Madison County put a forceful stop to William Monroe’s two-year dominance of Central Virginia’s most heated Class A border war with a 48-14 win at home Friday night.
“Throughout the day, I was just meditating on the game,” said Madison senior running back Logan Carpenter. “Come game time, we were in the locker room all hyped before we even came out for warm-ups. I knew it was going to be a good day.”
Carpenter’s vision quickly became reality, as on the game’s first play from scrimmage, he took a handoff 66 yards for a touchdown. Then, after a quick Monroe three-and-out, Carpenter carried on all three plays of Madison’s next drive, including 30 yards on the first play, and a touchdown from seven yards out. It didn’t end there, as Monroe fumbled the ensuing kickoff. Three plays later, Carpenter dashed in from 33 yards out for a 22-0 Mountaineer lead less than five minutes into the first quarter.
“Up front, the guys worked hard and got after it,” said Madison coach Stuart Dean. “Logan did a great job of hitting the hole hard and making some things happen.”
Dean might have had something to do with that.
“Coach said he was up all night and couldn’t get the number 63 out of his head, because that’s the number of points they beat us with last year,” said Carpenter. “That should be enough inspiration right there to go out there and tear them to pieces.”
Monroe finally woke up from their nightmarish start on the first play of their next series. Junior quarterback Jack Morris tossed a lateral swing pass to senior Dakwan Morris, who took it 58 yards down the right side for a touchdown. At 22-7 with 6:59 still left in the first quarter, a combination of penalties and improved run defenses kept both sides off the scoreboard for the next six series.
“We had some good things going, and then big penalties put us back in long yardage situations, and that just limits your playcalling,” said William Monroe coach Mark Sanford. “We did that too often tonight.”
Madison reclaimed momentum just before halftime with an impressive 92-yard drive lasting more than five minutes. On third and 9 from its own 9, Madison sophomore quarterback James Graves hit Carpenter with a rare pass for 26 yards. Senior running back Maurice Gentry racked up 25 yards, including a 4-yard touchdown, to give the Mountaineers a 29-7 lead at the break.
“We gave them some gaping holes at the beginning of the game,” said Sanford. “Whenever you dig yourself a hole like that, when they have that kind of talent, they can just pound it at you all night.”
Monroe started the second half with a 65-yard drive, aided by an inadvertent whistle call that wiped out Madison’s recovery of a loose lateral pass. Sophomore Cody Perkins scored on a 41-yard run to pull the Dragons within two scores; however, they would get no closer. Madison answered immediately with its own 75-yard drive consisting of five runs, capped by Gentry’s second score from 24 yards. A high snap as Monroe lined up to punt on its next series gave Madison the ball first and goal on the 9, and three plays later, Graves scored on a 4-yard keeper. Madison rounded out the scoring with a 21-yard touchdown pass from Graves to junior Joe Gentry early in the fourth quarter.
Madison piled up 445 of its 507 total yards on the ground, led by Carpenter with 269 and three touchdowns on 23 carries, and Gentry with 127 and two scores on 16 attempts. Graves was efficient when called on to pass, completing 5 of 6 for 60 yards, with a touchdown and a pick.
Monroe managed just 222 total yards. Perkins rushed 16 times for 88 yards, while Dakwan Morris totaled 63 yards on 4 attempts, and each found the end zone once. Playing from multiple scores down most of the game, Jack Morris struggled to connect in the passing game, and finished just 7 of 19 for 77 yards with one interception.
“We’ve been watching film, and they’ve been able to score a lot of points on a lot of people,” said Dean. “For us to only give up 14 points, with the way they’re able to do things on offense, was a really good defensive night for us.”
Madison (4-3, 2-2 Bull Run District), now 4-0 at home, will welcome Strasburg (8-0, 4-0) next week with heightened confidence after its dominant performance on both sides of the ball.
“[Monroe] got 40 points on Strasburg, we held them to 14,” Carpenter said. “I’m going to tell my team that our defense can hold Strasburg’s running attack and passing attack.”
Monroe (0-7, 0-3) will look for its first victory next week at home against George Mason (1-6, 0-3).
