November 5, 2005
Still in the hunt! Monarchs roll past Greensboro 45-21

GREENSBORO, N.C. – In most of Methodist’s road games this season, the Monarchs have had to pull off comebacks in the waning moments to prevail. That wasn’t the case on Saturday as Methodist took control early and cruised to an impressive 45-21 USA South Athletic Conference victory over Greensboro at Greensboro’s Jamieson Stadium.

Methodist improves to 7-2 overall and 5-1 in the USA South. The Monarchs still have an outside shot a possibly sharing the USA South title.

In the past two weeks, Methodist rode the arm of quarterback Chris Roncketti in victories over Christopher Newport and Maryville. However, the running game returned to form for the Monarchs against Greensboro. Methodist grinded out 314 yards rushing as Mike Hill gained 87 yards on 12 carries, followed by Jeremy McSwain with 74 yards on 1 carries, Roncketti with 73 yards on 11 carries and freshman Joseph Matthews added 66 yards on 11 carries.

But it was the passing game that put Methodist in control early. On the Monarchs’ first drive, Roncketti hooked up with Patrick Doleman on a 41-yard touchdown strike to give Methodist a 7-0 lead. The duo connected again with 9:45 remaining in the first half, this time on a 31-yard scoring strike to give Methodist a 24-7 lead.

After that, the Monarchs let their running game do the work as Roncketti scored three rushing touchdowns, including one each in the third and fourth quarter as Methodist increased its lead to 38-21 with 11:56 remaining. Those three touchdowns on the ground gave Roncketti 38 for his Methodist career. That breaks the Methodist career record of 36, set by former All-American DeCarlos West from 1994-1997.

Matthews all but sealed the deal for the Monarchs with an 8-yard scoring run with 2:44 remaining as Methodist chewed up 7:16 off the clock in its final drive.

In addition to his running accolades, Roncketti also completed 14-for-22 passes for 188 yards. That raises his season total to 1,955 passing for the season, breaking the previous Methodist single-season record of 1,798 yards, set by Brian Turner in 1996. In addition, the 14 completions makes Roncketti both the single-season and career record holder for completions at Methodist.

He now has 128 completions on the season, breaking the previous mark of 125 set by Dustin Daniels in 2000. Roncketti also raised his career completion total to 328, eclipsing the old mark of 320 set by Turner from 1995-1998.
Doleman, Jonathan Mularski and George Sands each had four receptions for the Monarchs, while Mitchell Collier had an interception that set up Methodist’s first touchdown of the second half. Defensively, Daryl Lawrence had 13 tackles for Methodist, followed by Max Pope with nine.

Methodist closes out the 2005 season at home next Saturday (Nov. 12) against Shenandoah. Kickoff is 1 p.m. at Monarch Stadium.