Anyone thinking that Monticello’s defensive finish to the regular season was merely a flash in the pan was shown otherwise in the Region 3A West quarterfinals. Behind their special teams and defense, the Mustangs overwhelmed Waynesboro in the first half, and when the offense started clicking in the second half, the game flew by. Thanks to a total yardage advantage of 334 to 171, Monticello picked up a 25-6 victory in coach Jeff Lloyd’s playoff debut and the Mustangs final home of the season.
“Since we changed the (defenisive) scheme we’ve been really good and our kids have bought in, we love it, they love it, and it just fits us,” Lloyd said. “I’m really proud of way our kids played against a tough team tonight.”
The game started out with both teams turning the ball over on downs and both teams punting. But that second punt, Monticello’s off the foot of Daniel Hummel proved to be important as it pinned the Little Giants back to their own 12-yard line. And on the first play of the second quarter, it was Hummel who worked through the blocking scheme on a bootleg passing play to come up and give the Mustangs a safety to break the scoreless tie.
“Our defensive line got the pressure and I just happened to be there to make the play,” Hummel said. “It felt great… We have our best athletes on the field now on defense. We can penetrate from the line, we have athletes on the edge to stop the sweeps and the defensive backs are amazing, they can stop anyone.”
From there on, the first half was about Monticello’s defense and the leg of Jeanluc LaPierre. The Mustangs’ senior kicker helped to soften the blow of redzone drives flaming out by punching through kicks of 33, 29 and 30 yards to give Monticello an 11-0 lead just a few minutes into the third quarter.
“Special teams was just awesome tonight, Jeanluc hit all three tonight and really hurt them with the kickoffs for touchdbacks,” Lloyd said. “I was a little angry in the first half that we moved the football but kept having to settle for three, instead of seven, but hey, it’s playoff football — you have to get the points and we have a kicker that can do that for us.”
It wasn’t until the end of the third that either team saw the endzone. Monticello running back Darian Bates played a large role in setting up all three field goals, and his 32-yard dash across the goalline marked the breaking point in the game as his team now held an 18-0 advantage with just over 12 minutes to play.
“Offensive line stepped up, everyone else did after that and we just had to finish,” Bates said. “Coach told us it would be tough and we talked about it before the game. But we have to give props to the defense and (offensively) the big men, the boys up front, they controlled the game.”
Waynesboro had four drive into Monticello’s redzone, but three ended in turnovers on downs. The only one that didn’t was the drive to start the fourth quarter. A Marendon Armon Jones 2-yard run capped a nearly four-minute drive, and after a failed 2-pt convert (Monticello’s Syreal Breckenridge came up with an interception), the lead was 18-6.
Monticello answered back immediately though. Quarterback Kevin Jarrell didn’t drop back to pass much on a cold and windy night. With the offensive line clicking, he and Bates made the most of runs up the middle. After flirting with a couple of runs that were just one tackle away from the endzone, Jarrell finally broke through with a 39-yard with 6:57 to play in the fourth to warp up the scoring.
“Even though we left a lot of points on the board, I was proud of our physicality, they way we ran the ball, the way the offensive line played,” Lloyd said. “You know when the weather gets colder you have to be able to run the ball. It’s hard to throw and catch in the cold. But also, we talked about Waynesboro — they were a 16-seed last year and won two playoff games and are still a damn good football team. They weren’t coming in with wide eyes. So for us to hold them to six, I’m very pleased.”
The Mustangs defense forced the last of their turnover on downs on the next Waynesboro drive, and then forced a punt that allowed the offense to run out the clock.
On the night, Jarrell led with 141 yards on the ground on 18 attempts. Bates finished with 25 touches and 131 yards.
Monticello led quarterback Chris Baker to 4-for-10 passing and 104 yards to go with his 13 carries for 32 yards.
The Mustangs (8-3) travel to play Lord Botetourt in the Region 3A West semifinals on Friday at 7 p.m.
“This is another week we get to spend together as brothers,” Hummel said. “At this time of year, when you’re fortunate enough to keep playing, you take it.”
