James Monroe’s stint in Class A was highly successful.
After Covid derailed much of the Mavericks’ first season in the state’s smallest class, they handed out more beatings than they took over the following three years going 6-3 in the playoffs from 2021-23. That success yielded a state runner-up finish in 2022 and a semifinal berth in 2023.
Now the Mavericks find themselves caught between worlds.
With the new classification shift that added a fourth class, James Monroe has bumped from Class A to Class AA. But it’s not uncharted territory for the Mavericks who were a Class AA program from 1994-2019 under the three-class system.
They’ll be joined by some former Class A schools in the same boat as well as some traditional Class AA powers they’re used to facing.
“There are so many good teams,” James Monroe head coach John Mustain said. “We got Bluefield back on the schedule last year, and Bluefield is Bluefield year in and year out, they’re gonna be hard to beat. They always have so much talent. Freddy (Simon) does such a good job over there with those kids. But a lot of the ones of the teams who were in single-A with us came back up to double-A as well. So it has a very similar look, but there again, there are a few differences. And then, of course, they’ve had these changes here the last three or four weeks, and that kind of changes the landscape as well. So to me, it doesn’t matter really where you are. There are always going to be teams that are going to be tough to beat, and no one’s just going to mail it in for you no matter whether you’re single-A, double-A or whatever. You’re going to have to go out there and earn it, and hopefully we can do that.”
The Mavericks were ransacked by graduation, losing all-state skill players Chaz Boggs and Cooper Ridgeway as well as trench standouts Ashton Evans, Jacob Hall, Justin Feamster and Jackson Phipps on the offensive line. But they do have a pair of foundational pieces returning.
Senior lineman Brady Baker is a two-way player in the trenches that’s started since his freshman year. He’s drawn interest from several DI schools. The man he’ll protect is also a longtime starter. Layton Dowdy took snaps at QB as a freshman before shattering program passing records as a sophomore with over 30 passing touchdowns. He had a strong season again last year as a junior with 17 touchdown passes to just five interceptions and is more polished than ever heading into his senior year.
“Layton’s Layton,” Mustain said. “I mean he can see things even better this year, and of course, Brady, he anchors down that line on both sides of the ball. His experience, he’s the type that’s really good at helping out the younger players as they learn the ropes and the things they’re supposed to do on both sides of the ball. So to me we’re looking at two really good leaders in that regard.”
Dowdy’s top target in Boggs is gone but Mustain feels confident in the young skill players he has around Dowdy.
“Well I feel like we definitely have the capability of running and passing pretty well,” Mustain said. “You know, maybe a tad bit more passing. I think we’ve got several kids that I feel like can help us as far as receiving and so forth. We’ve really been focusing a lot on running patterns correctly, and I think that’s going to help out a lot. But again, I think I’m the type that if we can run the ball and be successful, I’m happy with that. But it’s good to have a good balance, because you’re going to need it between the passing and the running game, and I feel like the potential is there for us to have that.”
The Mavericks have also been stout defensively and their best years have often been led by overwhelming defensive efforts. Mustain expects much of the same again, despite replacing numerous all-staters on that side of the ball.
“We lost, once again we lost Chaz and lost Cooper (Ridgeway) at linebacker as far as the secondary and linebackers go,” Mustain said. “But again we’ve got kids back who played there last year. As far as the DBs go I think it’s a lot of same kids that we’re probably going to be looking at and they’ve been showing us a good bit. They seem to cover very well. I really feel like our defense again this year is going to be a strong point for us and in all the years James Monroe’s been around we’ve always had a pretty solid defense, in my opinion. I don’t think this year will be any different. Again there’s some kids coming back that either started or saw significant time on the defensive side. So, I really feel like we should have a good strong defense.”
James Monroe will open its season Friday against Class AA contender Wheeling Central.
