If all you saw were the stat sheets, you’d probably think that Charlottesville’s visit to Fredericksburg to take on James Monroe featured an offensive shootout.
“I thought the last team with the ball was going to win,” said JM coach Rich Serbay, as both squads combined for over 500 yards of offense, with the visiting Black Knights slightly ahead for each half.
However, turnovers and redzone stands foiled one team early and often. Charlottesville had three drives that covered at least 64 yards but ended in two lost fumbles and no points. Three other drives of 50, 44, and 41 yards ended on downs inside the Jackets’ 35.
“You can’t turn the ball over, and we turned it over going on drives and it just deflates you,” said Charlottesville coach Eric Sherry, as Charlottesville dropped its second straight contest by a deceivingly-lopsided 45-20 final margin.
With the Knights’ starting quarterback Daimon Washington on the sideline in street clothes following an injury in last week’s opener, junior Tamarius Washington got the nod and proved to be a potent weapon in the ground game.
“They did something we didn’t expect, that quarterback lead where the fullback went in and the quarterback followed,” Serbay said. “What a great play. I give Eric Sherry a lot of credit for that. I really admire how he came in totally prepared to play without his number-one quarterback. That offensive line blocked well.”
When passing situations arose on third- and fourth-and-long, though, the Black Knights could not connect down field. Washington went just 1-of-11 attempts for 10 yards. On the other side, the Jackets’ senior quarterback Zakk Davis had a huge night, completely reversing the script from the contest at Theodose Stadium last season.
“Their defense was playing up tight on our receivers, and our guys are just great athletes; they were getting by them and into open space,” said Davis, who finished 11-of-20 for 321 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions. “Our offensive line did amazing and didn’t let anyone touch me all night.”
It was also a bounce-back from last week’s rough second half in JM’s opener at Stafford.
“Last week we tried to alternate two quarterbacks because we had a battle, and it didn’t work,” Serbay said. “So we went back to our starter from last year. The kid really came through for us. Zakk is a fighter, and tonight he showed us what kind of fighter he is.”
James Monroe received the opening kickoff and marched 80 yards in eight plays, capped by an 18-yard Davis pass to junior receiver Jacari Strothers. Charlottesville looked like it would respond after Quincy Edwards took a pitch on the option and picked up 47 yards; however, on first-and-10 at the Jackets’ 20, a fumbled backfield exchange was recovered by Jackets senior Jonathan Washington. After a rare three-and-out by James Monroe, the Knights’ offense turned it right back over when Washington recovered a fumbled pitch. That led to a 30-yard touchdown pass from Davis to senior wideout Turner White. Charlottesville came back with a 69-yard drive, led by big men Jaleom Adams-Mallory and Sabias Folley; however, first-and-goal from the seven saw another errant pitch and thus, thanks to three turnovers, James Monroe held a 14-0 lead after one quarter.
Davis capped the ensuing James Monroe possession with a third-and-10 wheel route to sophomore receiver Aidan Ryan, who raced down the left sideline for a 45-yard touchdown. Now in a 21-0 hole, Charlottesville got on the board with a 27-yard QB draw from Washington. However, two plays and 65 seconds later, James Monroe reopened a three-score lead on Deonte Curry’s 75-yard scamper. It seemed that a back-and-forth was developing when Folley stepped up on the Knights’ next drive, breaking out for 36 yards on fourth-and-11, scoring from six yards on the next snap, and then adding a two-point conversion to make it 28-14. Momentum continued to swing as the defense made a recovery on an errant pitch by the Jackets. However, two incompletions sandwiching a delay of game penalty in the final minute of the half thwarted a drive at the Jackets’ 31 and spoiled a chance to pull closer heading into the break.
The Knights could have really made things interesting as they received the second half kickoff. They launched a bruising series that consumed more than half of the time in the quarter and reached the James Monroe 20 on its eleventh play before a holding penalty nullified a first down run and instead setup fourth-and-17. After that turnover on downs, the Jackets effectively sealed the outcome two plays later when Davis connected with senior Brandon Woolridge for a 72-yard catch-and-run touchdown.
“Defensively, we’re still struggling, especially tackling,” Sherry said. “We didn’t play real well in the secondary. We’ve got to do a better job as coaches. It’s got to become more of an instant-reaction as opposed to the process of thinking about it too much. You’ve got to keep working; it’s not like we’ve got free agents coming on board.”
Leading 35-14 after three, James Monroe added a 30-yard field goal from Colin O’Connor and a 45-yard garbage time touchdown run by Jawuan Fauntleroy. In between, Folley scored on a 14-yard run for Charlottesville.
Washington led the Knights with 207 yards on 28 rushing attempts. Folley carried 23 times for 195 yards and made the team’s only pass reception for 10 yards. Curry led the Jackets on the ground with 99 yards on 11 rushes. Two James Monroe receivers eclipsed the century mark: Ryan (3 receptions for 103 yards) and Woolridge (3 for 101).
“I thought Tamarius played extremely well, especially being thrown into it after a week,” said Sherry. “He’s still a little dinged up, too, so him being able to suck that up and play the way he did is very encouraging.”
Charlottesville (0-2) will seek an out-of-district win as its ‘city schools’ slate concludes next Friday at Harrisonburg (0-1, at Handley on 9/1).
