Western Albemarle senior linebacker Jarrett Smith has picked up a little bit of a nickname, or, at the very least, an identifier.
“He’s relentless — we call him a sniper because when we turn him loose he generally finishes the job,” said Western coach Ed Redmond.
That label was dead-on Friday night when Smith sacked Monticello quarterback Kevin Jarrell four times as Western’s defense turned a corner and clamped down on Monticello en route to a 29-14 victory over the Mustangs.
Smith’s teammates were thrilled to see the two-way standout have such an explosive game against the Warriors’ archrival.
“It was inspirational,” said Western quarterback Derek Domecq. “Jarrett has been working all year, all five years of his high school career (including) eighth grade just to do that. It was really incredible to watch tonight.”
Smith’s four sacks were part of a six-sack night, with the other two coming from Luke Tenuta and Noah Crutchfield. Four of those sacks were in the bank by halftime as the Warriors built a 15-0 lead before the break. Monticello simply couldn’t find any offensive rhythm early and that proved to be too deep of a hole to climb out of even with the offense finding some sporadic success after halftime.
“Hats off to Western, they got after us and we did not respond well in the first half,” said Monticello coach Jeff Lloyd. “We played harder in the second half, but it was just too many mistakes to overcome the first half.”
The Warriors, by contrast, came out of their bye week looking like a completely different team than the one that dropped games against Brookville and Spotswood after winning its opener over Broadway. Instead of a sluggish, inconsistent offense, the Warriors employed a tempo-based, no-huddle attack.
“We had two weeks and we focused on offensive rhythm,” Redmond said. “Our kids like to play fast, they really don’t like to get in a huddle, they bog down. When you’re struggling and your defense isn’t playing well, it’s risky. You go three and out and they’ve got the ball back, but we have so much confidence in our defense we can eliminate the big play.”
In addition to putting pressure on the defense, going with that tempo is also a challenge for the Warriors’ players, particularly those who are playing on both sides of the ball like Smith. There was some cramping including Smith himself in the second half, but in general Western handled the switch well.
“We’re confident that we’re in better shape than the other team so you just keep grounding and pounding and throwing the ball and outmanning the guy on you,” Smith said.
Western scored twice in the first half while running the no huddle, with Derek Domecq plunging in on a one-yard run after putting the Warriors in scoring position with a 36-yard run. Domecq then struck through the air with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Victor Becerra. A gadget fake extra point that created a run/pass option for Domecq then led to a 2-point conversion with a complete throw and, in turn, a 15-0 Western lead.
The Warriors were also more balanced in addition to going uptempo, running 48 times and throwing 25 times, with runs at the end of the game with Western trying to milk the clock stretching out that disparity.
“I think mentally we fixed a lot of stuff,” Redmond said. “We got refocused on who we are. We decided (during the bye) that we needed to be more balanced, get the ball to our guys in space and let them make plays. I think for the first three games we did not do that.”
Monticello improved in the second half, with a pair of Jarrell to Reid Huffman touchdown passes as the highlights. The first was a deep, arching bomb that went for 71 yards, the other a 41-yard catch and run with 8:57 left. At that point it looked feasible that the Mustangs could rally despite being down by 15, and Monticello’s defense forced a three and out on the ensuing drive. But a roughing the punter call when Peter Slectha attempted to kick gave Western the ball back and allowed the Warriors to continue taking time off the clock.
Western piled up 479 yards of total offense with Domecq accounting for 250 of that that total through the air and 119 yards on the ground. He scored a second rushing touchdown late in the third quarter. Darren Klein scored the Warriors other touchdown early in the fourth and finished with 88 yards on 21 touches.
Becerra had three catches for 105 yards and Jack Weyher finished with 100 yards on four catches. Weyher also snagged a late second quarter interception in Western endzone that helped preserve the Warriors’ 15-0 lead at the break.
Jarrell threw for 151 yards on 8-for-25 passing despite dealing with pressure essentially from the first snap. Huffman had 131 yards on his four catches. Jerrick Ayers picked up 95 yards on just 12 carries.
Western travels to take on Powhatan next week while the Mustangs will host Charlottesville for the school’s homecoming game.
