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Off and running: Monticello sprints past Turner Ashby

Turner Ashby was left helpless. A stacked box against quarterback Kevin Jarrell and running back Jerrick Ayers allowed the Monticello passing game to go big. Being mindful of the pass and the play-action play calling, that opened up the running game for Jarrell and Ayers who both just feasted. This game was over in the first quarter. It was definitely over after the second. At the end of the night, Monticello rolled to a 56-7 win to improve to 2-0 coming off of their bye week.

 

“As a coach, I hate bye weeks, especially this early because you always feel like it’s going to take a quarter to get back to game speed,” said Mustangs coach Jeff Lloyd. “Credit to our kids, we harped on it all week, they came out and played hard. I still think we can play better and that’s great. We’ve got some kids that can play.”

 

Monticello forced a punt on Turner Ashby’s opening drive and when Kevin Jarrell found Trenton Johnson for 52 yards on a straight bomb, that set up first and goal. A penalty and 12-yard TD run for Jarrell to follow was the first touchdown in a 4-four minute and 30-second span that saw things go from scoreless to suddenly 21-0.

 

On the Mustangs next drive two minutes later, Jarrell caught a high snap that threw the timing of the original running play off and he housed it on a 64-yard run.

 

“Something just opened up in the middle, I think I saw Danny Talbert wash a guy down and with them blitzing the linebackers, everything opened up there,” Jarrell said. “I’m just trying to help this team win and I think if I set that tone playing tough that everyone around me is going to want to play tough. If everyone plays tough, we’re a real good football team.”

 

The next drive, he hit on yet another 52-yard strike in similar fashion to Johnson that set up a 2-yard TD run for the quarterback. With 3:13 left in the first, it was 21-0 Monticello. Lost in all offensive mix was that the Monticello defense came to play.

 

“We’ve gotten so much stronger on defense this year and that’s because we’ve gotten stronger and then we have better team speed on that side of the ball this year,” Lloyd said. “They played about as good as we could have played tonight on defense. I’m very, very pleased.”

 

That was the first course, the second, one filled with Ayers would prove to be the breaking points. In the second quarter the Mustangs focused almost solely on the ground with Jarrell running hard, running through contact and Ayres simply dancing through the defense. Early in the second Ayers scored on a 2-yard scamper to cap a long drive and then after a fumble by Turner Ashby, Ayres was back in the endzone just 38 seconds later on a 7-yard dash to make it 35-0.

 

“For once, Kevin and I were on at the same time,” Ayers said. “It’s been awhile since we’ve been there together, but when we do, it’s amazing. It felt right tonight.”

 

The two combined against for a good long drive in the middle of the second with Jarrell scoring on a physical 12-yard run, and actually had the ball at the 1-yard line again but the clock expired leaving things at 42-0 going into the break.

 

Ayers added another nifty 11-yard touchdown run that was preceded by a 40-yard run down the sidelines to start the third. With a running clock going, Jarrell picked up his fifth rushing touchdown from 12-yards out to make it 52-0 and wrap up the night for the first stringers.

 

“Jerrick’s that speed back and right now, defenses they just don’t know who’s going to run the ball right now,” Jarrell said. “When he’s running there’s openings being created for me and when I’m running that’s creating openings for him. It’s just a great 1-2 combo.”

 

Turner Ashby broke the shutout on the final play of the fourth when quarterback Jake Capasso broke off a 67-yard run. There was no scoring in the fourth quarter.

 

On the night, Jarrell broke the school record for total offense with 424 yards to surpass Jhalil Mosley’s mark of 361 back in 2011. Jarrell’s 239 yards on the ground on 19 attempts are a school best as well, breaking his own record from the 141 yards he had against Waynesboro in the 2015 Region 3A West playoffs. Jarrell finished 9-for-14 passing with 185 yards. And somehow lost quietly in the mix was Ayers and his 12 carries for 144 yards and three touchdowns along with Johnson’s 128 yards receiving on just five catches.

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