Gallery by Ashley Honaker
Lindside – Chaz Boggs leads James Monroe in receiving yards (529) and receiving touchdowns (12). But the 26 yards he threw for Saturday were more meaningful than any other gain of the Mavericks’ season thus far.
Boggs connected with Ryan Mann for a 26-yard score on fourth-and-16 for the only offensive touchdown of the game as James Monroe eased its way to a 17-0 win over Cameron in a Class A quarterfinal in Lindside Saturday afternoon.
With the victory James Monroe advances to the Class A semifinals for the second consecutive season where it will face No. 4 Greenbrier West – the team that handed the Mavs their only loss of the season – at a time and date that will be announced Sunday.
Needing points in a defensive struggle, Boggs’ pass gave James Monroe its first score of the game with special teams and defense providing the others later in the contest.
The play itself, a halfback option, was called “Rocket” and unraveled at first like a halfback toss to Boggs who corralled the pitch and looked downfield for a receiver, finding Mann.
“We were in that rocket,” James Monroe head coach John Mustain said. “We did that at Princeton one year and we were coming out of our own end zone and a kid was wide open. He ran out of steam but got to the five yard line. But yeah, that’s just a rocket pass. We hadn’t done it at all this year. We’ve been working on it this week and you know, and I was a little leery of Chaz throwing the ball, but he kind of threw a dime on that one. That’s something we have in our arsenal that we rarely do and in moments like when we think we really need it.”
The Mavericks were fortunate to run the play with Boggs who exited in the first half with an injury but stretched out and returned for the second half.
“We ran it in practice, and I was like, ‘Alright, if we run it in a game, I’m throwing it no matter what.'” Boggs said. “So I was running outside and I just seen (Mann) get behind them about two yards and knew it was open. I chucked it down and he caught it!”
The touchdown backed up a stellar effort by the James Monroe defense in which it forced four turnovers – three interceptions and a fumble – with one of them returned for a score.
All four came in the second half with one returned 70 yards by Wilson Boggess for a touchdown to cement the game. It was Boggess’ second of the afternoon.
“We found out today the how tough they are in our defense,” Mustain said. “You know, our defense did rise to the challenge a couple of times. There I was getting a little bit worried but they did a great job today and you know, obviously it’s gonna have to continue.”
Cameron moved the ball through the air but sustaining drives against the Mavericks proved impossible. The Dragons’ ground game finished with just five yards while the passing attack was plagued with turnovers and drops.
Still Cameron’s defense rose to the occasion on the opposite side of the ball. The Mavericks’ offensive showing in the first half indicated as much as they went three-and-out twice, threw an interception deep in Cameron territory and turned the ball over on downs after starting at the Cameron 44.
After Boggs’ touchdowns pass that trend held with the Mavs again punting and turning the ball over on downs before stringing together a drive that ended in a 22-yard field goal for Peyton Gardinier to push the lead to 10-0 with 3:52 remaining.
Boggess’ second interception of the game on Cameron’s ensuing drive accounted for the final score of the contest.
“I told one of their coaches how good a team they were and he said we’re just not very big,” Mustain said. “I said but yeah, but you’re quick and they are quick and sometimes at this level, a quick, quick defensive line and quick linebackers are hard to deal with but you know, thank goodness we were we were able to get things turned around and again, that pass play from Chaz was really big.”
Up next for the Mavs is a rematch with Greenbrier West which defeated Wahama 22-20 Friday night.
The two teams have met three times in the last 13 months. James Monroe swept the series last season, beating the Cavs in the regular season and the quarterfinals. West returned the favor in Charmco last month, winning 25-8.
“I watched them last night against a tough team and they persevered,” Mustain said. “They’re just loaded. I mean, they’ve got a lot of good players on both sides of the ball. The (Jake) Pate kid runs well. The (Cole) Vandall kid runs well and then (Ethan) Holliday as a receiver, but he’s not the only receiver they’ve got. I mean, he’s kind of kind of a main one they look for but it’s gonna be a tall order. I definitely feel like we can do it, but we’ll have to play our best game for sure.”
C: 0 0 0 0 – 0
JM: 0 0 7 10 – 17
Scoring Plays
Q3
JM: Mann 26 yard pass from Boggs (PAT); 6:34
