Lindside – If you had told Midland Trail head coach Frank Isaacs that his team would force four turnovers and outgain James Monroe by over 100 yards on offense he would’ve felt good about the Patriots’ chances of topping the fifth-rated team in Class A.
The only problem is his team returned all four turnovers and gave away two more for good measure.
Eli Allen picked off two passes, returning one for a touchdown, and caught two more scoring strikes on offense as the Mavericks rolled to a 20-7 win over Midland Trail on homecoming Friday night in Lindside.
Tested often, the Maverick secondary passed with flying colors, intercepting Trail quarterback Josh Dickerson five times on the evening.
“I’ll tell you what, these are two very good defensive teams,” James Monroe head coach John Mustain said. “They had a very good game plan that gave us fits. Like you said, thank goodness we got some turnovers and Eli had a big night tonight. I’m just proud of these boys. You hear about a team, sometimes people will say ‘that’s the best two and three team in the area or best two and four team,’ but that is a tough, tough ball team. They’re hard to handle and I hope they’re not young. Our defensive backs have really come on a lot lately though. Eli back there playing centerfield and Braydie Carr too. Grant Lively and Cameron Jones off the bench, they’ve done a fantastic job here lately.”
The hosts introduced themselves to Dickerson early, intercepting the senior on a third-and-27 to end the first Trail drive of the evening.
Neither team was successful finding a groove on offense though.
They traded turnovers on downs and then punts before the Mavericks took their first big gamble of the game, one that paid dividends.
On third-and-13, Mavericks QB Layton Dowdy threw a deep pass up for grabs in the middle of the field and it found the arms of Allen, who snatched it before a Trail defensive back could close in. A little over 40 yards later the hosts were on the board.
Meanwhile the visitors from Fayette County couldn’t find a rhythm on offense as Dickerson was picked three more times in the second quarter with his third interception being returned 70 yards for a score by Allen.
“Well we’ve just been preparing for them,” Allen said. “Every day we run through plays and watch film. We’ve all just bought in to watching film and studying what they do. With their reads you could kind of see where (Dickerson) was going. You can just read where he’s going and he long-arms it and throws it up so you just got to run over there and get it.”
Battered late in the third quarter, the Patriots caught the break they needed when Ayden Simms came away with an interception at the Trail 13 and returned it out to the 47. Eight plays later it was Simms again making a splash for the Patriots, going up between two defenders for a 35-yard catch that set them up at the Mavericks’ two-yard line. On the next play Aden Isaacs powered in to cut the deficit in half, but penalties and negative plays put the Patriots in third-and-long situations all evening as they finished just 4-of-14 on third-down conversion attempts.
After another failed Trail fourth down conversion in the fourth, Cooper Ridegway replaced Dowdy at QB for the Mavs, running the ball five straight times. On the sixth play he put the nail in the coffin.
On third-and-8, Ridgeway connected with Allen on a short slant and the junior receiver did the rest of the work, breaking two tackles en route to a 45-yard score. A sack and an interception on Trail’s next drive were the icing on the cake.
“We missed assignments and we didn’t play fundamentally sound football offensively,” Isaacs said. “We didn’t execute any of the plays we were trying to execute. They did everything we expected them to do. They were going to be a really tough, physical football team. They sat back in a cover 3 and free safety sat back there and picked off all kinds of passes.
“Some of it was on our quarterback, some of it was on our receivers and some of it was on them making good plays. You’re not going to win any football games with five interceptions and one fumble. I think I’ve coached seven years and we’ve never won a game when we’ve had six turnovers.”
The win bolsters the resume of the Mavericks, who are seeking their first playoff berth since 2017, while unofficially crushing the hopes Trail had of making its fifth straight trip to the playoffs.
“It’s heartbreaking for them because I told them our playoffs start this week so we’re probably out of the playoffs,” Isaacs said. “I don’t think we have a chance, I mean we’ve got a small chance with some help if we go 4-0 the rest of the year. It’s heartbreaking for the seniors and it’s heartbreaking for me because I’ve got a son that’s a senior in there and they played hard, they just didn’t play well. I want to see them grow though. I told them I don’t care if we win another game, I want to see them be better individuals and grow from this and be better people.”
Trail falls to 3-4 on the season and will travel to Summers County on Monday. James Monroe improves to 5-1 and will play Liberty next Friday.
MT: 0 0 7 0 – 7
JM: 7 7 0 6 – 20
Scoring Plays
First quarter
JM: Eli Allen 40-yard pass from Layton Dowdy(Allen kick), 1:59
Second quarter
JM: Allen 70-yard INT return (Allen kick), 1:47
Third quarter
MT: Isaacs 2 rush (Shockley Kick), 2:07
Fourth quarter
JM: Allen 45-yard pass from Ridgeway (Kick blocked), 4:28