At one point in the fourth quarter against William Monroe Friday, Charlottesville coach Eric Sherry simplified the game plan for the Black Knights when while talking into the headset he said simply “Bartee or Brock.”
“Those two kids will carry us,” Sherry said. “They’re special. Just give them something, give them a crease.”
That tandem of quarterback Malik Bartee and running back Rashad Brock, in combination with a stout redzone defense that held William Monroe to four field goals led the Black Knights to a hard-fought 24-19 win over the Dragons.
In a battle of mirror-image squads based on a physical run game and an experienced defense, Charlottesville was the slightly more polished image Friday night, finishing in the red zone and escaping major traps with Bartee or Brock playing Houdini.
Twice in the second half, made clutch plays that led to scores, starting with an incredible play by Bartee, where on a third and 33 from CHS’s own 14, the quarterback kept the ball on a zone read and raced 46 yards for a key first down. Two plays later he sprinted 30 yards and helped set up a field goal that put CHS up 17-9.
The second major escape came at the end of a clock-grinding drive by the Black Knights as they clung to a five-point lead. Charlottesville faced fourth and one at the Monroe 11 as well as the prospect of coming away empty handed and giving Monroe the ball back with under three minutes to play and just a touchdown away from the lead. They trusted Brock to take care of business, and he did, sprinting 11 yards into the endzone to nearly put the game out of reach for the Dragons.
“That’s the way it should’ve been with Brock going in,” Sherry said. “Brock’s getting a lot of yards and when he gets a lot more help up front it’s going to be good.”
Monroe refused to go away though, racing down field with the help of a strong kick return and a little trickeration on a wide receiver pass that went for big yards. Tylek Burley then blasted in from a yard out after a pair of pass interference penalties put the ball on the Charlottesville one. That score pulled the Dragons back within five and set the stage for an onsides kick.
CHS easily recovered the kick and then managed to run out the clock as Monroe was out of timeouts.
The Charlottesville defense surrendered yards quickly on that final Monroe drive, but outside of that series they were tremendous in the redzone particularly, forcing Monroe’s Alec Yost into four field goals. Big plays like a sack from Steven Jones in the third quarter were crucial in keeping the Dragons out of the end zone.
“It was a hard week of practice where coach told us to read the keys from the guards and they’d take us to the flow,” said Charlottesville linebacker Larry Anderson. “That’s what we did and we just made plays.”
Ending four drives in field goals was frustrating for the Dragons who moved the ball well while manuevering into the redzone with Burley and Cody Perkins combining for 125 yards on the ground while Tyler Trevillian had 76 yards on six catches. But in a game where possessions came at a premium as both teams looked to control the clock, those field goals simply weren’t enough for Monroe.
“We’ve got to figure out what it’s going to take to get it across there and we’re going to get it,” said Monroe coach Jon Rocha. “You punch one of those in it changes the game. We’re 13 points from being undefeated. There’s not much I’m complaining about except the score. (The players are) mad, they’re not sulking and I can work with mad.”
The Dragons’ linebackers and secondary largely shut down the Black Knights’ still developing passing game as CHS completed just two passes for 17 yards, though one went for a touchdown from Bartee to Hannibal Reid in the first half. Bartee finished with 195 yards on 16 carries while Brock had 125 yards on 15 touches on the night, including a 54-yard sprint on the Black Knights’ second play from scrimmage.
Charlottesville (2-1) will face another physical, hard-nosed opponent Friday night when the Black Knights head to Louisa County for a 7:30 p.m. clash in both squads’ Jefferson District opener while William Monroe (1-2) will get focused on Warren County as they jump into Bull Run District play.
