After a tight first half, state heavyweight Lake Taylor’s speed and depth wore down home-standing Monticello as the Titans headed back to Norfolk with a 38-0 victory.
“We played extremely, extremely hard against them for a half, and really almost for three quarters,” said Monticello coach Jeff Lloyd, who made his debut as the fourth head coach in the program’s history. “My goal in this game was to be competitive and to get out of this with no injuries. I told our kids, ‘this game will help us in the long run because you’ve played the best in the state, and you played a 6-0 half.”
In a game that started under light rain after a lightning delay and was the season opener for Monticello, penalties and low snaps were persistent roadblocks. While Monticello dominated time of possession by a margin of nearly nine minutes (16:26 to 7:34) in the first half, its offense spent much of that time moving in the wrong direction. The Mustangs went into the break with minus-18 total yards, and were still in the red at minus-1 by game-end.
“Defensively, we want to bring more people to the ball than you can block, and we’re very fast there,” said Lake Taylor coach Hank Sawyer. “We had a lot of penalties, probably too many. We fumbled a punt. If you don’t have the ball, you can’t score, so that hurt us a little bit.”
The teams exchanged three-and-outs to start the game, but field position shifted in Lake Taylor’s favor. After a shanked punt setup the Titans’ second possession at Monticello’s 19, senior running back Dazmine Palmer burst through the right side on the first snap and posted a 6-0 Lake Taylor lead. Monticello responded with a 15-play series, but the Mustangs picked up only one first down via offensive scrimmage play. Twice, punts turned into fresh starts via a roughing penalty and muffed catch by Lake Taylor’s returner. After reaching the Titans’ 35, a 13-yard sack, illegal formation, and unsportsmanlike conduct flag spoiled any scoring hopes.
Monticello’s defense dominated the second quarter, starting with a stop of Titans’ sophomore quarterback Tyrek Hughey a yard behind the line on fourth and two near midfield. The offense picked up its only passing first down of the half when sophomore quarterback Kevin Jarrell hit senior receiver Derek Williams for a gain of 17 on third and 11. Although the drive stalled after a flag and negative-yardage screen, senior punter Daniel Hummel aimed a coffin-corner kick at the left pylon and successfully pinned Lake Taylor at the 1. The Titans went backward from there with two pre-snap penalties and near-safeties on two runs, but avoided disaster and punted out to the 29. Facing the best scoring opportunity of the night, Mustang senior Darian Bates had his best series, gaining 15 yards on the first three carries before the drive stalled. Jeanluc Lapierre’s 31-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left. Lake Taylor moved quickly into Monticello territory after the miss. With less than a minute on the clock, the defense came through with a fourth down sack to keep the margin 6-0, and a rowdy Mustang student section opted, perhaps unwisely, for an “overrated” chant as the visitors headed to the field house.
Lake Taylor received the third quarter kickoff and promptly drove 74 yards in six plays, with Hughey gaining 53 on the second play and scoring from five yards out on option-keepers. He also kept it to covert the two-point try for a 14-0 lead. Monticello went three-and-out, but the defense stepped up after sophomore running back Deon Smith flipped the field with a 55-yard gain on the next series by sacking Hughey at the 20 on fourth and eight. The offense drove to the Titans’ 41, but then went in reverse on third and fourth downs to setup Lake Taylor a yard shy of midfield. On the third play, Hughey again executed the option-keeper for a 32-yard touchdown that seemed to clinch the outcome, as the Titans opened a 20-0 lead with seconds left in the quarter.
“We got tired,” said Lloyd. “It’s like playing the press in basketball full-court for the entire game.”
The Titans scored on all three of their fourth quarter possessions on runs by Palmer (38 yards), Smith (21 yards), and junior Torrion Espree (13 yards). Smith finished with a game-high 138 yards on just nine carries, while Palmer tallied 108 on 12 attempts. Hughey posted 95 yards on 12 rushes, and completed six of 13 passes for 40 yards. Lake Taylor gained 317 yards on the ground in the second half.
For Monticello, Jarrell completed four of 19 passes for 34 yards, and spent much of the night corralling low snaps and trying to evade Titan defenders in the backfield. He was sacked five times. Lineman Tony Talbert led the team with 10 rushing yards after scooping the ball on a sack-fumble and advancing. Bates finished with 8 yards on 12 carries.
“Those kids are playing press coverage and they’re not letting you off the line of scrimmage, and they’re bringing the rest of them, and you can’t block them all,” Lloyd said of the passing game struggles. “[Jarrell] will get better each week. This will help him down the road because he won’t see a defense this good again the rest of the year. [The schedule] gets more realistic. This is something we can build upon. Our focus now is on our next nine, and our goal will be to win nine in a row.”
That mission begins next Friday at 7:00 as Monticello (0-1) hits the road to face fellow 3A-West member Turner Ashby (1-1).
