Gallery by Steph Redden
CHARMCO – The calendar may say week seven of the West Virginia high school football season.
Friday night at Greenbrier West high school, when the No. 13 rated Cavaliers welcomed No. 14 James Monroe in a Class A showdown, the atmosphere screamed postseason.
So did the intensity on the field.
In a game filled with big plays, big hits, as well as costly mistakes and turnovers, it was the visitors from Monroe County that stood on the winning side of a 20-14 decision.
“I have been at James Monroe for 25 years and there is nothing like the playoffs and this was a playoff atmosphere tonight,” veteran Mavericks head coach John Mustain said. “My goal is getting this group to the playoffs because we haven’t been there in a while – since 2017. We have a lot of youth, only eight seniors, but I think if we can accomplish that goal, it will really carry over to the next few years.”
For the first 30 minutes of the contest, a James Monroe win seemed out of reach. However, each time the Cavaliers had the chance to apply the knockout blow, the Mavs responded with a crucial play or a defensive stop.
After ending the initial James Monroe drive on downs deep in its own territory, West used power football to march 70 yards for a 6-0 lead.
Before the euphoria died down from the home crowd, Braydie Carr gathered the ensuing kickoff and raced 85 yards to energize the Mavericks.
“Braydie did a heckuva job reading the holes. The boys did a heckuva job picking up the defenders and staying with them,” Mustain said. “For a second down there, I wasn’t sure he was going to make it, but he did. For us to come right back was huge.”
West went back to work marching down the field for what looked to be another score, only to be derailed by a fumble.
James Monroe then mounted a deep drive as the clock approached five minutes to play in the half, only to be stopped again on downs at the Greenbrier West 19.
With the Mavs focusing their attention on trying to stop powerhouse back, Ty Nickell, quarterback Cole Vandall found Kadin Parker on a 34-yard pass to push the ball deep in James Monroe territory.
Five plays later with just 18 seconds on the clock, Vandall scored from one yard out to give West a 14-7 halftime lead.
A 37-yard kickoff return by Nickell and a 28-yard run from Parker helped the Cavaliers mount a drive inside the James Monroe two-yard-line to open the second half.
The things fell apart for West and started a string of second-half miscues that would ultimately doom the home team on Homecoming Night.
A false start and a high snap that went through Vandall’s hands put West in a fourth-and-goal situation at the Mavericks 19-yard line. Vandall fired a strike to a sliding Parker in the back of the end zone, but the catch was ruled out of bounds.
“We got down to the one-yard line and didn’t get it in and it changed the whole ball game,” Greenbrier West head coach Toby Harris said.
Going a bit of old-school James Monroe, Mustain put them ball in the hands of sophomore Cooper Ridgeway who controlled the second half for the Mavs.
During a 10-play, 81-yard drive, Ridgeway would carry the ball eight times and cap the drive with a shovel pass to Grant Lively. Lively raced in from 28 yards to tie the game at 14-14 with 4:08 to play in the third quarter.
“He had a lot more carries than he has been having,” Mustain said. “We knew coming in that Cooper Ridgeway was going to be the real deal and he really is.”
Ridgeway would carry the ball 29 times on the night for 152 yards. He only scored one time, but it would be the game-winner early in the fourth quarter from 10 yards out.
The final score by Ridgeway was setup by an interception from defensive lineman Jacob Proffitt when the ball went high into the air on a sack of Vandall.
After having a drive stopped by a fumble and another promising drive stopped on downs. West appeared to be set up perfectly with the ball right at midfield with 3:11 to play in the game.
However, with James Monroe punting on fourth-and-14 from its own 32, a flag was thrown by the back judge. The Cavaliers were penalized 15 yards for too many men on the field.
“That was a crusher,” Harris said. “The kickoff return, interceptions, fumbles and bad snaps. It just wasn’t a clean game for us tonight. You just can’t do those things, especially against really good teams.”
Instead of defending a game-winning drive, the Mavericks received a first down and were able to run the clock down to 18 seconds before West got the ball back.
“They were resilient tonight. We still made some daggum mistakes, but they did too. We both did, but the kids just kept fighting,” Mustain said. “The last couple times that we had to punt; I was really worried. We got a big break with that illegal participation call. The kids just did a great job tonight.”
With West forced into desperation passing, the Mavs ended the game with their second interception of the night.
“I told these boys, in 34 years, I have never been more proud of a bunch a kids in my life, never,” Mustain said. “Our defense has really come on lately. Not taking anything away from Pendleton (County), because we had a tough time with them. But this was our first really big game this year.”
The importance of the game was not lost on either coach who knew a win Friday was paramount to the playoff race.
“I told them coming into this game that we were getting ready to go through a gauntlet,” Mustain said. “We have (Midland) Trail next week. We have Liberty, then Nicholas (County), Covington (Va.) and Summers County. It doesn’t get any easier. We will be facing another big running team in Midland Trail next week, so there is no room to rest.”
“We have a tough road going forward. We have Richwood next and then our last three ball games are really tough,” Harris said. “We are going to have to suck it up and win some ball games here at the end to make the playoffs.”
JM (4-1): 7 0 7 6 – 20
GW (4-2): 6 8 0 0 – 14
First quarter
GW: Ty Nickell 10 run (rush failed)
JM: Braydie Carr 85 kick return (Eli Allen kick)
Second quarter
GW: Cole Vandall 1 run (Nickell rush)
Third quarter
JM: Grant Lively 28 pass from Cooper Ridgeway (Allen kick)
Fourth quarter
JM: Ridgeway 10 run (kick no good)
Team stats:
Rushing: (JM)Ridgeway 29-152-1, Lively 5-21. Allen 5-1, Carr 5-23, Layton Dowdy 3-14; (GW) Nickell 21-171-1, Vandall 21-75-1, Parker 5-26, Robertson 2-9
Passing: (JM) Dowdy 2-2-16, Allen 1-4-3, Ridgeway 2-3-35-1; (GW) 4-7-60-0-2
Receiving: (JM) Lively 2-39-1, Thomas 2-12, Ridgeway 1-30; (GW) Parker 2-40, Nickell 1-18, Lilly 1-2