DEERFIELD BEACH — Monarch football coach Calvin Davis said his team has a lot to clean up offensively.
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You wouldn’t know it following the Knights’ 48-10 thumping of host Deerfield Beach on Saturday morning.
Monarch (1-1) scored on every possession in the game and forced a running clock with 4:38 remaining in the third in the rout. The game was rescheduled from Friday night due to inclement weather.
Monarch’s Keshawn Paschall rushed for 89 yards and scored on two short runs in the Knights’ 48-10 win over host Deerfield Beach on Saturday morning. (Gary Curreri/Contributor)
“We have to get better (offensively),” Davis said. “We have to play faster, and we have a long way to go if we want to be elite. Right now, we are not elite.”
Monarch seized a 27-3 halftime lead as senior quarterback Florentino Lopez threw one TD and ran for another, and sophomore Keshawn Paschall scored on two short runs.
“It wasn’t pretty to watch,” Davis added. “We scored every drive, but there wasn’t a rhythm, and what we are used to seeing. If we can run the ball a little bit, it gives our guys on the outside an opportunity to make plays.”
Lopez hit senior Jaboree Riggins on a 19-yard scoring toss for a 7-0 lead.
Deerfield Beach then drove 56 yards and 11 plays, where the drive stalled on the Knights’ 10, where senior Nesbi Santiague converted a 26-yard field goal with 1:30 remaining in the quarter to pull the Bucks within 7-3. It was the closest Deerfield Beach would get the rest of the way.
Monarch’s Raenaldo Farrington takes the handoff from Jeremiah Milcent in the Knights’ 48-10 win over host Deerfield Beach on Saturday morning. (Gary Curreri/Contributor)
After Paschall scored on runs of 2 and 3 yards, Lopez closed out the half on a 1-yard keeper. Paschall finished the game with 11 carries for 89 yards to lead Monarch on the ground. The Knights totaled 152 yards rushing and 187 in the air. Lopez was 13 for 19 for 148 yards and 2 TDs, while sophomore Jeremiah Milcent was 3 for 3 for 39 yards and a TD.
Monarch senior Chris Davis had a pick-six from 63 yards out to extend the lead to 34-3 on Deerfield Beach’s opening drive of the second half, and Lopez connected with Riggins for a second time with 4:38 left in the third to extend the lead to 41-3.
Monarch held Deerfield Beach to 107 total yards.
Deerfield Beach got on the scoreboard in the fourth on a 14-yard TD pass from freshman Xavier Henry Jr. to sophomore Damien Darling. Monarch senior Jabari Brady caught a 9-yard TD pass from Milcent to close out the scoring and put a damper on the first game played on the new turf field at the school. They held a ribbon-cutting for the stadium on Friday night in the cafeteria when weather forced the ceremony inside.
“Obviously, we have to stay ready with the heat, rain, festivities… we can only control the things that we can,” first-year Deerfield Beach coach J.T. Thomas said. “I thought it was important to get this game in.
“Right out of the gate,” Thomas continued, “they are a pretty good ball club with a good coach, and they have a couple of players who can do some good things. Today, I didn’t feel like we gave it our best shot. There were things that we left on the field that could have made it a much more competitive game.”
Monarch’s Florentino Lopez finds running room in the Knights’ 48-10 win over host Deerfield Beach on Saturday morning. Lopez threw for two TDs and ran for another in the win. (Gary Curreri/Contributor)
