutes to take the lead 8-6, after a two-point conversion pass to Schultz.
But the Golden Bears were not to be deterred. They marched right back for their second touchdown as another freshman quarterback, Jaxson Ullom led the drive.
The Royal passing game deteriorated after that. After the touchdown pass, the Royals had nine incompletions with two interceptions.
“Really, the interceptions were out of desperation,” Eastern Hancock head coach Doug Armstrong said. “Houston threw several good passes and had another pretty good game.”
Special teams caused some issues for the Royals. Some dropped punts and miscommunication hurt their field positioning.
“We just got way up against it field position-wise. That was a big advantage for them,” Armstrong said.
Another second-quarter touchdown was followed by a quick third-quarter touchdown for the Golden Bears, and Monroe Central was out of reach.
Their rushing attack was tough stop as they accumulated over 200 rushing yards, led by 6-foot-2, 220-pound running back Taft Manship.
The Royals had a few last efforts in the half, most significantly a 24-yard touchdown pass to Caden Sotelo from Swan.
“We continue to play hard the entire game,” Armstrong said. “We continue to gain experience because there’s a lot of season left to play. The more experience and the more improvement, the better our future looks.”
Eastern Hancock ended with 157 passing yards and 91 rushing yards. Rainbolt led the receivers with 50 yards on seven completions. He was followed by Schultz with 49 yards on five completions. Olivo finished with 77 rushing yards.
The Royals drop to 3-4 and 1-1 in the conference. They play Shenandoah at home next Friday for their last conference matchup.
“The last thing I told them before we went to the locker room at the end of the game is constant improvement,” Armstrong said. “We’re going to prepare for Shenandoah and give a really spirited effort against a really good team.”
