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Monroe makes progress with offense but falls to Clarke

uva madison

 

For William Monroe coach Jon Rocha, it was pretty simple. The Dragons’ newly-installed triple option offense wasn’t working.

 

“Six points a game and 200 yards of offense, I guarantee we got more than that tonight,” Rocha said.

 

The Dragons’ switch back to the I-form and pistol mix that they ran in 2014 gave Monroe a spark Friday night, helping Monroe hang with a talented Clarke County squad before falling 39-18. While the Dragons are still winless, Monroe now has some momentum going after trailing the Eagles just 26-18 after three quarters.

 

“We got 3.1 quarters this week,” Rocha said. “To drop a new offense on them on Monday against a Clarke squad I’m very happy. Two days to put in an offense, I’m very pleased.”

 

Playing a day earlier and on Albemarle’s turf due to weather forecasts that would’ve made playing the game at Monroe Friday as originally scheduled difficult, the Dragons pulled within eight points with 5:51 left in the third. That’s when Malique Shackleford found tight end Kyle Kruszewksi for a 33-yard catch on a tipped ball down the Monroe sideline. After a 2-point conversion, Monroe was suddenly in striking distance. Kruszewski hauled in three catches for 74 yards and the score in a breakout performance.

 

Clarke, for its part, struggled throughout with turnovers and penalties, struggling in particular to hold onto the ball from early on in the game.

 

“We had way too many penalties for every type of reason,” said Clarke coach Chris Parker. “It’s kind of weird sitting here talking about it — we won 39-18 but it wasn’t a very good game. I take my hat off to them, they’re pretty tough, they had some physical players, but we had way too many penalties … we’re going to fix it on Monday.”

 

The Eagles started to close the door with 10 minutes to play, taking a 33-18 lead on a Matthew Dang rushing touchdown at that point less than a minute after forcing Monroe to turn the ball over downs near midfield. Despite the struggles with turnovers and penalties, Clarke’s single wing offense managed to roll up 297 yards on the ground another 85 through the air. Hunter Rogers’ 173 yards and two touchdowns led the way.

 

Clarke’s offense tacked on another touchdown late in the fourth after picking off a Monroe pass.

 

Monroe finished with 269 yards of offense, with 179 coming through the air including a 52-yard catch and run by Khalil Green late in the second quarter. Shackleford looked more comfortable with the offense’s transition back to last year’s system despite a short week of practice.

 

“As much as we wanted him to be that running quarterback, he looks much better as a pocket passer,” Rocha said.

 

Monroe takes on Warren County next Friday, and a win there is a virtual necessity there if the Dragons want to claw back into playoff contention.

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