Gallery by Ashley Honaker
Lindside – Bluefield needed a myriad of outcomes to go its way to sneak into the Class AA playoff field. First and foremost was winning Friday night at James Monroe.
It didn’t happen.
The Mavericks capitalized on special teams errors and big plays, holding off a Bluefield rally for a 35-32 win in Lindisde.
The win likely clinches the top overall seed in the Class A playoff field for James Monroe while ending Bluefield’s season at 4-6, ensuring the Beavers miss the postseason for the first time since 2016.
The turning point occurred early when James Monroe tied the game at 7 with 2:37 left in the half, recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and charged 48 yards on three plays, turning a third-and-20 into a 58-yard touchdown pass from Layton Dowdy to Chaz Boggs for a 14-7 advantage at the break.
It sent the tone and summed up the game with the Beavers playing catchup all night.
“That was pretty big,” James Monroe head coach John Mustain said. “They put 32 points up on the board and for us to get that kind of lead really was a big boost. I thought we had a pretty good mix and they made it tough inside but we were able to get the edge on them outside running and of course the pass plays. I thought all in all our offense has looked good the last two weeks. Our line has come on and it’s something we have to have this time of year because it’s do or die from here on out.”
For all the offense showcased across the final three quarters there wasn’t much to show in the opening frame with the teams combining to net 54 yards across the opening 12 minutes.
That trend changed immediately with Bluefield’s Gerrard Wade capping a 15-play, 66-yard scoring drive with a 10-yard touchdown scamper. A 67-yard kickoff return by Cooper Ridgeway set the Mavericks up deep in Bluefield territory but they failed to capitalize, turning the ball over on downs at the Bluefield 3.
They made sure to make the next special teams error costly for the Beavers, forcing the fumble that led to Boggs’ quick strike score.
“The fumble and the kickoff hurt,” Bluefield coach Fred Simon said. “We didn’t want to line drive it, we wanted to kick away from (Ridgeway) and we didn’t. All we can do is tell them and if they don’t execute it is what it is. We knew we didn’t want him to have it. At worst we go in tied at the half but then we fumble the kickoff. We had good field position so maybe if we don’t fumble we score but mistakes haunted us all year and next year we’ll have to find a way to eliminate them early. I’m talking about from January on.”
The Beavers offense came up lame out of the break, losing 15 yards on the opening drive of the third quarter while the Mavericks stayed hot, marching 66 yards to cap a scoring drive that ended in a one-yard plunge from Ridgeway for a 21-7 lead.
While the all-state back was largely held in check, rushing for just 15 yards on eight carries, his teammates thrived with the Beavers keying on him. QB Layton Dowdy’s fourth quarter touchdown runs of 5 and 17 yards helped the Mavericks extend their lead from 21-19 to 35-19 after a pair of Bluefield touchdown passes to Sencere Fields and R.J. Hairston had closed the gap.
Dowdy also finished 12 of 19 passing with 174 yards passing and a touchdown in the win.
“There early he was kind of overshooting a little bit and I think he was hyped up,” Mustain said. “I think he kind of settled down. He threaded it quite often tonight on some plays that were very important to us. It may not necessarily have been big gains but they got us a first down tonight. He did a good job. I thought he did pretty good in the defensive backfield too. They had some big plays on us but we made some big play defensively too that helped out.”
The Beavers applied pressure late with a 7-yard receiving score from Fields and 50-yard catch and run from Hairston accounting for the final touchdowns of the evening but special teams again made the difference with a pair of failed conversion attempts and a missed PAT haunting the Beavers in retrospect.
“We just had a couple little breakdowns that have hurt us late in the year,” Simon said. “It’s hurt us with an open receiver or something like that. Again, wish we could be made a few plays and we didn’t. It didn’t happen. Our players showed they’ve got heart and didn’t quit and it’s sad.”
Up next for James Monroe is a home playoff game next weekend at a time and date to be determined. Unofficial ratings have the Mavericks as the top overall seed in the Class A playoffs for the second consecutive season which would ensure they would host until the Super Six championship round, held in Wheeling.
“I definitely feel like we shouldn’t drop from fourth,” Mustain joked. “If you’re at fourth at least you’ve got two here and that’s definitely a big advantage but it’s no guarantee. We all know there are a lot of good teams in single-A this year and a lot of teams are putting up a lot of points. Hopefully our defense will continue to progress and I thought they did well tonight but when you’ve got kids like Hairston and Fields out there, it’s tough to hold them down. Thank goodness we did what we did offensively because we needed every bit of it tonight.”
