Gallery by Tina Laney
Lindside – Monroe County is a popular hunting spot. The locals partook Friday night, big-game hunting Grizzlies and finding success.
Class A No. 2 James Monroe held Class AA No. 12 Nicholas County to just 78 yard rushing, gaining 210 yards themselves on the ground in a 21-7 victory over the Grizzlies Friday in Lindside.
Seeking to reinforce their playoff positioning and move closer to cementing homefield advantage throughout the playoffs, the Mavericks relied on their defense to stifle the Grizzlies and did so effectively.
Nicholas County had four possessions in the first half, with three of them lasting three plays and the fourth just six plays, netting 10 yards. In total the visitors went to the locker room with just 34 yards of offense, averaging 2.6 yards per play.
“The defense has been like this all year long,” James Monroe coach John Mustain said. “I’ve said it a couple of times, that’s one thing I wasn’t super worried about coming into this season because we had so many guys returning that knew the defense we were running and everything Coach Goodman wanted them to do defensively. It’s just the way they’ve been all year. And again, this is one of those teams if you had told me we would’ve held that team to a low yardage total, I probably would’ve said you’re crazy but they did a fantastic job.”
The Mavs offense hummed in comparison to the Grizzlies’ Friday.
The hosts’s opening drive ate up 26 yards on 10 plays before they turned it over on downs. After a scoreless first quarter the Mavericks found a groove, and a weak spot in the Grizzlies’ defense. Chazz Boggs’ 27-yard run to the left moved James Monroe to the NCHS 46, setting up Cooper Ridgeway who broke down that same sideline on the next play on a 46-yard scoring jaunt.
“They did a real good job countering and coming back to the short side,” Nicholas County head coach Gene Morris said of the fist-half woes on the left side of the defense.
After the two teams traded punts on their following drives, Nicholas took to the air to generate a spark and it worked. The problem was the spark was generated for the Mavericks. On third-and-4, Nicholas QB Brycen Morriston rolled right and threw a ball up for grabs, one that was happily snatched by James Monroe all-stater Eli Allen.
Facing third-and-8 on the NC 45, Allen starred again, hauling in a 33-yard pass down the field to set up a first-and-10 from the Nicholas 12. Three plays later with seven seconds left on fourth-and-1 from the NC 3, Mustain was faced with a decision – allow Owen Jackson to kick a field goal or go for the touchdown to end the half. He rolled the dice and struck gold. Mavs QB Layton Dowdy rolled out right, connecting with Allen to cap the drive and stake the Mavs to a 14-0 lead with 1.9 seconds left in the half.
“We were debating trying to kick because Owen’s done a really good job kicking for us this year,” Mustain said. “Honestly at that point, we all said let’s go for broke. When you’ve got a receiver like Eli back there and the way Layton’s been throwing the ball this year it’s just a matter of giving him time and it worked out.”
Struggling at the break, Nicholas committed to its workhorse back Kaleb Clark and found a spark. Rushing just four times for 12 yards in the first half, Clark carried the ball five times on the opening drive of the third quarter, one that ended on a failed fourth down conversion at the James Monroe 17. Still, it laid the blueprint for success as Clark carried the ball seven times on Nicholas County’s next drive, one that ended in an 8-yard touchdown pass from Morriston to Wes Hill on fourth down with 1:28 in the third quarter.
“We just had to follow blocks and get off the ball a little better,” Morris said. “We had to make sure we tagged someone in some things so that when they were doing some slanting and things like that we could still pick it up.”
Clinging to a one-score lead, the left side proved to be the Achilles heel of the Grizzlies again. Facing third-and-4 from their own 19, Dowdy bolted down the left sideline, rambling 81 yards for the final score of the game with 7:15 left. Nicholas never recovered, turning the ball over on downs.
The contest marked the Mavericks eighth game this season in which they allowed seven or fewer points, with five of those being shutouts.
“I think it’s a desire thing,” Mustain said. “We’ve got kids on both sides of the ball but especially defense that take a lot of pride in what they can do defensively. Our defensive backs have done a greta job this year and the linebacking crew has done well and the guys up front. We’ve got some guys we can mix in and if nothing else, give the guys some rest and I think that and getting a year under their belt last year helped.”
James Monroe improves to 9-0 and will travel to Summers County next week to close the regular season. Nicholas County will travel to PikeView, hoping to finish the regular season at 7-3 and earn a playoff berth.
Scoring Plays
Q2
JM: Cooper Ridgeway 47 rush (Jackson PAT), 9:32
JM: Allen 3 yard pass from Dowdy (Jackson PAT), :1.9
Q3
NC: Hill 8 yard pass from Morriston (PAT Villasenor), 1:28
Q4: Dowdy 81 rush (Jackson PAT), 7:15
Individual Statistics
Rushing – NC: Kaleb Clark 18-73, Brycen Morriston 10-4, Alex Pritt 5-3, Devin Nash 1-1, Wes Hill 1-(-3); JM: Cooper Ridgeway 16-78-1, Layton Dowdy 7-64-1, Chazz Boggs 5-36, Braydie Carr 8-32
Passing – NC: Morriston 4-9-27-1 TD-1 INT; JM: Dowdy 8-10-72-1 TD
Receiving – NC: Jaxson Morrsiton 1-10, Kaleb Clark 2-9, Wes Hill 1-8-1; JM: Eli Allen 4-54-1, Cooper Ridgeway 3-14, Chazz Boggs 1-4
