Unbeaten Mavericks top Renegades
James Monroe (28) vs. Westside (20)
Written: Oct 10, 2015
By PHILIP SEE
for the Daily Telegraph
CLEAR FORK — James Monroe scored on its first three offensive possessions, then again with less than three minutes left in the game, to hold off Westside by a final of 28-20 on Friday night and remain undefeated.
Quarterback Evan Beasley threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third in the first half for the Mavericks, and Grant Mohler added 129 yards on 27 carries and the late score.
Beasley was hot early for James Monroe, running in a 40-yard touchdown on the first possession, then following that up with a 60-yard completion to Connor Booth on the second drive before finding Colton Bradley for a 10-yard score. Those two drives gave the Mavericks a 14-0 lead after one quarter.
Westside got it going offensively in the second period and put two touchdowns on the scoreboard. Trevor Anderson ran one in from 10 yards out early in the quarter, but Beasley answered with his second touchdown pass, this time to Boothe.
Larry Cook Jr. found Jacob Ellis deep across the middle for a 46-yard touchdown late in the half to pull the Renegades within 21-14 at the break. Cook finished with 99 yards on 22 carries and 165 yards and two touchdowns through the air.
“I thought, for the most part, in the first half, they dictated to us what they were going to do on offense,” Westside coach Larry Cook Sr. said of the early Maverick scoring outburst. “We came in after halftime, made some adjustments, and I thought we kind of dictated to them.”
Westside did look strong for much of the second half, but the Renegades were not able to translate that into any points. For the entire third quarter, and much of the fourth, both teams were scoreless.
As the clock ticked under four minutes to play in the game, Westside had moved the ball inside the James Monroe 20-yard line, still down just seven points. The threat was ended, though, when the Renegades fumbled a snap and James Monroe recovered.
On the first play after the change of possession, Mohler took a pitch off the left side and rumbled 76 yards to the end zone to put the Mavericks back up by 14 points.
The Renegades would not quit, quickly answering with a touchdown to pull back within eight. Though Westside would get the ball back one more time with less than a minute to play, the late deficit was too much to overcome, and the comeback attempt fell short.
For James Monroe (6-0), the hope of an undefeated season stays alive. Coach John Mustain hopes his team can keep finding ways to pull out games like this.
“It’s like one of our coaches just told them,” Mustain said. “Last year, it seemed like we were finding ways to lose these kinds of games, and this year, we’re finding ways to win them … It’s hard for me not to call that maybe the best team we’ve played this year. We were very fortunate to come out on top in this game.”
The road will get no easier for James Monroe, as the Mavericks will face Princeton, Liberty and Bluefield the next three weeks.
“Thank goodness two of them are finally at home,” Mustain said of the tough upcoming stretch. “I feel like I’ve been to California and back over these last four weeks. … We could maybe try to schedule down a little bit, but I don’t think our kids are going to get any better if we do that. We’ve got a tough schedule.”
Westside fell to 3-3 on the season and will face another quality opponent when Nicholas County comes to Clear Fork next week. Coach Cook hopes his team will rebound and continue to push toward the playoffs.
“That’s the talk we just had with the team,” he said. “Don’t let this loss get you in the tank...We had our run last year. We’re still in it this year. We’re still going to try to make our run.”
James Monroe...................14 7 0 7 — 28
Westside........................... 0 14 0 6 — 20
First quarter
JM: Evan Beasley 40 run (Wilson kick), 9:22
JM: Colton Bradley 10 pass from Beasley (Wilson kick), 2:29
Second quarter
WS: Trevor Anderson 10 run (Cook to Ellis), 11:21
JM: Conner Boothe 26 pass from Beasley (Wilson kick), 8:09
WS: Jacob Ellis 46 pass from Larry Cook (Conversion failed), 4:06
Fourth quarter
JM: Grant Mohler 76 run (Wilson kick), 2:55
WS: Josh Morgan 27 pass from Cook (Conversion failed), 1:45
• • •
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — JM: Grant Mohler 27-129, Evan Beasley 12-63, Colton Bradley 1-3. WS: Larry Cook 22-99, Trevor Anderson 18-86, Josh Morgan 12-41, Brock Smith 1-15.
PASSING — JM: Beasley 6-9-1-140. WS: Cook 9-16-1-165
RECEIVING — JM: Conner Boothe 2-86, Bradley 2-23, Mohler 1-23, Tyler Sams 1-8. WS: Jacob Ellis 3-64, Morgan 3-56, Isaiah Lester 2-42, Frank Sammons 1-3.
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