It took all of one drive for Monticello to iron out the wrinkles. After the Mustangs punted on their first possession, everything fell into place, both on offense and defense. Thanks to five first half touchdowns, Monticello cruised to finish up its Jefferson District slate with a 42-13 win over Powhatan, giving this senior class something that was missing.
“This is a group that has done just about everything locally except beat Powhatan in their two or three year careers,” said Mustangs coach Rodney Redd. “So they definitely wanted to win this game and definitely wanted to redeem themselves for last year. And also, this is a group that wants to show themselves and people in the area that they can still play some football.”
The first half scoring blitz started with a big play on defense. Cornerback Denzel Terry, who nearly had an interception on the previous Indians drive, made it 7-0 for the Mustangs when he stepped in front of a route and took 65-yards to the endzone.
“I saw the quarterback drop back three steps and the wide receiver was running a hitch route,” Terry said. “I just broke on it and made a play and had to score the touchdown for my team.”
It was the first of three turnovers in the half for Powhatan, with Terry getting a second interception to finish up the half, and Willie James setting up a late second quarter drive with a pick.
Monticello’s offense started rolling at the midway-point of the first quarter. With Jhalil Mosley at quarterback and TJ Tillery at running back, the Mustangs methodically worked their way down to the goalline where Tillery picked up the first of his three touchdowns, this a 2-yard run to make it 14-0.
The next Monticello drive looked like it was going to stall out, but facing 4th and seven from the Powhatan 25, Mosley dropped back and hit Josh Malm for a 25-yard strike reception to score the first of three second quarter touchdowns.
The next touchdowns came from Tillery. The junior was able to score a 5-yard run diving though a hole to hit paydirt and make it 28-0. But it was his 23-yard touchdown run where he ran through a Powhatan defender that had the Mustangs’ crowd buzzing.
“That was a case of BYOB — bring your own blocker,” Tillery said. “It was me, him and the goalline. I got into the endzone and he just had to pay the price for that. But as I always say, it all starts with my offensive line. I don’t get to run for that touchdown if they don’t block first.”
Up 35-0 heading into the second half, the Mustangs added one more touchdown, this time a 3-yard run from Tyler Wagner coming off the bench at running back.
Powhatan, which was held to 167 totals yards, got almost all of them in the fourth quarter with a running clock in effect. The Indians got on the board starting with a 41-yard pass from Wes Garrett to Norris Goode with 6:35 to go. On the next Powhatan drive, LJ Jackson broke off a 10-yard rushing touchdown.
On the night Tillery finished with 116 yards on 14 carries. Mosley had 72 yards on 11 attempts on the ground and also threw for 134 on 12 of 17 passing. Chase Phillips caught five passes for 45 yards.
For Powhatan, Jackson accounted for 52 rushing yards on six touches.
The Indians (4-5, 1-3) will finish up their regular season with Charlottesville at home. Powhatan still sits in playoff position but would greatly benefit with a win over the Black Knights.
The Mustangs (7-2, 3-2) will host Robert E. Lee, another playoff team to tune up for the post season starting the following week.
