No. 3 Montrose runs away from No. 7 Heritage in big 4A matchup
MONTROSE — On a cold night and in front of a big crowd, Montrose football won a top-10 matchup in Class 4A against Heritage.
Montrose, ranked No. 3, beat No. 7 Heritage 49-27.
Tayne Ila led an offense that rushed for seven touchdowns by scoring three times himself. Cole Simmons and Trent Blundell each scored twice.
“I was very proud of the boys tonight,” Montrose coach Brett Mertens said. “I thought we played hard and played as a team. Our kids are so much fun to coach. We are going to enjoy this win and then keep trying to get better every week.”
Tied 7-7 after the first quarter, Montrose scored three times in the second quarter to built a 28-14 halftime lead.
Montrose also scored on the opening drive of the third quarter, capped by a 3-yard TD from Simmons.
After stopping Heritage on downs on the next drive, Montrose scored again, this time on an Ila touchdown. That made it 42-14.
“We prepared through practice and we knew it was going to be a dogfight,” Blundell said. “It’s league play and we came out to play. We came out ready and we got it done.”
Heritage’s Connor Cummiskey threw three touchdown passes in the loss, two of them long scores to Erik Olsen.
“We were up and down,” Heritage coach Tyler Knoblock said. “Montrose is really good at what they do. Couple of early turnovers set them up. Always proud of my kids, a lot of good things ahead of us.”
