Before William Monroe’s offense had the chance to take the field it already had a lead to work with. In a sign of things to come, Jacob Hirtz blocked a punt and recovered it in the endzone for a touchdown on Madison County’s opening drive.
“I knew I was going to have to step my game up this week,” Hirtz said. “I was in the film room longer than I had ever been. It’s a big game, a huge rivalry game with Madison.”
By the end of the night Hirtz had three interceptions and the Dragons defense finished with six forced turnovers. Doug Sizemore finished with more than 200 yards from scrimmage and four touchdowns. All-in-all, it was a romp for Monroe on its annual Dragon Fest as they rolled past rival Madison County 67-21.
“It was just a good win,” said Dragon coach Mark Sanford. “Anytime you win against a rival like that it’s just sweet. So it was a good feeling for the kids and they needed that after last week’s disappointing loss.”
Before Madison was even able to catch its breath after the punt block, the score was 19-0 for Monroe as Hirtz came up with his first pick of the night to set up a 13-yard rushing strike for Sizemore, and minutes later after a Mountaineers punt, the Dragons back run a screen pass for a 43-yard score.
Madison woke up though to make it game for the rest of the first half. Playing with a broken hand and a cast on his left hand, Travis Warren put the Mountaineers on the board with an 88-yard touchdown reception on a pass from Dustin Farmer. Just before the end of the quarter, Maurice Gentry went for an 88-yard run from his team’s own 2-yard line and Warren caught his second touchdown of the night on a 10-yard pass from Farmer to make it a 5-point contest.
After the wild first quarter, things settled down in the second. Sizemore accounted for the only score in the frame as he ran for a 25-yard touchdown two minutes in. Defenses for both sides took over from there and Hirtz picked off a pair of passes to put his team in solid shape to score. Early in the game Monroe tried to play man-to-man with Madison, but Warren’s size, speed and all-around athleticism forced them into a zone. That switched paid off big for the rest of the night.
“(Defensive coordinator John) Roacha calls such a great game,” Hirtz said. “He put us in a zones where we could get a good read on the quarterback and then sit back and go get the ball.”
But Madison would not let the Dragons in on a short field as they swarmed the backfield.
“I’m actually really proud of the way our defense played because offensively we did nothing for them but put them in bad situations,” said Madison coach Stuart Dean.
The second half was different though as it was all Monroe from start to finish.
‘We hadn’t been scoring a lot in the second half and I actually said in the locker room that there were going to be consequences if we don’t score 21 in this next half,” Sizemore said. “We just wanted to come out and make a statement. It felt great. We had a bitter taste in our mouth all week coming in.”
A 6-yard Sizemore run capped the opening drive for the Dragons to make it 33-14. The senior finished with 175 rushing yards on 31 attempts. Jordan Gentry capped off the next drive, this time with a 15-yard TD reception from quarterback Jack Morris.
Trailing by 26, Maurice Gentry accounted for his team’s only points of the second half on an 18-yard run for the endzone. Along with Warren who had six catches for 139 yards, Gentry was a bright spot on a bleak night for the Mountaineers as the junior running back piled up 196 yards on just 16 carries.
“Travis came back from injury and did a great job early and then Mo’, he did a great job too running the ball,” Dean said. “But it goes back to the way we’ve played all year, up and down. We’re not consistent.”
Monroe finished the game strong. Adam Weisenborn came up with a 18-yard interception return for a touchdown. Jordan Gentry made an impressive catch on a 17-yard throw from Morris to pick up his second touchdown of the night. Tony Morris Cousins had the fifth and final interception for the Dragons and took it all 14-yards for the score. Finally, fullback Devin Frederick — who usually is in the thick of the trenches blocking for Sizemore —got a chance to shine on a 40-yard touchdown run.
Madison (3-5) will play Strasburg for the second time this year, this time on the road and in a Bull Run District game at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
William Monroe (5-2) visits George Mason on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
