Gallery by Steph Redden
Lindside – Friday night at the H.E. Comer Sports Complex at James Monroe High School, everyone in attendance expected a hard fought tightly contested football game.
To the surprise of roughly everyone in attendance, a 27-0 shutout win for the Mavericks over Class A No. 6 Greenbrier West was not in their thought process.
“Greenbrier West has a solid, solid team. If you had told me this was going to be the outcome tonight, I would have said you were crazy. Anybody in their right mind would have thought that,” James Monroe head coach John Mustain said.
James Monroe entered the game rated No. 11 amongst the small schools, but felt like it had something to prove Friday night in the showdown with the Cavaliers.
“I honestly felt like we had been underrated, but we haven’t played too many hard teams, so people have overlooked us,” senior Eli Allen said.”That team has only allowed 12 points all year and tonight we put up 27.”
The Cavaliers came to Lindside stinging from last year’s loss in Charmco after being hurt by turnovers and crucial penalties.
Although the visitors vowed to make amends for those issues, both reared their head early and put West in a quick bind.
Facing third-and-11 on their opening drive, Cavalier quarterback Cole Vandall rolled out to pass, but was tracked down from behind resulting in a fumble. Jacob Proffitt dove on the loose ball to give James Monroe a golden opportunity at the Greenbrier West 25-yard line.
Keyed by a 19-yard pass from Layton Dowdy to Eli Allen to the one-yard line, Bradie Carr dove in on the next play to give the Mavs a 7-0 lead.
West responded with a lengthy drive which was aided by two offsides penalties from James Monroe on third down to keep the drive alive.
However, when West reached the Mavs 10, a holding penalty and a five-yard loss on a first down run put the Cavaliers behind the chains.
A pass across the middle looked as if it might go for a score, but a diving deflection from Allen ended that threat and West eventually turned the ball over on downs.
“We started off making mistakes and then it got worse from there, but they out-played us and they whipped us in the line,” Greenbrier West head coach Toby Harris said. “They did what they wanted to do and we couldn’t turn it around.”
Early in the second quarter, West was again on the march before stalling inside the red zone. Looking at fourth-and-15 from the Mavs 22, Tucker Lilly hit Dalton Heath for a pass down to the 3, but the play was nullified on a holding call.
The back breaker for West came on the next series.
Following the holding penalty, the Cavaliers elected to punt and after a holding penalty on the Mavs first play from scrimmage, the home team was pinned in at its own six-yard line.
Dowdy rolled out buying time for Chaz Boggs to get free in the Greenbrier West secondary. Boggs reeled in the pass and reached the Greenbrier West 8 before he was pushed out of bounds.
Coming off a four-touchdown performance Monday against PikeView, Dowdy hurt West at crucial times in the contest.
“They are going to hurt a lot of people with their passing game. If you don’t get to the quarterback, they have excellent receivers and you just have to get to the quarterback,” Harris said. “We weren’t able to get to him tonight.”
Two plays later, Dowdy threw the ball up in the corner of the end zone where Allen did his Randy Moss imitation going over the defender to grab the ball for the score.
“Layton Dowdy is my good buddy. I tell him to just throw it up and I will go get it,” Allen said. “He is becoming a lot more comfortable under center and he is becoming a lot more comfortable when we are passing the ball. He has perfected the offense and he knows where the routes are. He is a big part of this win. He has really been tuned in to what we want to do.”
Things went from bad to worse for West on the next series when Niklas Pitzer snagged an interception that went through the hands of a West receiver.
The Mavs moved the ball inside the five-yard line, but had to settle for a 27-yard field goal from Owen Jackson.
The 17-0 lead is where the game stood at halftime.
After forcing a punt to start the second half, West drove the ball inside the 10 again, but the Mavs stood tall and once again stopped the Cavaliers on downs.
The problem for West was the drive took over seven minutes off the clock.
James Monroe sealed the deal early in the final quarter when Dowdy hits Boggs again across the middle for 71 yards to go deep into West territory.
Although the Cavs got a break, recovering a fumble two plays later, the Mavs took the ball right back and did not miss on the next scoring opportunity.
Looking to make something happen, West went to the air down the seam, but Allen was there waiting to grab the first of his two second-half interceptions.
“That is the reason I wanted (Eli) out here more than anything,” Mustain said. “There is a lot of things he can do for us offensively, but the way he plays that free safety position is great. He also does a good job coming up and helping on the run, which is what that free safety is supposed to do.”
“It’s the basketball in him,” Mustain went on to say. “It’s the back end of a 1-3-1 (defense). He is good at reading the quarterback’s eyes and he is good at anticipating. Of course, he has the athleticism where if he does make a mistake that he can recover form it. He is top-notch back there.”
Allen only had one thing to say about the two picks on the night.
“There is not a lot to talk about, other than, don’t throw the ball to the middle against us. That’s about it,” Allen said smiling.
Cooper Ridgeway pushed the lead to 24-0 with a score from two yards out and Jackson hit a 21-yard field goal for the 27-0 margin.
In the huddle after the game, Mustain was clearly happy with his team’s performance.
“There are several adjectives to describe this win. Jubilation comes to mind,” Mustain said. “That is one heck of a football team and for us to come out and do what we did tonight on both sides of the ball is solid,” Mustain said. “Our offense has sputtered some this year. Hopefully our lineman finally woke up and can see what we can really do. We still have some tough games left, so hopefully they can carry that momentum on going forward.”
Greenbrier West (6-1) is off next Friday before hosting Sherman in two weeks. James Monroe (6-0) will travel to Hico to battle Midland Trail.
GW: 0 0 0 0 –
JM: 7 10 0 10 –
First quarter
JM: Braydie Carr 1 run (Owen Jackson kick)
Second quarter
JM: Eli Allen 6 pass from Layton Dowdy (Jackson kick)
JM: Jackson 27 FG
Fourth quarter
JM: Cooper Ridgeway 2 run (Jackson kick)
JM: Jackson 21 FG
Rushing: (GW) Ty Nickell 23-141,;Kadin 4- (-3), Tucker Lilly 7-19, Cole Vandall 12-48, Isaac Agee 1 (-1);
(JM) Ridgeway 17-135-1, Carr 5-16-1, Boggs 3-9, Dowdy 4-7
Passing: (GW) Lilly 1-5-0 TD-1 INT TD, Vandall 1-9-6-2 INT;Â (JM) Dowdy 5-11-174-1 TD-0 INT
Receiving: (GW) Parker 1-6; (JM) Allen 2-24-1, Boggs 2-146, Pitzer 1-4
