Gallery by Heather Belcher
Lindside – A slow start was cause for concern Saturday evening in Lindside. But by the time the fourth quarter rolled around the home crowd felt comfortable enough to head out early.
Leading just 7-6 after a quarter, Class A No. 1 James Monroe erupted for 20 points in the second quarter, eventually rolling to a 48-15 win over No. 16 Sherman in the opening round of the Class A playoffs at James Monroe.
With the win James Monroe advances to the quarterfinals for the third consecutive season where it will face No. 8 Cameron at a time and date that will be announced Sunday.
A week after accounting for four touchdowns against Bluefield – one passing and three rushing – Mavericks QB Layton Dowdy threw a career-high five touchdown passes to three different receivers, rushing for a sixth in Saturday’s win. The five touchdowns passes topped his previous career mark of four in a single game, set against PikeView last season.
“You know really it seems like here the last three or four weeks the passing game’s really picked up and that’s got to continue,” James Monroe head coach John Mustain said. “You know, you can’t solely rely on the run just like you can’t solely rely on the pass and anything we can do to where we’re multifaceted, that’s definitely gonna help us in the next next few weeks.”
Dowdy’s efficient performance where he completed 11 of 17 passes for 193 yards was welcomed as the Maverick offense played most of the game without all-state running back Cooper Ridgeway who registered a handful of snaps on offense despite playing most of the game on defense.
Brock Parker and Chaz Boggs filled in admirably, rushing for 87 and 76 yards, respectively.
“I mean Cooper’s a little bit banged up right now,” Mustain said. “But Brock, he’s shown us, as a matter of fact the first game of the season last year, his freshman year, I think he’s the leading rusher. He’s shown us that he can get the job done and the thing I’m really happy about is the way Brock has always been playing linebacker lately. He’s been doing a much better job on the defensive side of the ball, and he’s really starting to pick up on the defensive side of the ball. The things that (assistant coach) Jason (Goodman) wants him to do and our key reads and all that stuff.”
Parker and Boggs delivered from the jump for the hosts with a 27-yard Parker jaunt putting them just outside the red zone on their first drive. Three plays later Boggs’ 13-yard run set up a 2-yard scoring plunge by Parker to give the Mavs the early lead. The visitors answered immediately with Andrew Simpson fielding a kick at the nine and retuning it 91 yards for a score to make it a 7-6 game after a missed PAT.
Neither offense found a rhythm until the second quarter when the Mavericks pieced together a two-play drive that ended in a 35-yard touchdown pass from Dowdy to Boggs. Ready to match them, the Tide responded with a seven-play, 54-yard touchdown drive that saw QB Elijah Pauley hook up with Trey Lester on a perfect pass to the back pylon on fourth-and-5 for a 10-yard touchdown. The conversion attempt failed, leaving the visitors with a 14-12 lead but they weren’t allowed to hang on.
The Mavericks scored touchdowns on their next five drives with two of those coming before the intermission, allowing them a 27-12 lead at the break.
“You know we had the Bluefield game last week and that was some of that,” Mustain said of the slow start. “That’s a good team to be a small school like they are – they’re smaller than us. They played hard and you know, one thing is that kickoff return there early. Other than that defensively, I thought we did really well. But little slow getting going on the offensive side, but I told them, it ain’t gonna get no easier.”
The win proved to be a total team effort especially from a passing standpoint. Dowdy completed passes to five different receivers with Parker and Boggs hauling in a pair scores and Ryan Mann adding the fifth.
“We don’t have the one man (Eli Allen) like we did last year,” Mustain said. “But I love seeing that because you know you take Chaz out of that mix and you’re looking at underclassmen. We’re looking at kids that are better, some sophomores, some juniors and that really gives me a lot of hope for next year and the years to follow. So anytime you can get that many kids involved in the passing game and running game, whatever we’re talking about, it’s definitely a big plus.”
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com
