Monroe City’s 14-8 win at rival Palmyra last Thursday night featured stirring touchdown runs, defensive stands and a group of seniors that simply would not lose their last game playing football for Monroe City.

“Games like that, a close game, playing our rival,” coach Tony DeGrave said, “Those are the games that they’ll talk about at their 20-year class reunions.”

Playing on a wet, muddy field, perhaps the toughest field conditions of all the muddy games the team has played in during this wet fall, Monroe City started their first drive at the Palmyra 47 when the opening onside-kick attempt didn’t go 10 yards. With Monroe City’s running back and top two quarterbacks unavailable, senior Joe Chinn, who usually plays receiver or sometimes running back, took the snaps as the quarterback in the Wildcat formation. The Wildcat is a version of the old single-wing offense that features a running back taking direct snaps in the quarterback position. Teams usually run out of the formation, but the back often has the option to pass.

After both teams went three-and-out on their first possessions, Monroe City started its next drive with good field position at the Palmyra 40. From there, Chinn took over. Taking the snap, Joe the Jet raced around the left end and down the sideline for a 40-yard touchdown run. Chinn also ran for the two-point conversion to put Monroe City up 8-0 with 7:35 to go in the first quarter.
On the following possession, Palmyra fumbled and Monroe City’s Shane Williams recovered the loose ball, giving his team the ball at the Palmyra 32-yard line. A few plays later, facing a fourth-and-4, Chinn took the direct snap and sprinted to the 20 to keep the drive alive. A few plays after that, Chinn ran up the middle for a 15-yard touchdown run to put Monroe City up 14-0 with 3:44 to go in the opening quarter. The pass on the two-point conversion try fell incomplete. Chinn carried the shorthanded offense during the game, taking off on play after play, finishing with 92 yards and the two touchdowns on 21 carries.
“We put it all on his shoulders,” DeGrave said. “He made enough plays to win the game. We blocked well for him… He took a beating and kept getting up. It was no secret what we were going to do.”

However, the Palmyra Panthers had plenty of fight left in them in this rivalry game. The orange-and-black Panthers embarked on a long scoring drive to get back into the game. Palmyra converted all three of their fourth-down situations on the drive and scored on an eight-yard touchdown run by Adam Wright with 9:02 left in the second quarter. Palmyra got the two-point conversion on a quarterback keeper by Austin Hinkle to cut Monroe City’s lead to 14-8.
Neither team could move the ball much for the remainder of the first half. Monroe City downed a punt at the Palmyra one-yard line late in the half and used timeouts to try to get the ball back with good field position, but Palmyra picked up a first down and ran out the clock to end the half.

After Palmyra punted on their opening drive of the second half, Monroe City had the ball around midfield. However, a second-down Monroe City fumble was recovered by Palmyra, giving the home team good field position at the Monroe City 47-yard line. But on fourth-and-6 from the 32-yard line, Palmyra fumbled and Monroe City recovered. The wet, muddy field with occasional bursts of rain in the second half made securing the football very difficult.
Monroe City kept making plays to hold on in the second half. After being backed up near their own goal line, Chinn was back deep to punt. The snap was a little low, and the wet ball slid into the end zone. Chinn ran back, picked up the ball, and got the punt off.
Palmyra took over at the Monroe City 29 and started driving again, largely on the strength of Wright’s power running game. Wright picked up two first downs on fourth-down runs as Palmyra reached the Monroe City three-yard line, threatening to tie or take the lead. Then the field conditions struck again. Palmyra fumbled the snap and Monroe City recovered.
Monroe City had to punt, and Chinn’s kick died in the mud at the Monroe City 35-yard line with 6:27 left in the game. Palmyra drove to the 20, where the Monroe City defense dug in and forced a turnover on downs.
Palmyra’s defense again forced Monroe City to punt, and Palmyra took over at the Monroe City 45 with 1:42 to go, no timeouts left and one more chance. Palmyra’s run-based offense had to go to the air in an attempt to score quickly. A long completion on third down moved Palmyra to the Monroe City 25. After a spike to stop the clock with 59.7 seconds to go, tensions were high as the game came down to the wire. On second down, Hinkle’s pass was intercepted by Monroe City’s Aaron Peters at the 10, finally sealing the gritty win.
Many players contributed to the strong Monroe City defense. C.J. Haden had three sacks and four solo tackles. Chinn had two sacks and nine solo tackles. Jay Hufford added six solo tackles and six assists, and Tanner Buckman recorded a sack.
After the game, as Monroe City Mayor Neal Minor received the Mayors’ Cup in honor of the team’s victory and handed it to the mud-covered players, tears welled up in Chinn’s eyes.
“These seniors are the freshmen I started with as a head coach,” DeGrave said. “This win means a lot. They have sacrificed for this program. They’ve worked so hard.”
The win, Monroe City’s second in a row over Palmyra, improved the team’s final record to 6-4, including a 4-3 mark in CCC play. Palmyra finished 2-8 with a 2-5 CCC record.