True to its reputation as a big play team, it was feast or famine for Orange County on Friday night on the road against Monticello. Although the Mustangs piled up 317 yards on the ground, when the Hornets hit back, they hit hard, scoring three of their four touchdowns on plays of 40 yards or longer. Then on defense, Orange held fast when it needed to most as it forced a turnover on downs in the last 90 seconds with a six-point lead. With the game all but over, Tyrone Ellis put it away for good with a late touchdown to hand Orange a 36-23 win.
“We needed a win,” said Hornets coach John Kayajanian. “This is a tough district and we got hurt last week. Our pride took a hit and it was embarrassing to lose like we did (to James Monroe) and so we got back to work and did some things. I’m happy for the kids right now.”
The biggest play of the game happened to be the first as Isaiah Ferguson took the opening kickoff for 92 yards to put the Hornets on the board in just 14 seconds.
But Monticello answered right back as running back Isaac Robinson worked his way downfield for the Mustangs and capped his team’s first drive with a 3-yard run to tie the game.
After both teams struggled to move the ball at the end of the first quarter, and midway through the second, Orange built up a 10-point lead on a 38-yard field goal from Hunter Ferguson and a 42-yard rushing score from Ellis three minutes later.
With two minutes and change to work with, Monticello’s Jesse Ayres set his team up in the redzone on a 36-yard run. The Mustangs worked the ball inside the 10-yard line, but had to settle for a 20-yard field goal from Nick Kalinsky to make it a seven point game going into the second half.
Ayres and the Mustangs seized the momentum coming into the third quarter as the senior broke off a 38-yard rushing touchdown. A missed PAT had Orange still up a point. Monticello’s next drive stalled though, and after the Hornets forced the Mustangs to punt within their own 20-yard line, Orange picked up a safety and increased it’s lead to three points when a bad snap roll through the endzone and out of bounds.
“We had way too many mistakes in all areas of the game,” said Monticello coach Brud Bicknell. “It’s our job to find a way to get the players to correct that or find players that will.”
At that point, the Orange passing attack turned around a quiet first half. After his team took the ensuing kickoff from the safety to midfield, Hornets quarterback Cameron Hughes hit Johnny Adamson in stride for a 49-yard strike to make it a double-digit lead again.
“We ran play action and it was just there,” Hughes said. “He was on time and I didn’t have to wait or nothing. (Johnny) was just wide open.”
After he saw the coverage, Adamson knew the ball was coming his way.
“The corner backed off of me so I was just able to fake inside and bounce outside,” Adamson said. “I kept my head on a swivel and Cameron got me the ball.”
While Monticello was able to pile up the yards with Ayres and Robinson, they could not translate that into points. Conversely, Ferguson made it a 13-point game after a 28-yard field goal.
“When we were running the ball we’d find a way to get behind the chains,” Bicknell said. “Someone would invariably fumble and lose yardage or we’d lineup improperly, whatever we did, we never were able to recover when we made those mistakes.”
Midway through the fourth quarter, the running game got rolling again, this time highlighted by a 24-yard run from quarterback Jhalil Mosley. With 2:59 remaining, Ayres cut the deficit to six points on a 3-yard run.
Orange’s Tyler Seal came up with the onside kick that followed and shortly thereafter Jacob Hunter broke loose on a big run that looked like it would wrap up the game as he worked inside the 10. Before he could break free, though, the Monticello secondary forced the ball loose and the Mustangs recovered it at their own 2-yard line with 2:45 on the clock.
With the game on the line, Monticello watched a pair of long runs get called back because of holding. The Hornets secondary and pass rush came to the rescue for the next three plays to return the ball back to the offense. Ellis was then able to notch the final score of the game with a 9-yard run with 38 seconds left.
For Orange, Ellis finished with 117 yards on 18 touches and Tyler Seal led the Hornets receieving corps with three catches for 30 yards. Hughes finished 9 for 21 with 128 yards.
For Monticello, Ayres put together a 36-carry 220-yard game. Robinson turned 11 attempts into 85 yards. Deno Robinson had six catches for 58 yards.
Orange (2-2) travels to Goochland on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Monticello (2-2) heads to Fluvanna County also on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
