SALEM — The Salem Quakers football team might be the most snakebitten team in the area. For the third consecutive week, the Quakers lost a heartbreaker of a game in the final moments as the Alliance Aviators prevailed 20-16 in Salem’s homecoming game.

The loss drops the Quakers to 1-5 on the season, and 0-1 in league play with the difference in the game being just a mere two inches.

“I’m always proud of our effort,” Quakers head coach Ron Johnson said. “We played extremely hard, well enough to win, but we’re not. We have to find a way to win. This is three successive games that it has come down to the last play of the game and we have been on the wrong side of it.”

With the Quakers facing a 4th and 3 situation at the Aviator’s 9-yard line and only 15 seconds remaining in the contest, Quakers quarterback Cletis Monroy dropped back to pass, tucked the ball, and scrambled to the sideline.

After the referees spotted the ball, the chains were brought out to show that Monroy came up just two inches short of the first down, crushing the Quaker’s bid to score a go-ahead, winning touchdown.

“No. 1 (Monroy) is unbelievable,” Aviators head coach Tim Goodman said. “We had him wrapped up and he was trying to will his team to the win. Our hat off to him. I was scared to death with him having the ball in his hands so close.”

The Aviators improved to 2-4 overall and 1-0 in the EBC with the victory. The Aviators scored a clutch touchdown with 3:10 remaining in the game to take the lead, but an unsportsmanlike penalty gave the Quakers the ball at their own 45 following the kickoff return. That helped to set up the dramatic defensive stand.

“We are a young squad as we are replacing a lot of three-year starters from last year,” Goodman said. “Credit to our guys as they continue to show up every week and work hard when the ball hasn’t bounced our way the past few weeks.”

The loss overshadowed a tremendous performance by the Quakers junior quarterback Monroy who ran for 90 yards and a touchdown along with his 10 of 13 passing for 169 yards and another score. On that final drive, he almost single-handedly willed the Quakers to the winning score by breaking numerous tackles on a third down situation that kept the Quaker’s possession alive at the Aviators 30.

“This was a league game. It was for first place in the league and now we have to fight like crazy to get back into it,” Johnson said.

The two teams traded scores in the first half as the Aviators scored on a 10-yard run by running back Ravhan Hawkins at the 10:56 mark of the second quarter. The Quakers answered with a 44-yard touchdown pass from Monroy to Marcus Phillips with 3:43 left in the first half. That gave the Quakers a slim 7-6 advantage at halftime.

They would once again trade touchdowns to start the second half as Monroy raced into the end zone from 11 yards out to boost the Quaker’s lead to 13-6 at the 6:53 point of the third quarter. But the Aviators answered with a 1-yard plunge by Mykell Williams with only 2:48 remaining in the stanza. With the Aviators connecting on the extra point, the game was knotted at 13-13.

When the Quakers Troy Gibson drilled a 30-yard field goal with 11:11 remaining in the contest, the Quakers had seized a 16-13 advantage. Two possessions later the Aviators wrestled the lead back away on their score with 3:10 left in the contest.

“This is on me as a coach, our staff and we have to find a way to win. For our kids to play that hard, and that well, that is totally on me to have us lose three weeks in a row to lose on the last play,” Johnson remarked.

the Quakers will look to bounce back next Friday when they host the Minerva Lions in EBC action. The Aviators travel to Carrollton next Friday to try to keep their momentum going in another EBC contest.

A: 0-6-7-7–20

S: 0-7-6-3–16

SCORING

A – Ravhan Hawkins 10 run (kick failed)

S – Marcus Phillips 44 pass from Cletis Monroy (Troy Gibson kick)

S – Monroy 11 run (kick failed)

A – Mykell Williams 1 run (Jacob Schuette kick)

S – Gibson 30 yard field goal

A – Brady White 39 yard pass from JR Jackson (Schuette kick)

——

A S

First downs 16 13

Total Yards 312 342

Rushes-yards 34-131 33-173

Passing 181 169

Comp-Att-Int 10-12-0 10-13-0

Punts 4-36.75 2-48.5

Fumbles-Lost 2-0 1-0

Penalties-Yards 12-100 7-51

——

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING– Alliance, Ravhan Hawkins 19-112, JR Jackson 12-10; Salem, Cletis Monroy 17-90, Brandon Kana 15-78.

PASSING– Alliance, JR Jackson 10-12-181-1-0; Salem, Cletis Monroy 10-13-169-1-0.

RECEIVING– Alliance, Jarrin Blair 2-69, Brady White 3-50, Taije Nicholson 3-31; Salem, Derek Oesch 5-99, Marcus Phillips 3-49.