Just because Hockinson brought one win into Friday night’s game compared with Mark Morris’ six, that didn’t make it a foregone conclusion from the opening kickoff.

Wet field, middle of flu season, boisterous Longview Memorial homecoming crowd.

The defending GSHL 2A champion Hawks might have found a way to stun their hosts.

Thirty seconds after that opening boot, the conclusion was starting to look foregone, indeed. The Monarchs (7-1, 4-0 league) made 14 points appear out of thin air, then slugged their way to a 42-7 victory over spirited-but-overmatched Hockinson (1-7, 1-3 league).

The Monarchs’ Jeremy Wolf ran back the first kick 91 yards for a touchdown. MM’s defense forced the Hawks to go three-and-out. Zach Tackwell blocked the punt. Mark Morris got the ball back on Hockinson’s 14, and Nathan Wilson raced into the end zone on his team’s first snap.

With 9:32 left in the first quarter, the hosts led by two touchdowns.

“We got ’er done,” Mark Morris coach Shawn Perkins said. “It was ugly, but we played well enough to win. Hockinson, they played hard. They got after the football the whole game and never let up, and you really gotta admire that pride.”

The victory set up next week’s Civil War against R.A. Long, with the winner claiming the GSHL 2A championship. The champ gets a home playoff game at 7 p.m. on Nov. 6 against the Evergreen 2A Conference’s No. 4 team, while the Civil War loser hosts the Evergreen’s No. 3 squad at 5 p.m. on Nov. 7.

“That’s going to be an exciting night,” Perkins said of next Friday’s clash with the Jacks. “There’s going to be a lot of nervous people out here, nervous coaches, but it’s exciting.”

The Hawks applied heavy pressure that made it dangerous to take the ball too far behind the line of scrimmage. Wolf got dropped for losses on a couple of running plays that used a deeper handoff, and quarterback Scott Kirkpatrick was repeatedly required to scramble. The visitors also took the ball away from Wolf and intercepted Kirkpatrick.

“I was disappointed that we had those turnovers, but you know, those things happen,” Perkins said. “It was nice to see our kids bounce back and play hard after that. That shows that growth and development that we need to keep growing.”

Mark Morris’ intense special-teams efforts paid off again in the second quarter when someone got a piece of a Hawk punt. The ball plummeted into the hands of Jake McCoy, who returned it to the Hawks’ 11. Wolf struck again on the next play for a TD.

On the Monarchs’ ensuing possession, Kirkpatrick found Colt Carpenter with a 32-yard pass, setting up another Wolf score, this time from 14 yards.

“Our kids, you know, they manned up when they had to, and that’s what we have to do,” Perkins said.

McCoy laid out the kick returner to start the second half, but Hockinson soon got its offense operational and scored its lone touchdown. The Hawks drove from the Monarch 49 and scored on a 9-yard run by Cameron Fleming.

MM was up against strong runners who could break tackles, but the defensive front created too many heaps of bodies in front of them — and on top of them — and the big plays Hockinson needed never came.

“That offense, they just try to put a mass of humanity out there, and you just gotta make a pile,” Perkins said.

Wolf completed his 24-point night when he took a direct snap on third-and 5 and broke loose for 32 yards. As Hockinson struggled to reply, Travis Kinder found a loose ball on a broken toss-pass play and sprinted to the Hockinson 4. One snap later, Wilson punched in the final touchdown.

“I think Nathan Wilson had a great game. He really played hard. That’s probably the best I’ve seen him run the ball this year,” the MM coach said. “Jeremy Wolf in that Wildcat (formation), man, he really got after it and does a nice job out there.”

Mark Morris gave seven carries apiece to Wilson (59 yards), Trevor Feeney (39) and Wolf (82). Kirkpatrick heaved it up seven times for 51 yards on three completions. He also broke runs of 7 and 15.

Monarchs 42, Hawks 7

Hockinson           0         0     7         0 — 7

Mark Morris      14      14      0      14 — 42

MM — Jeremy Wolf 91 kick return (Owen Baird kick)

MM — Nathan Wilson 14 run (Owen Baird kick)

MM — Wolf 11 run (Owen Baird kick)

MM — Wolf 14 run (Owen Baird kick)

Hock — Cameron Fleming (Shamele Battan kick)

MM — Wolf 32 run (Owen Baird kick)

MM — Wilson 4 run (Owen Baird kick)

Standings/Schedule:  Mark Morris   Hockinson