INDIANAPOLIS — Whiting quarterback Stuart Glascow walked over and put his arm around the shoulder of left tackle Cody Emigh.
The two watched from the sideline as the final minute ticked away for the Oilers’ Class 2A state championship game against Monrovia at Lucas Oil Stadium. One portion of the crowd chanted “Whiting.” The other screamed “Oilers.”
It was a storybook season for Whiting. Just not the final chapter the team had hoped for.
Dalton Smith and Jaden Rhea both rushed for two touchdowns to lead Monrovia to a 33-6 victory against the Oilers on Saturday.
“Ultimately, this is not what we want to happen, but it is what it is,” Whiting coach Jeff Cain said. “We’ll hopefully get better. We have a young group. Hopefully, we can get these guys back again.”
The Bulldogs rushed for 373 yards to deny Whiting in its bid for the state title. Smith rushed for 167 yards, while Rhea finished with 122.
“We left our heart out there,” said Whiting wide receiver/safety Martin Petruf, who made 16 tackles and also caught four passes for 42 yards. “Monrovia had a great offense. We just couldn’t slow them down that much. The defense gave it their all out there.”
Glascow passed for 137 yards and rushed for 63 yards. Thomas Davenport scored Whiting’s lone TD. Davenport’s 1-yard run brought the Oilers within 7-6 with 5:33 left in the first quarter.
Monrovia (14-1) scored final 26 points of the game to pull away. Whiting ended up with 236 total yards.
“They stopped the run,” Glascow said. “They stopped our counters. After that, we had to pass, and they just took it from there. We just couldn’t capitalize.”
Turnovers also hurt Whiting (13-2). The Oilers lost one fumble and threw two interceptions. The Bulldogs scored 13 points off the turnovers.
Whiting trailed 14-6 to start the third quarter. Jeremiah Welty stripped the ball from Glascow on the first play from scrimmage and recovered the fumble. Monrovia capitalized with an eight-play scoring drive. Smith scored on a 2-yard run for the only points of the third.
“Coming out we talked about going down and scoring and getting this thing back into a real close ballgame,” Cain said. “Turning the ball over at that point, that’s probably not the best way to start the second half.”
Clay Starnes intercepted a pass and returned it 51 yards midway through the fourth quarter. It set up Monrovia’s final TD, a 1-yard run by John Williams.
“It’s a reason they call it a championship game,” Cain said. “They are pretty good on defense and pretty good on offense. We played hard the whole game.”
The same goes for the whole season.
“It was good to get the sectional for our community,” Glascow said. “After that it was all for us. We played for ourselves. It was a great run. Props to the community and coaching staff for getting us here.”
Twitter: @lamondpope
