October 14, 2005
Monarch rally falls short against Ferrum in 42-37 defeat

ROCKY MOUNT, Va. - There was never any quit in the Methodist Monarchs in their USA South Athletic Conference showdown in Friday night against rival Ferrum. However, the valiant Methodist effort came up just short as Methodist dropped a 42-37 decision against Ferrum at Cy Dillon Stadium at Rocky Mount High School. The defeat snaps a four-game winning streak for Methodist, which slips to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the USA South.

Ferrum, meanwhile, remains undefeated overall at 7-0 and 4-0 in the USA South.

The difference was the vaunted Ferrum option attck, which piled up 380 yards rushing on 69 carries. Quarterback Jermaine Pitts paced the Panthers with 129 yards on 16 carries, followed by fullback Jacob Hawkins with 90 yards on 17 carries. In addition, Terrel Mulford gained 88 yards on 19 carries, and halfback Dustin Hamoy added 73 yards on 15 carries.

That Ferrum attack threatened to put the game out of reach early as Ferrum jumped out to a 20-0 lead early in the first half. Pitts put the Panthers up 7-0 on a 7-yard touchdown on a quarterback keeper on Ferrum's opening drive.

Mulford increased the Panther lead to 14-0 with a 6-yard scoring jaunt on the second play of the second quarter, followed by a 2-yard scoring burst by Hamoy with 7:32 remaining. After that, Methodist made its move.

Late in the first half, quarterback Chris Roncketti put the Monarchs on the board with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Jonathan Mularski with 40 seconds remaining in the second quarter, trimming the Ferrum lead to 20-7 at halftime. Then in the third quarter, Methodist recovered a Ferrum fumble on the Panthers' first possession, and Roncketti responded with a 47-yard touchdown pass in stride to Mularski. That put Methodist back in the game, trailing 20-14 with 11:57 remaining in the third quarter.

After Ferrum responded with a touchdown by Mulford to go up 28-14, Methodist came back with an 11-play, 62-yard drive, capped off by a 1-yard touchdown run by Jeremy McSwain. However, On Ferrum's next possession, Mulford fumbled a bobbled pitch, and Methodist safety Chris Gauntlett returned the loose ball 12 yards to Ferrum 13-yard line.

Four plays later, McSwain scored on a 5-yard touchdown run, and the Monarchs tied the game 28-28 with 2:25 remaining in the third quarter.

The two teams traded scores four times in the fourth quarter. Ferrum took the lead 35-28 on a 1-yard by Mulford early in the fourth quarter. Methodist, however drove the ball to the Panther 6, where Patrick Larkin drilled a 23-yard field goal with 6:32 remaining. But Ferrum answered again with a six-play, 73-yard drive with Hamoy scoring from 15 yards out on a counter run to increase the Panther lead to 42-31 with 3:32 remaining.

But there was no quit where Methodist was concerned. Aided by a pass interference call on fourth down, Roncketti drove the Monarchs to the Ferrum 7, where he scored on a delayed draw. However, the onside kick attempt went out of bounds, and Ferrum ran out the clock.

Roncketti completed 14-for-27 passes for 215 yards and two touchdown passes, while Mularski had six receptions for 119 yards. On the ground, McSwain, playing in place of an injured Mike Hill, gained 62 yards on 20 carries, and Roncketti added 54 yards on 10 carries. Defensively, outside linebacker Max Pope tallied 17 tackles for Methodist.

The Monarchs are back at Monarch Stadium on Oct. 22 for Homecoming 2005, playing host to Christopher Newport at 1:30 p.m.