FREDERICK >> Monarch football has quite the flair for the dramatic.

As soon as the game appeared tied up with a bow for Frederick on its home field on Friday night, Monarch’s Malakhi Payne came through with a flamethrower. His late, 50-yard gain following a pivotal Golden Eagles fumble helped push the Coyotes closer to victory. Then, junior running back Chase Gray punched in a 3-yard rushing touchdown.

That late surge, with 2:04 left on the clock, gave the Coyotes the juice they needed to beat a Frederick team, 21-20, that had controlled the action up until that point. Sophomore defensive back Sawyer Haley sealed the deal by blocking Frederick’s Dylan Norwood’s 38-yard field goal attempt in the final minute.

The Coyotes, in turn, took one step closer to winning the Class 4A North 1 league. They moved to 4-0 in the conference while setting the Golden Eagles back to 3-1.

“I trusted in my line. They’re dawgs,” Payne said. “I just realized that (Frederick’s Sam Chambers) was scraping off the side, to the left, every time we were running to the left, so I would just cut it back up the middle. It just made the run game a lot easier on me, and having the open holes just made it easy to get bigger gains.

“My heart was pounding (on the field goal attempt). I was so nervous. I heard the kid was a good kicker, so I wasn’t sure what his kicking abilities were. Once I saw Sawyer jump up, I knew that ball was just going straight down into the ground. I was just crazy. I even ran on the field. They could have probably thrown a flag. I was on the field once they blocked it, and I was just so hyped.”

Payne ended the game with 153 yards, keeping his efforts strictly between each end zone. He left the scoring responsibility to Gray, senior quarterback Riley Montemayor, freshman wide receiver Brayden Lawinski and junior kicker Nate Hart. Montemayor, for his part, threw for one touchdown in the first half while building up 131 passing yards.

The Coyotes were far from the only team to overcome adversity through the contest. Injuries seem to mean nothing to Frederick senior quarterback Gavin Ishmael. If anything, it makes his current run through his final season even more special.

Coming into Friday night, the electric quarterback boasted 1,859 passing yards and 23 passing touchdowns through seven full games. He’s had his finger on the pulse of a 6-3 team chasing a favorable position for the 4A state playoffs.

Frederick entered the game ranked No. 14 in CHSAA’s Selection & Seeding Index, while Monarch (7-2) sat at No. 11.

He put up 259 passing yards and two touchdowns against the Coyotes, then added 91 more yards with his feet. Only senior wide receiver Braydin Rudman came close to matching his shine thanks to 119 yards and his own score.

“I tore my (hamstring) about midway through the summer, so I had to overcome that,” Ishmael explained. “And then in the first quarter of Week 1, I tore my quad on my right. I go up to Week 5, I’m not able to move, and I’ve just been throwing the football. That was really rough, because that’s part of my game that’s missing and also just excruciating pain through Week 2 and 3.

“And then Week 7, I dive in the first drive against Silver Creek and then I end up separating my shoulder, grade two. I ended up rehabbing that and I’m thankful to God because he ended up blessing me and getting me right.”

The Golden Eagles wasted little opportunity whenever they took the field in the first half, throwing in a good mix of passing and rushing to keep the Coyotes on their heels. They scored on nearly every drive.

Ishmael dominated the first half with 158 passing yards and two touchdowns — Rudman was on the receiving end of 107 of the yards and one of the TDs. Montemayor put up 80 yards with his own passing score, but no one shone brighter for the Coyotes than Hart, who booted a pair of field goals.

That stellar offensive performance in the first half took all of the wind out of their sails in the second. Nothing moved the scoreboard until Payne’s heroics at the end.

The Golden Eagles will end their regular season at Greeley West next Thursday, while the Coyotes head back home to welcome Silver Creek on Friday.