It wasn’t totally the No-Fly Zone. But at the very least, flights were canceled, delayed or re-routed as Monticello’s secondary largely lived up to its self-appointed nickname in a hard-fought 31-19 victory over Fork Union.
“We’re the No-Fly Zone — there were a lot of corners in the league (with nicknames for their position groups like Seattle’s Legion of Boom) and I thought we should be the No-Fly Zone,” said Monticello cornerback Michael Crenshaw. “I felt like we had the players to do that.”
Fork Union quarterback Julius Puryear did manage to throw for 188 yards and a touchdown against Monticello Friday night, though it took 39 attempts and also included a pair of interceptions by the Mustangs. Down the stretch with the Blue Devils trying to claw back, Crenshaw and Quoshad Green were tremendous on the boundary as FUMA tested them with a series of fade routes down the sideline. Each time they seemed to come up with monster plays against FUMA receivers Lewis Freeman and Micah Keels that held a sizeable height advantage over the Mustangs’ cornerbacks.
“I love the challenge because if you want to be best, you’ve got to go against the best and they’re probably one of the best we’ll face all year,” Crenshaw said. “Put us to the test. Last year they put up a lot of numbers on us (a 55-38 shootout with FUMA) but this year we said we were going to come and make a change and we did.”
Their improvement is part of what allowed the Mustangs’ front seven to attack relentlessly in the early going and as the game wore on, with Tony Talbert, Griffin Davis and Rashad Brooks all registering sacks in critical spots.
“(Great coverage) sure helps a lot, it makes the quarterback scramble a lot so I can get a free read on him and get in there and make the sack,” Davis said. “So it helps a lot that we have players like Mike Crenshaw back there holding them up.”
The Mustangs also unleashed the rugged, hard-running Davis in the run game on offense as he went for 55 yards on just four touches and gave Monticello a burst there while Kyree Koonce, Darian Bates and a couple of other running backs nursed injuries during the game. Davis’ physical style and 220-pound middle linebacker frame made him a dangerous option almost immediately.
“He’s that guy that spent every day in the weight room…he’s that guy that is the first one in the meeting room and wants to understand ‘what have we got, what are we going to do to stop these guys’,” said Monticello coach Jeff Woody. “In the offseason he’s beating everyone in sprints and we’ve got to put a different jersey on him (Davis wore a an ineligible number last year at linebacker) and have him in the backfield. He can pick ‘em up and put ‘em down.”
Koonce still managed 80 yards and a touchdown on eight carries and Bates finished with 62 yards and a score on 11 touches, but with injuries limiting those two and quarterback Daniel Hummel the Mustangs turned to Davis and a game of keep away to hold off Fork Union.
Monticello jumped out to a 14-0 lead over Fork Union, capitalizing in part because the defense forced several turnovers — including one where Bryce McGlothlin simply tackled the Fork Union punter before he could get the kick off after a bad snap, forcing a fumble that Morgan Wilson, before he was injured later in the half, pounced on. Fork Union committed six turnovers in total and the early mistakes were particularly costly.
“We put ourselves in that hole,” said FUMA coach Brian Hurlocker. “We just couldn’t find a rhythm on offense — defense we played our tails off. You can’t ask anymore out of your defense than what they gave us because (Monticello) is going to score.”
Fork Union pulled within five points with 4:46 left to play when Josh Nevers pounded the ball in from a yard out after a 24-yard catch and run by Rashon Torrence set Fork Union up on the 1-yard line. But that was as close as they’d get as they turned the ball over on downs after Brooks’ sack put them in a tough yardage situation and a huge breakup by Green down the sideline against Keels helped Monticello put it away.
“We had problems on special teams and problems on offense and then we went empty at the end and it was too little too late,” Hurlocker said. “I’m proud of this team. After that first quarter most teams would tuck their tales and go to the house and we didn’t.”
Given a short field, Monticello struck with 1:04 left on a plunge by Hummel set up by first down runs by Davis and Bates to ice the contest.
“We got squeezed,” Woody said. “I told them at halftime, ‘you squeeze an orange you get orange juice, you squeeze and apple you get apple juice and right now you’re getting squeezed, what’s going to come out of you?’ They stepped up, they manned up.”
