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Monterey experiences thrill of victory
You will never convince Dr. Kevin Ingram that Friday the 13th is unlucky.
It was on Friday, September 13, 1985 that Ingram scored on a 12-yard touchdown run with four minutes remaining that gave Monterey High a hard-fought 28-24 win over East Beauregard.
It was the first win for a Monterey football team since the football program was revived three years earlier in 1982.
"I enjoyed coaching those kids," said then-Monterey coach Mike Mallory. "They always tried real hard. I was very proud of them. We were always out-numbered and other teams would wear us down. And we didn't have the speed of other teams. But we actually had about three wins that year. We beat Block's junior varsity team and Vidalia's JV team. Coach (Dee) Faircloth never forgave me for that."
East Beauregard had the size and numbers, totaling 35 players on its sidelines to 18 for the Wolves.
"But they were actually closer to what type of team we were than most of the teams we played," Ingram said.
"It was actually great to win a game," said Brad Mount, a junior on the '85 team. "We didn't have a lot of players, so most of us had to go both ways and be on the kickoff teams. My senior year we had 25 players and I was actually able to rest a bit when we were on defense."
East Beauregard led 8-0 at halftime.
Monterey tied the game at 8-8 midway through the third quarter when Wade Woodrum intercepted a pass on the Trojan 22-yard line and ran it into the end zone for the score. Ingram ran in the conversion for an 8-8 score.
Monterey's A.G. Green recovered an East Beauregard fumble at the Trojan19-yard line. Four plays later, Woodrum ran in from four yards out and Ingram again added the conversion run for a 16-8 Wolf lead.
East Beauregard's Elroy Cooley hooked up on a 54-yard scoring pass to Weston Morvant and Cooley passed to John Gray to tie the game at 16-16 with 3:40 remaining in the third period.
East Beauregard went ahead early in the fourth quarter as Michael Atkinson scored on a 15-yard run. Cooley passed to Dempsey Parden on the conversion for a 24-16 Trojan lead with 11:37 remaining.
A 24-yard kickoff return by Jeff Poole put Monterey near midfield. But an interception stopped the drive at the East Beauregard 28.
But Pat Mallory intercepted a Trojan pass to give the Wolves possession back at the Trojan 25-yard line.
Five plays later, Ingram ran in from two yards out with 6:47 remaining. The conversion run failed, leaving Monterey trailing 24-22.
Monterey's defense held and the Wolf offense started off at their own 37.
A 34-yard pass from Ingram to Boomer Coates gave Monterey first down at the Trojan 12.
Ingram then scored on the next play on a keeper to put the Wolves up 28-24 with 4:00 remaining.
Ingram said Mallory did a lot of yelling.
"Some people came to the games just to watch him," he said. "He had a yellow raincap he wore with some type of yellow flower thing on it."
Ingram played pee wee football and played on the Monterey Junior High football team.
"I think that's where bringing varsity football back started," Ingram said of the junior high program at that time. "My father (Johnny Ingram) and others built the bleachers."
Ingram only played football.
"I wasn't coordinated enough for basketball," he said.
Which may seem kind of strange for a quarterback to say.
"I couldn't throw the ball and I wasn't that fast," he said. "But I loved it. Everybody who played it loved it."
Ingram said because the program was new, everything was kept very basic.
"I never passed, I just ran the ball," he said. "We had three basic plays out of the wishbone and wing T. We had 31 blast option which was Brad Mount running to the right and 32 blast with Brad running to the left. And then we had Wade Woodrum running right up the middle."
"Some of my fondest memories of high school were playing football," Mount said. "That's what kept my studies up, because I knew I had to have a C average to play."
Ingram broke his collarbone against Block's JV team.
"It was tough when one person got hurt because we only had about 16 and it changed everything up," he said. "Our weight room was an old meat processing plant. You could see some of the catchpins still there."
Ingram said he would love to see Monterey start up a football program again in the future.
"But I don't know if that will ever come to fruition," he said.
"I enjoyed my time there," said Mallory, who spent seven years at Monterey before moving on to Waterproof. "It was a good school and there were a lot of good people."
Pick A Game is a series of articles focusing on one sporting event from the past. |
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