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For Monticello, it was a case of the shoe being on the other foot. This program went into its meeting with Louisa County last week, was humbled, and then had to get it together for a tough Albemarle team to close out its home schedule for the regular season. The Mustangs defense set the tone out of the gate, the offense responded and before anyone on the Patriots sideline could blink, there was a double digit lead. Monticello’s defense might have had their woes against Louisa last week, but this week, they were on point as they lead the way for a 26-0 win over visiting Albemarle, the first ever shutout for the Mustangs against the Patriots in school history.
“We changed out scheme this week and our kids bought into it,” said Monticello coach Jeff Lloyd. “It took advantage of what we have, athleticism. We looked good tonight playing this way. The defense is an up-field pressure defense and we mixed the blitz packages tonight against them and they could figure it out with so many players coming from different angles.”
The Mustangs forced a punt out of the gate, and given the advantageous field position, running back Darian Bates helped the offense move the chains ever so surely before he was able to punch in a 5-yard run to make it 7-0. Then after another Patriots three-and-out, Monticello cashed in a field goal to go up by 10.
Jarrell had himself a night. While he threw well, it was his legs that actually killed Albemarle, and his 23-yard improvised run out of the pocket in the middle of the second quarter put the Patriots in serious trouble with the score at 17-0.
“We came out slow last week and really wanted to change that this week, it was senior night,” Jarrell said. “It’s always a big game and fun to play against them. This was (two of the top teams) in the standings in the Jefferson District, and with it being senior night, we had to get the win.”
Albemarle’s offense got a bit of a spark from J’Quan Anderson at quarterback, but the Monticello defense had the Patriots signal caller scrambling for the entire game and Albemarle managed to get just one possession into the Mustangs redzone and that wasn’t until the last minute of the fourth quarter.
“We put ourselves in the hole with bad field position early,” said Albemarle coach Brandon Isaiah. “We couldn’t make plays offensively and I thought the defense fought hard, but they were out there all night. Our defense played physical but Monticello made more plays, they ou-texecuted and were just better than we were tonight and so they definitely deserved to win. It was that simple.”
With the game at 17-0 out of the break, both defense settled in for the most part. Monticello backed Albemarle up to it’s own five yard line in the third quarter and a fumble by the Patriots turned into a Mustangs safety to make it 19-0.
Then in the fourth quarter, Monticello saw Jerrell hit Bryce McGlothlin for a 50-yard pass to set up first and goal. The Mustangs QB then broke off a physical 7-yard run to wrap up the scoring at 26-0.
“Last week we just got flat out whooped and for them to bounce back and shutout a very good Albemarle team says a lot about our kids,” Lloyd said.
On the night, Monticello’s defense gave up just 25 yards while the offense managed 278. Bates led with 110 yards on 21 carries. Jarrell had 16 touches for 71 yards and also threw for 88 yards. McGlothling led with 51 yards receiving.
Albemarle’s run game was hindered early and disappeared after the Mustangs took a double-digit lead. Anderson had 57 yards passing. Tyquan Rose had 31 yards receiving.
Albemarle (6-3) finishes up its regular season with Western Albemarle (8-1) at home. Monticello (6-3) heads to Powhatan.
