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Monticello jumps out early, beats Fluvanna

Ninety-seven seconds into the Jefferson District opener between Monticello and Fluvanna County, the Mustangs had received scoring contributions from all three phases. After a Fluco field goal, Monticello tallied 36 more unanswered points and cruised into Homecoming weekend with a 50-3 win, and the squad’s first 4-0 start since the 2013 season.

 

“You win your Homecoming game, it makes the dance and all the festivities a lot better,” said Monticello coach Jeff Lloyd. “Every kid got to play tonight, and some kids who don’t get to play a lot made some big plays.”

 

Fluvanna won the coin toss and deferred, a decision they may have quickly regretted as senior Austin Haverstrom took the opening kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown, breaking his own school record of 90 yards set last month in the season opener.

 

“When the ball was coming to me, it was in the corner, so when I got it I looked straight to the middle of the field,” Haverstrom said. “I kind of hesitated and it just opened up. Then I hit the gas and my teammates had amazing blocks.”

 

The Flucos tried to answer with a hidden-ball kick return, but Monticello sniffed it out and dropped the return man with the ball at his own 5. Two plays later, quarterback Ethan Graves was under immediate duress as he dropped back into the endzone and, with senior linebacker Elliot Curry pulling him down, an intentional grounding penalty resulted in a safety. Haverstrom returned the ensuing free kick deep into Fluco territory but a block-in-the-back flag set the offense at midfield. From there, senior quarterback Kevin Jarrell raced around the left side for a 50-yard touchdown and a 14-0 lead.

 

“We’ve really been talking about special teams because it’s one area that we haven’t necessarily excelled at yet,” said Lloyd. “Tonight was the first night we did.”

 

Despite that abysmal start, Fluvanna curbed the momentum as its offense started the next series in reasonable position at the 31. Senior running back Trevor O’Dell broke a 24-yard carry to advance into Monticello territory, and personal fouls (roughing the punter and roughing the passer) twice extended the drive on fourth down. Sophomore Kevin Alvarenga connected on a 30-yard field goal to cap the 56-yard drive that kept Jarrell and company off the field for 5:09.

 

“We fought hard and the kids never gave up,” said Fluvanna coach Steve Szarmach. “We let those two scores happen early in the game and when you fall behind, you still want to stay in your game plan and work on the things you planned for. The effort was there. We did not quit.”

 

While the Flucos ended up with a nearly-six minute edge in time of possession for the game, it probably needed to be much greater to keep things close. Monticello responded to the field goal with a six-play, 74-yard drive that took just over two minutes before senior quarterback Kevin Jarrell scrambled left and found junior receiver Trenton Johnson open down the middle for a 27-yard touchdown. The two connected again for the two-point conversion and Monticello led 22-3 after one quarter.

 

In the second quarter, the Flucos continued to hang tough. Monticello’s next drive progressed into the redzone but stalled at the 12, and a 29-yard field goal attempt missed wide left. Fluvanna’s defense also came through on the next possession as, again in the redzone, O’Dell jumped a short route and intercepted Jarrell. It would have been an 80-plus yard pick-six, but a sideline interference penalty nullified most of the return. Monticello would post the quarter’s only score after an errant snap on a Fluvanna punt resulted in an intentional grounding penalty inside the 10. Senior running back Jerrick Ayers took it in from five yards out to make it 29-3. The Flucos’ offense maintained possession for the last 4:10 of the half with a 14-play drive that reached the MHS 28, but could not put points on the board as backup quarterback Colby Martin was sacked as time expired.

 

“We weren’t as crisp offensively as we’ve been this year,” said Lloyd. “You look at the stat sheet and we had 350 yards but you don’t feel like you played well because we’ve been averaging almost 500. Part of that’s because Fluvanna is physical, and they’ve come a long way in a year.”

 

Monticello opened things up early in the third quarter as its first two offensive series started in Fluco territory. The first, following Fluvanna’s three-and-out to start the half, covered 47 yards in four plays and was capped by a 17-yard Jarrell keeper. Senior defensive back Jacoby Jackson intercepted Graves on Fluvanna’s next play at the 26. Jarrell converted a third-and-5 with a 15-yard completion to Ben Drake before Ayers ran in from 5 yards, making it 43-3 and setting up a running clock. With backups playing the fourth quarter, Monticello added one more score with junior Cole Ramsey’s 10-yard touchdown run.

 

“After last week, even though we won, we didn’t play great run defense,” said Lloyd, as Monticello held the Fluvanna ground attack to 16 yards in the first half, and 107 for the game. “This week we worked really hard on it. We made sure our kids knew where they were supposed to be.”

 

Jarrell led the Mustangs with 214 total yards (112 rushing on nine attempts and 102 passing) and three touchdowns. Ayers carried 10 times for 78 yards and two scores. For Fluvanna, Graves completed 10-of-22 passes for 54 yards. Prophet Harris and Joey Vandyke each had three receptions.

 

As both offenses had subpar nights, each team was also flagged 12 times for triple-figure penalty yardage. They will look to clean things up as district play continues with both taking on the Class 5A members: Monticello (4-0, 1-0) heads across town to Albemarle (1-3, 0-1), while Fluvanna (2-2, 0-1) hosts Orange County (2-2, 0-1).

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