Clarke County capped seven of its eight first half possessions with touchdowns, while William Monroe failed to get its offense going anywhere on a wet and windy night, and the schools’ final Bull Run District clash ended with the Eagles dominating the Dragons 62-0.
Monroe won the coin toss but opted to defer. With Clarke receiving the opening kickoff, the Dragons also made the choice on field direction such that its offense would operate facing into the wind and blowing rain in the first quarter. After three runs by Hunter Rogers to start, the Eagles’ Daniel Braithwaite took the handoff on the fourth snap and went 53 yards for a touchdown.
“You could’ve driven a truck through that hole,” said Braithwaite, who finished the night with 109 yards on just seven carries. “I think they were keying on Hunter, and when we switched it up they weren’t expecting it.”
Monroe quickly went three-and-out, including two incomplete passes, and then its punt traveled just four yards. Clarke scored on senior quarterback Patrick Cleary’s 28-yard run on the very next snap. Monroe went nowhere on its next series, which started with negative yardage due to a fumbled snap. The punt snap also went awry, with a desperation boot from the end zone netting minus-5 yards. Starting in the red zone, the Eagles needed just two plays to score again, this time on a reverse by sophomore Kyle Baylor.
“Our guys were fired up, and I thought we did a great job of keeping the momentum,” said Clarke County coach Chris Parker, as Monroe trailed 20-0 just over five minutes into the game. “We were putting it to them early and I wanted to keep it going. We challenged our guys [after last week’s overtime loss]; we wanted them to respond, and I was very proud of them. With all the elements, and it being a home game but away [at Woodgrove’s turf field], it didn’t affect us at all.”
Malique Shackelford quick-kicked out of a fourth down shotgun formation the next time, but after that the Dragons started going for it on fourth down deep in their own territory. They failed to convert, which setup the highly effective Eagles offense with short fields. Rogers scored on a 1-yard keeper to complete a 29-yard Clarke County drive early in the second quarter. Minutes later, Baylor capped a 23-yard drive with a 12-yard run.
“I thought we were swarming, and our guys did a good job gang-tackling,” Parker said. “We knew they had some big players, and we knew we couldn’t not wrap up against backs that size. ”
After a Shackelford interception, Clarke mounted its longest drive of the first half (eight plays) before Rogers took a fourth-and-six carry 23 yards for his second touchdown. Likewise, Braithwaite tallied his second touchdown with a 19-yard run in the last minute of the half.
“We’ve got to figure out a way to get our guys to understand the wing-T,” said Monroe coach Jon Rocha, as Clarke amassed 266 yards by the break, all on the ground. “When they look for the ball, we create the lanes for them. It’s hard to get those fakes down in practice, and to teach them to follow the guards is hard.”
With a 48-point lead, the third quarter commenced with a running clock. Monroe’s defense forced a fumble midway through the fourth to setup the Dragons’ best scoring chance, as sophomore back Zachary Miller broke loose for a 25-yard run down to the 1-yardline. Two plays later, though, Clarke forced and recovered a fumble of their own, preserving the shutout. Senior tailback Nolan Hall broke an 87-yard touchdown run, his second of the half, to cap the scoring.
Hall finished with a game-high 115 yards thanks to the last run. Rogers carried 16 times for 93 yards, good enough for third most in the Eagles’ 394-yard ground attack. Monroe managed just 75 yards on the ground, led by Greg Sizemore with 25 on eight rushes. Shackelford was contained to 22 yards (13 rushing, 9 passing).
“We went and spread it out to keep them from being able to swarm, but Mother Nature had another plan,” Rocha said, in stark contrast to the weather assessment from Parker, whose offense attempted a single pass during the game.
“They didn’t care about the pass with the rain. It’s super disappointing, but we realize their twelfth player tonight was the rain,” Parker said.
Monroe (2-3, 1-1) will look to bounce back next week when it hosts Warren County (1-3, 0-1).
