Gallery by Ashley Honaker
Narrows, Va. – It took a quarter for James Monroe’s offense to shake the bye week rust but once it did the Mavericks took control.
James Monroe turned a pair of turnovers into touchdowns, finding the end zone in each if the final three quarters of a 21-6 victory Friday evening at Narrows, Va. The win moves James Monroe to 3-0 while handing Narrows its first loss.
Relying on their ground and pound offense and striking through the air when given the opportunity, the Mavericks left the battle of previously undefeated squads with bragging rights over their border foes. But it all started with the defense for the Mavs as interceptions of Narrows QB Kolier Pruett courtesy of Chaz Boggs and Layton Dowdy sparked the visitors.
Bogg’s second quarter sideline interception at the Narrows 36 set up a six-play, 34-yard drive that was capped by a 1-yard touchdown scamper from Fred Parker with 6:20 left in the half.
Dowdy’s interception of Pruett came in the third quarter in the Narrows end zone with the Green Wave driving, ending in a 20-yard scoring strike from Dowdy to Boggs.
“That was big, with of those interceptions were big,” Mustain said. “The longer Kolier Pruett’s got the ball in his hands the more things can happen. Chaz’s was such a heads up interception because he was there for the tip ball. That’s what you want out of your defense, that and everyone is flying to the ball. I can’t say enough about that and of course Layton plays that centerfield very similar to Eli (Allen) back there last year so I’m really proud of the way they performed.”
Plagued by penalties for most of the first half, Boggs’ interception produced one of two legitimate scoring opportunities for the Mavs who mishandled their other when Dowdy, dropping back at the Narrows 12, rolled to his left and was picked in the end zone with 18 seconds left in the half.
On the back of a 35-yard completion by Pruett to Levi Smith, the Green Wave marched to the James Monroe 36 on their first drive of the second half but a heave to the end zone found the hands of Dowdy, eventually setting the Mavs up at the Narrows 8. From there the visitors put together their best drive of the night, the 11-play, 92-yard trek that ended in Dowdy’s toss to Boggs and a 14-0 advantage for James Monroe.
Two drives later the Mavericks put the game to bed when Cooper Ridgeway, who finished with a game high 165 yards on 24 carries, cut across the field from right to left, finding pay dirt on a 40-yard touchdown run.
“Cooper’s one of those kids he’s basically been starting on this team since he was in the ninth grade,” Mustain said. “The things he brings to our team, the leadership he brings to our team and the way he plays on both sides of the ball. He does well playing in pass coverage and does well at linebacker. I just can’t say enough about Cooper. One thing we always seem to take pride in at James Monroe is we always seem to have one of those ringing backs and Cooper fits right into the mix.”
Narrows’ lone score of the night came in the waning minutes when Cooper Helvey charged in from a yard out on fourth-and-goal to avoid the shutout. It was the only drive of the night where that saw the Green Wave take snaps in the red zone.
“We worked a lot on defense this week,” Mustain said. “We weren’t very happy with the way we played defensively at PikeView. Even up at Wheeling Central, of course they had some daggon good running backs. When you look at the seven behind the front four, we’ve only got two returning starters in Cooper and Chaz. Layton would’ve been back there more last year with Eli and Brady back there we didn’t need him back there. It’s something we’ve worked on and Jason’s (Goodman) done a good job with them. What they did tonight, it was a heck of a job and hopefully we can keep stepping forward.”
The Mavericks (3-0) will host Summers County next week.
