Monroe Area improved to 3-0 after win over Habersham Central
The Monroe Area Purple Hurricanes moved to 3-0 on the season following their 49-17 win over Habersham Central on Friday night and Monroe Area head coach, Kevin Reach, believes the Hurricanes had a "good game plan" heading into the night.
"I felt like if we just kind of stayed with our game plan that we were going to be able to move the football," Reach said of Monroe Area's offensive approach to Friday night's non-region matchup, while defensively, prioritizing stopping the Raiders run game by "corralling their running back," which the Purple Hurricanes were able to execute throughout the night, beginning early on with a 4th and goal stop as Habersham Central threatened to score in the opening quarter.
On the ensuing Hurricanes' possession, Monroe Area junior quarterback, Cooper Shumate score his first of four total touchdowns of the night on a 92-yard rush to help the Hurricanes take a 7-0 lead. "When you have a running quarterback, like Cooper [Shumate] you have a plus one," Reach said of Shumate's impact on the Monroe Area offense.
"He just hard to get a hold of," Reach said of Shumate, also praising the Hurricanes' running backs and wide receivers for how well they blocked during Shumate's runs. "He's special, he gets it. He kind of finds that area and when he gets in the open it's hard to get him down," Reach said of Shumate, who rushed for over 200 yards and 3 touchdowns, passing for a fourth touchdown.
Now as Monroe Area prepares to turn the page and get ready for their Week 4 matchup with Flowery Branch, Reach wants to see his team improve on avoiding penalty calls against them and continue to work on conditioning. "With the heat, we kind of cramped up" Reach said. "We have to make sure our nutrition is a little bit better," Reach added. "We just have to clean up a few things," Reach said.
Monroe Area defeated Habersham Central 49-17
Monroe Area defeated Habersham Central 49-17
