Winchester football stifles Monroe Central for first win of 2026

PARKER CITY — Even after a 0-2 start to the season, Winchester Community football coach Mike Jones didn’t feel like his team was too disgruntled.

“I’m not sure I would say that we’ve been frustrated — we’ve been close,” Jones said. “Mistakes, just small breakdowns, and coaching younger kids that have maybe not been in the fire as much as some other kids. They made mistakes that cost us probably a couple of touchdowns the last two weeks.

“We eliminated all but one of those tonight.”

The Golden Falcons’ mistake-free football lifted them to a 32-8 victory over Monroe Central in the fifth edition of Randolph County’s Golden Rivalry. Winchester’s (1-2) defense limited the Golden Bears to just 33 rushing yards and forced four takeaways on the night with one interception and three fumble recoveries.

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Winchester set the tone from the opening drive with a six-play touchdown drive that consisted of six positive runs. Freshman quarterback Caleb Tarter capped it off with a 12-yard rushing touchdown. Then, on Monroe Central’s (2-1) opening drive, junior linebacker JJ Vasquez ended the Golden Bears’ scoring threat by jumping in front of a third-down pass for an interception.

Monroe Central’s defense held strong after the opening drive and forced a turnover on downs after the pick. However, a fumbled handoff exchange recovered by Winchester senior Brennen Lanter gave the Golden Falcons the ball right back on the wrong side of the field.

Monroe Central made another fourth-down stop at the goal line, but on the very next play, another fumbled handoff landed right in the hands of Winchester defensive lineman Jaxson Allen, who found himself already standing in the end zone for the easiest fumble “return” touchdown of his life.

“It’s my first year playing, came back senior year, thought it’d be fun,” Allen said. “That was just an unbelievable moment.”

🏈TOUCHDOWN @WinchesterComm1

Golden Bears have trouble with the exchange again, and Jaxson Allen takes advantage of it! Rips the ball away in the end zone for the big man TD!

Joey Vasquez runs in another 2pt conversion and it’s now 16-0, Winchester!

6:21 2nd Q pic.twitter.com/8oCHco3C45

— Cade Hampton (@CadeHamp10) September 5, 2026

Monroe Central’s first drive of the second half provided signs of life when junior quarterback Elias Hart connected with senior receiver Caden Dance for a 67-yard touchdown pass. On the next drive, the Golden Bears got a fourth-down stop deep in their own territory but went three-and-out on their next possession.

On the ensuing punt, Winchester freshman Kasen Ramos flew through the line and blocked the punt out of the back of the end zone for a safety.

That safety fired up the Winchester defense, who didn’t surrender much else for the rest of the evening. The Golden Falcons scored on their next drive after the safety, then ended Monroe Central’s next drive with their third forced fumble of the night. Senior linebacker Braylon Black picked up the fumble and nearly scored a return touchdown with it but was brought down at the 2-yard line, and Winchester punched in the final score on the next play.

Meanwhile, junior running back Joey Vasquez helped them put the game away on offense with his tough, physical running. He finished with an unofficial 160 yards on the ground, scored two touchdowns and led the way for a Golden Falcons offense that managed 214 rushing yards and averaged over five yards per carry.

“He does it every week,” Jones said of Vasquez. “First guy never tackles him. Usually, the second or third don’t get him on the ground. What he’s good at, he sees things and sets things up, and he’s got some real running back savvy that is not coaching.”

Winchester handed Monroe Central its first loss of the season and now holds a two-game winning streak in the rivalry matchup. After averaging 45 points over the first two weeks of the season, it was a frustrating turn of events for the Golden Bears’ offense, which they will certainly look to remedy next week with a tough team from Tri High set to pay a visit to Parker City.

“There’s some games out there that we are hunting,” Monroe Central coach John Hochstetler said. “We can’t sit around here. We knew this would be a tough fight. We thought we could get them if we got them in the right game, we just couldn’t get that game. We have to do a better job of executing.”

Meanwhile, the Golden Falcons will fly forward with some more confidence under their wings after picking up their first win in dominant fashion. Jones highlighted two things that he believes the victory will do for Winchester going forward, especially with longtime rival Northeastern on the horizon.

“One, it justifies the amount of work that they put in because they’ve worked very hard, and it’s hard to keep kids working really hard when they don’t get wins,” Jones said. “And it probably makes them super hungry to start to go get them, because we’ve been so close. I wake up tomorrow morning, and it’s Northeastern week. We’ve got plenty of experience with Northeastern week, so we’ll be ready.”

Contact Cade Hampton via email at cbhampton@usatodayco.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CadeHamp10.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Winchester football stifles Monroe Central for first win of 2026