Leading by four and with just 11 seconds to play, William Monroe faced fourth down while sitting four yards away from the endzone and probably couldn’t melt the entire clock on a single play.
It was an easy decision for Monroe coach Jon Rocha.
“If we didn’t get in they were going to have to go 99 yards against our defense to win the game,” Rocha said. “We could’ve kicked the field goal, but they ran one back and I didn’t want to take the chance of kicking off with just a seven-point lead. I’ll take my chances with our defense and them having to drive 99 yards.”
He didn’t have to take his chances. Quarterback Alex Kinsey tucked the ball into Zach Miller’s hands and let the junior running back do the rest as he powered into the endzone with a stiff arm and a broken tackle for what became a 30-19 lead that held up as the final after a Monroe kickoff ended with Madison’s returner running out of bounds near midfield..
With Miller’s score, William Monroe wrapped up the Dragons’ first victory of the season and a huge win over their archrival.
“It’s a big game for us, it’s our biggest rival it feels good to come out here and get to the win,” said Monroe wideout Jordan Gray, who had 72 yards on four catches through the air. “It makes us become more of a team, makes us more comfortable with the game. We’re just trying to get some more wins.”
Monroe jumped out to a 13-0 lead on the Mountaineers, with Alex Kinsey throwing two early touchdown passes. The first came on a swing pass to Jaekwon Wayne who raced in from 20 yards out. The second went to Evan Wagner, as he slipped in from 13 yards out. That was just the start of a big night for Wayne who rushed for 165 yards on 18 touches.
Madison refused to go away despite that early onslaught, tying the game up at 13-13 thanks to a rushing touchdown by Elijah Lewis and a touchdown toss by Lewis to Michael Carpenter with 1:20 left in the first half. William Graves had two sacks for Madison on Monroe’s last drive of the half.
“This is a learning process and there’s a lot of positives for us, another big step forward for us,” said Madison coach Chandler Rhoads. “Was it the result we wanted? No, but in this process it’s important to find the wins and I thought we had a lot of those tonight. We were competitive, we were tough.”
Madison is in the midst of a full-tilt rebuild with young players filling most of the squad’s most important roles.
Monroe got back in gear in the third quarter with Kinsey powering in for a touchdown and then tacked on a field goal to take a 23-13 lead.
The Mountaineers answered with Christian Rosado racing 63 yards on a kick return for a touchdown, cutting the lead to 23-19 after a blocked PAT.
That score held until Miller powered in for the late touchdown, with both teams exchanging turnovers during the fourth. The Dragons’ ability to close physically was a huge step in the right direction as they’ve come out on the short end of the stick the last couple of weeks in losses to Fort Defiance and Broadway.
“It’s the best feeling, I couldn’t be more happy tonight,” said Monroe senior lineman Jon Richardson. “All the boys, we’ve been practicing all week busting our tails. I’m so proud of the boys.”
Richardson led the squad in a chant during pregame and Rocha asked him to reprise it in the aftermath of the win.
“I was on Instagram, and I saw some football videos and I loved that one, and I was thinking we’ve got to do that, it’s so hype,” Richardson said.
Monroe’s Cameron Hayes finished with 48 yards on four touches while Miller gained 71 yards on eight carries. Kinsey threw for 152 yards, going 11-for-23 including the two early touchdowns.
For Madison, Lewis threw for 101 yards, going 5-for-18 passing with one interception. The Dragons did a solid job against explosive Madison running back Jamar Turner as he finished with just 64 yards on 15 carries.
The Dragons (1-4) get a week off before hitting the road to take on Manassas Park while Madison (0-4) takes on Rapphannock.
