Two were genuinely surprising, another was impressive and the last may have established the next link in an impressive lineage of ground game greats at a school that’s become well known for them.
At least four Central Virginia running backs put together some notable performances Friday night in their teams’ victories, with Madison’s Jerod Williams, Buckingham’s Maurice Taylor Monticello’s CJ Page and Louisa’s Glen Cosby shining for their respective squads.
The two surprises were Taylor and Williams. Williams rushed for 65 yards for the Mountaineers, a team that already has a pair of talented, prolific backs in Logan Terrell and Devon Boone. But Williams gives Madison yet another speedy presence in the backfield, and he proved that he’s ready to be powerful when he needs to be, dropping three Fluvanna running backs on his way to the endzone in the second overtime.
If Williams is able to match the early showing, it may quickly become difficult to key on Terrell in the Madison run game.
Taylor’s night came completely out of left field, as he piled up 165 yards and tallied two touchdowns for the Knights. The circumstances made the outing even more impressive—Taylor reeled off those numbers behind a revamped offensive line and against a Nelson defense that boasts hard-hitting impact players like Trevor Martin and Tim Williams.
Page’s performance was impressive for its output, but it was pretty clear he’d be carrying most of the load for the Mustangs in the offseason and after a couple of Monticello scrimmages. The senior has waited patiently for his chance to carry the load for Monticello and on Friday he got things started with a bang, piling up 151 yards at a clip of 6.29 yards per carry.
It bodes well as the first installment of a new chapter in Monticello’s history. Page could help bridge that gap between the recent past and future more quickly than even some around Monticello’s program anticipated.
Cosby led the Lions with 114 yards on 17 carries, sparking Louisa in a narrow 23-21 victory that featured a game-winning field goal with five seconds to play by Elijah Payne that lifted the Lions.
Cosby could follow in an extensive line of Louisa runners over the past few years, including Rontray Houchens and Todd Shelton. But last year Louisa utilized a number of different backs, and Andre Mealy and Kire Worley should factor into the mix.
A consistent running game from Cosby could be a big boost for the Lions as they try and reverse last year’s narrow miss on a playoff berth.
Rollins, Johnson emerge
While a lot of the attention during the offseason centered on the losses the Mustangs suffered at the offensive skill positions including Jacob Pelton and Michael Graham, the defensive losses for Monticello were perhaps even more significant.
Hines Banks, Jace Brady, Shawn Winfrey, Chris Coiner, Marvin Mills and Nolan Thornton were all impact players, and Monticello had to replace them.
Timmy Rollins and EJ Johnson appear, after a game at least, to be up to the task.
Rollins let Albemarle know early that running on the Mustangs wasn’t going to be an easy task, planting Jervon Speller for a four yard loss on a third and one during the first quarter.
Johnson had a monster impact too with a pair of interceptions. Aaron DiGregorio had a pick of his own too, in addition to rushing for 13 yards and hauling in 39 yards through the air at fullback.
As a team, Monticello’s defense held Albemarle to 133 yards of offense, and if you consider Albemarle running back Mayn Francisco’s 52-yard run in the first half, the performance is even more dominant.
Albemarle forges ahead
Despite the disappointing loss to Monticello, Albemarle High certainly has some positives to build on, including Francisco and Speller’s performances on the ground (the two combined for 119 yards). But the passing game needs work and interim coach Wendell Green knows his top priority is to get the Patriots to look forward.
“It’s hard right now because it’s a big rivalry so they’re just looking at the moment right now,” Green said. “It’s just about telling to take the positives from it and build on it. Hopefully they can do that.”
The Patriots will have to develop more in the passing game to keep defenses honest. After some early rushing success, Monticello began closing down the angles and the Patriots couldn’t respond in kind with a passing attack. The three interceptions didn’t help much either.
Madison keeps it close to home
Being a Group A school hasn’t stopped Madison County from playing against their clear geographic rivals, many of whom reside in the Jefferson District.
On Friday Madison picked up a thrilling triple overtime victory over Fluvanna County and will look to jump out to the same hot start as they did last year when then travel to long-time rival William Monroe this Friday.
“We’re going to have to put that win behind us now,” Dean said. “Although it’s been real nice between this and our (exhibition) benefit game against Orange, to play two schools that are side by side and real rivals. All the kids know each other.”
That won’t change on Friday against the Dragons. While the Mountaineers have a healthy rivalry against Fluvanna and Orange, neither of those two relationships can hold a candle to the atmosphere of a Madison and Monroe show down.
Rugged contest
One thing that stuck out for Madison against Fluvanna was the physicality of the game. It was hard not to be impressed by the Mountaineer defense, especially the front seven. Madison poured on the pressure against talented Fluco quarterback Ryan Foster, and had little trouble stuffing the run between the tackles.
“We weren’t sure how good this defense was going to be coming into the year,” said Mountaineers coach Stuart Dean. “But after the scrimmage against Orange, I wasn’t surprised by the way (the defense) played (against Fluvanna).”
Offensively, it will be interesting to see how the Mountaineers address their quarterback situation. Will Taylor is out for the year with a shoulder injury and so it will be Dustin Kirby’s job to lead the passing attack. However, Dean demonstrated that he wouldn’t shy away from using a lot of wildcat formations with running backs Logan Terrell and Devon Boone. Terrell and Boone combined to throw six passes in the game against Fluvanna, and when the Mountaineers were driving to try and force the overtime late in the fourth quarter, Dean went with direct snaps to the two on key downs.
A long wait?
It’s hard to tell whether it’s a good thing that Fluvanna County will have two weeks off before they play their next opponent, Buckingham County. On the one hand, it will be nice for the Flucos to iron out some problems on offense. On the other hand, the coaches and players have to wait a good chunk of time before they can go about putting the triple overtime loss to Madison County out of their minds. However, as it stands right now, the Flucos realize that there is plenty to pull out of the battle.
“We definitely made a lot of mistakes and still found a way to fight back and execute to make that a great ball game,” said Fluvanna coach Rodney Redd. “It was a lot fun. It hurts, but it was also fun.”
YaYa watch
Redd indicated before the season began that people should keep an eye on young receiver YaYa Anderson. He wasn’t lying. The sophomore was responsible for the two touchdowns that Fluvanna scored in the first and second overtimes. The first was a 23-yard strike on fourth down, and the second taking place on another fourth down, this time a 15-yard score.
“YaYa’s a gamer,” Redd said. “He showed that he’s going to be there when the game is on the line.”
Significant improvement on both sides
Fluvanna has proven that they can and will run the ball, whether it’s with running back TJ Dudley or senior quarterback Ryan Foster. Foster can make any throw on the field, and against Madison, he showed he could do it on the run with a pack of defenders on his tail. If Anderson puts together games like he did this past Friday, the Flucos will have a chance to become one of the most balanced and unpredictable offenses.
Defensively, there was very little that Flucos couldn’t handle, as their talented linebacking corps filled the gaps and the secondary had little trouble with basic man coverage. Interestingly enough, before overtime, it looked like the Fluvanna defense was getting stronger the longer they were out on the field. They spent way too much time on the field in the first half as the offense sputtered, but still only surrendered three points before halftime despite playing with their backs against the wall for almost all 24 minutes.
