Monroe-Woodbury Crusaders defeat a stubborn Valley Central Vikings 51-28

CENTRAL VALLEY — On a cool Friday night, Oct. 12, the Crusaders honored the seniors on their football team and cheerleading squad in a brief ceremony before they hosted the Valley Central Vikings.
The Crusaders entered the game with a 4-2 record while the Vikings come to the game with a single victory through six games.
The Vikings scored first when QB Chandler Toth connected with Jayden Rose on a 15-yard touchdown pass for a 6-0 lead.
Peter Mastropolo tied the game when he took a hand off, ran one way then reversed his field and beat the Viking defenders to the pylon to tie the score at six.
With 27 second left in the first quarter, Monroe-Woodbury quarterback Steve Campione scored on a four-year run for a 12-6 Crusader lead.
Toth, the Viking quarterback, showed off his arm at the beginning of the second quarter when he hit Tyler Villani on a beautiful 80 -yard touchdown bomb to tie the score at 12.
But the Crusaders answered.
Richard Monda took the ensuing kickoff on the 17-yard line, ran toward the middle of the field, picked a few blocks, broke back to the outside and turned on the jets. When he was finished, his 83-yard return put the Crusaders ahead once again.
The stubborn Vikings were not done. They scored on a three-yard touchdown pass and then converted on the two-point play to lead 20-19.
As they have all year, the Crusaders answered back. With 5:53 left in the half, Campione scored on an eight-yard run to put the Crusaders back up 25-19.
In the second half, Dylan Wynn burst through the Viking defense for a 24-yard touchdown run to put Crusaders up by 1 points.
Campione then scored his third TD of the game on a 25-yard run as the Crusaders took a 38-20 lead.
Toth answered, throwing his fourth touchdown pass of the game and the score at the end of the third quarter was 38-28.
Mastropolo put the Vikings away in the fourth quarter with TD runs of 12 and 10 yards.
The Crusaders' 51-28 victory brings their record to 5-2 and sets up a league title bout against the arch rival Newburgh Free Academy Goldbacks at Newburgh Friday at 7 p.m.
- William Dimmit