Gallery by Greg Barnett
LINDSIDE – James Monroe has a much anticipated showdown with Class A No. 6 (tie) Greenbrier West on tap this Friday night.
With that in mind, the Mavs did not want to get caught looking ahead when they entertained PikeView (2-4) Monday night.
Outside of a sluggish second quarter, James Monroe remained focused on the task at hand and easily dispatched the Panthers.
Led by four touchdown passes from Layton Dowdy, the Mavericks were never threatened in a 35-0 shutout win.
“I was a lot happier with the offense in the second half,” James Monroe head coach John Mustain said. “I just didn’t think we were blocking well up front early. We have that problem from time to time. But, I was very happy with the defense. PikeView is a better team than they get credit for, so I saw a lot of good things tonight.”
Originally scheduled for Friday, the game was moved to Monday as a result of the heavy rains that rolled into the Mountain State Friday from tropical storm Ian sparking flood warnings and high wind warnings.
The date change and the fact that the Cavaliers were coming to town Friday did have Mustain a little concerned about his team’s focus.
“We hadn’t been on the field since Thursday. I didn’t find out about not getting to play Friday until I was on the way home from practice Thursday. It is what it is,” Mustain said. “The school is in a tough spot. If you are given information and you don’t make the right decision as far as safety and something does happen, so I don’t blame (James Monroe principal Angela Mann) one bit. I thought we handled it really well. All in all I was pleased tonight.”
The Mavs started fast with a pair of five-play scoring drives for a 14-0 lead after one quarter.
Cooper Ridgeway started the scoring when he took a swing pass from Dowdy raced down the sideline for a 49-yard touchdown.
After forcing a three-and-out and benefiting from a shanked punt, the Mavs orchestrated a 46-yard scoring drive that culminated in a 36-yard touchdown pass to Eli Allen.
Dowdy set the play up by buying time and scrambling to the sideline before Allen worked into an open spot in the secondary.
“Sometimes when I am scrambling out there, I just try to find Eli and throw his way. Eli is big, tall and freakish athletic. I just throw it up to him sometimes and he will catch it,” Dowdy said. “Most of the time me and him think on the same page.”
The second quarter was not quite as efficient as the opening 12 minutes.
The Mavs opened the second stanza with a fumble on a hand-off to give the ball back to PikeView. Bradie Carr then picked off a pass on the ensuing drive and returned it 68 yards for a score, only to have it nullified by a block in the back.
The next drive ended when Dowdy threw an interception when he was forced to throw it up on fourth-and-five.
“The thing I keep forgetting about him is he is just a sophomore,” Mustain said. “Last year we rotated around three or four different guys, so he didn’t get a full year at that position. I see him getting better every week.”
James Monroe did end the quarter on a positive note by marching 72 yards in 11 plays ending in a one-yard plunge from Carr for a 21-0 lead at the break.
“We came in at halftime and it wasn’t so much making adjustments as it was trying to get them pumped back up a little bit,” Mustain said. “I thought the offensive line did a great job in the second half.”
With the players up front controlling the line of scrimmage, Dowdy fired another strike to the dynamic duo for two more second-half scores.
Allen hauled in the first score from 25-yards out, before Ridgeway found an opening in the secondary on the next series and ran it in from 30 yards out.
“Cooper is a hard runner. After the catch, he is hard to bring down. He is very patient in finding the gaps. Once he sees it , he hits it.”
“When I get the ball, I only have one thing on my mind and that is to get into the end zone no matter what it takes,” Ridgeway said.
PikeView head coach Jason Spears was understandably frustrated after his team could muster only 103 yards of total offense compared to 407 from the home team.
“I truly didn’t think our defense looked bad in the first half, but we can’t put it all on our defense. We didn’t execute on the offesnive side of the ball,” Spears said. “We used everything we had. We just have to be better and execute better. We have to have some fire to come out here and compete.”
The focus for the Mavericks and all of Monroe County now shifts to the Friday night showdown.
“I told them this was the biggest football game of their life. Those are the kind of games that if your are a good team, you want to play those games,” Mustain said. “They are a good solid team and those coaches do a great job at West. It’s going to be a battle.”
Ridgeway played big against the Cavaliers in last years win and he is looking forward to the rematch Friday night.
“We knew we needed to go out there and take care of business so we could get our starters off the field to be ready for Friday,” Ridgeway said. “We are ready for Friday.”
PV: 0 0 0 0 – 0
JM: 14 7 14 0 – 35
First quarter
JM: Cooper Ridgeway 49 pass from Layton Dowdy (Owen Jackson kick)
JM: Eli Allen 36 pass from Dowdy (Jackson kick)
Second quarter
JM: Braydie Carr 1 run (Jackson kick)
Third quarter
JM: Allen 25 pass from Dowdy (Jackson kick)
JM: Ridgeway 30 pass from Dowdy (Jackson kick)
Stats
Rushing: (PV): Peyton Greer: 7-20, Peyton Mounts 9-0, Braiden Mullins 3-11, Brian Huggins 1-0, Austin Shrewsbury 4-16; (JM) Carr 8-31-1, Ridgeway 15-64, Chaz Boggs 6-38, Ethan Ganoe 1-10, Frederick Parker 5-28
Passing: (PV) 5-15-56-2-0; (JM) Dowdy 11-15-226-1-4
Receiving (PV) Mullins 1-1, Anderson Wennings 2-11, Nathan Riffe 2-44; (JM) Ridgeway 4-97-2, Allen 5-88-2, Carr 1-17.
