Walker Fills in Just Fine for Monroe

With George Garcia out of the lineup with an ankle injury, it should have been pretty easy to figure out who Monroe High was going to give the ball to Thursday night against Grant.

Easy to figure.

Hard to stop.

Monroe’s Vinny Walker rushed for 141 of his 216 yards in the second half and helped keep Grant quarterback Lawrence Monroy off the field by leading an eight-minute, 29-second scoring drive in the fourth quarter to give the Vikings a 31-21 victory in a Valley Pac-8 Conference game at Valley College.

Walker, who scored on runs of 16 and 56 yards in the third quarter, spoiled Grant’s homecoming with nifty runs out of a double-wing offense.

Grant, which trailed, 14-0, at intermission, made it interesting after turning the ball over three times in the first half.

After Walker’s 16-yard run gave Monroe (4-1, 1-1 in conference) a 21-0 lead, Grant answered with its first of three touchdown passes from Monroy, who was just six of 15 for 84 yards with one pass intercepted in the first half.

Monroy settled down by the third quarter and found tight end Gus Schuster wide open over the middle for a 22-yard scoring play.

Monroe answered with Walker’s 56-yard run 2:30 later.

The scoring flurry continued when Monroy hooked up with Edward Gramajo on a 79-yard strike. Monroy gave a pump fake to Gramajo at the line of scrimmage, cornerback DeAndre Phillips bit, and Gramajo streaked down the sideline, making an over-the-shoulder catch at midfield on his way to the end zone.

Grant (2-3, 0-2) scored again after recovering one of Monroe’s three fumbles on a 52-yard pass play from Monroy to Schuster to get to within 28-21.

But Monroe burned 8:29 off the clock with a 70-yard, 14-play drive, capped by a 21-yard field goal by Liz Nemeth with 1:19 remaining.

Grant’s ground game, which was averaging 155 yards a game, managed just 28 yards in 17 carries.

Monroy was inconsistent, completing only 11 of 26 passes, but he threw for 298 yards.