Cougars take down Tigers at Monument field

Published 12:35 pm Tuesday, September 11, 2018

The Echo Cougars dominated the Dayville/Monument Tigers 66-28 on Friday at the Monument football field.

Echo running back Mason Smith scored the first touchdown the first quarter, and Dayville/Monument’s Gabe Walker-Hopkins grabbed the Cougar’s onside kick, returning to score.

Walker-Hopkins also scored the extra point. (In six-man football, 1 extra point is earned for a successful pass or scrimmage, and 2 points are awarded for a successful place or drop kick.)

The Tigers were ahead 7-6, but it would be their only lead of the game. The Cougars took back the lead, scoring three more touchdowns — on the third, the Tigers blocked Echo’s point-after kick.

Heading into the second quarter, Echo led 26-7 and scored three touchdowns. Cade Milton and JT Hand were in on tackles, and DJ Howell sacked the Echo quarterback Devan Craig down the stretch.

Dayville/Monument trailed 7-47 at halftime but came to life in the second half.

Tiger head coach Kyle Hand said his team had missed some tackles, and Echo had better blocking.

“At halftime, I said let’s win the second half, and we did by 1 point, 20-19,” Hand said.

Echo scored the first touchdown of the third quarter, but Dayville/Monument answered back when Tiger quarterback JT Hand connected with Mark Thomas for 6 points.

Milton, one of the biggest guys on the team, pushed forward to score the extra point. Milton scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter, and after Echo made their final touchdown of the game, JT Hand ended it on a good note.

On fourth down, the Tigers had a reverse play with Hand getting the ball back to rush in to score, and linebacker Tell Cox caught a pass for the extra point.

“We finished on a positive — got a touchdown and conversion,” coach Hand said. “There are a lot of things we did right. We just need to sharpen up.”

Coach Hand said his four team captains performed well including JT Hand, Mark Thomas, Milton and Walker-Hopkins, who was sidelined with an injury before halftime.

“JT saw the underneath pass and wasn’t forcing the long ball as much,” coach Hand said.

Next up, the Tigers will be on the road to face Joseph at 6 p.m. Friday.

“I think we can man up with them,” the coach said.