Published: October 11, 2008 01:18 am            

Homecoming a hit for James Monroe

LINDSIDE — James Monroe celebrated Homecoming Friday night, so they had every reason to get mavericky. The thing was, the way the Mavericks won was anything but.

James Monroe capitalized on a turnover to begin the second half. Taylor Robertson scored on a 14-yard run. Then the Mavericks got a goal-line stand and left H.E. Comer Jr. Sports Complex with a hard-fought 10-6 win.

“We didn’t play our best tonight,” said James Monroe head coach Don Jackson. “We played really good defense. But we had two really tough games against two really super teams. Narrows has got a good team. They fought hard.”

“Great effort,” said Narrows head coach Kelly Lowe. “That’s a quality James Monroe football team. Sometimes the breaks don’t go your way. They didn’t tonight. But our kids played their guts out. They played hard and I’m so proud of them.”

Robertson led the Mavericks with 70 yards rushing on 16 carries and 21 yards on two catches. He also had the game-winning touchdown on a tough 14-yard run with 9:24 left in the third quarter.

“We didn’t block very well on that play,” Jackson said. “He got most of that just on his own. He’s banged up and he’s probably about 70 percent. He’s playing on guts right now.”

Robertson’s score was set up by a Josh Collins fumble recovered by the Mavericks on the Narrows 33. It took them six plays to reach the end zone and completely change the feel of the game.

The Green Wave responded with a drive that was helped by two James Monroe penalties. But the march ended when Corey Lowe was intercepted by Robertson. However, on their next possession, Narrows had another, better, chance to retake the lead.

They took the ball on their own 19 and immediately started powering through the middle of the Mavericks’ defense. Runs by Collins and Jeremy Hagerman moved the Wave into James Monroe territory.

Then Collins turned into receiver, catching two key passes from Lowe. The second went for 26 yards and gave Narrows a first-and-goal on the Mavericks’ 10.

Three runs gained nine yards. On fourth-and-goal, they gave up the middle to Jon Martin who plowed into the end zone. But the touchdown was nullified by an illegal procedure penalty.

On the next play, Corey Lowe was intercepted by Jacob Williams and the 80-yard march ended with no points.

“Against a good football team, you can’t have mistakes like that,” Kelly Lowe said. “We had a mistake right there and it kind-of let us down. Against a good team, you’ve got to stick it in right there and we didn’t.”

The Wave stopped the Mavericks on their next three offensive plays. But facing fourth-and-6 on the James Monroe 8, the Mavericks got mavericky, pulling out a fake punt that allowed Nick Kisiel to run for 27 yards.

The play altered field position the Wave did not cross midfield the rest of the game.

“I think the defense came through real well when it needed to,” Jackson said. “We gave up that one drive. But outside of that we pretty-well handled them.”

Corey Lowe went 8-for-19 passing for 101 yards, but also threw two key interceptions. Collins was the Wave’s workhorse, gaining 40 yards on 16 carries and an additional 66 yards on six catches.

Although understandably emotional, Kelly Lowe found reason to be encouraged in the loss.

“There’s eight seconds to go in the game. We’ve got the ball on our own (11)-yard line,” Kelly Lowe said. “These kids are busting their guts. They’re going to try everything they’ve got in them to score a touchdown. I’m so proud of them.”

Narrows got the first break in the second quarter when they recovered an Andrew Evans fumble on the Mavericks’ 42.

After trading punts, the Wave went 42 yards in eight plays. Jon Martin had the key play of the drive, bursting through the middle of the line for a 24-yard gain. He also got the touchdown, scoring from three yards out.

The score came with 1:34 to go in the first half, but it was enough time for the Mavericks to respond.

Quarterback John Ballengee took to the air and completed four of six passes on the drive including a 15-yard sideline completion to Kisiel and a 12-yard sideline completion to Robertson. Logan Ray converted a 30-yard field goal that gave James Monroe big momentum going into the second half.

“That was a big drive right there before the half,” Jackson said. “We haven’t really thrown the ball very much at all this year and we kind-of spread them out and did a few nice plays there on that drive.”

“That was big,” Kelly Lowe said. “They did a couple things, made a couple great catches on that drive. They were pretty well covered and they made a couple great catches.

“They got a little bit of momentum going in there at halftime and they kept it going there in the third quarter.”

Narrows (5-2, 1-0) travels to Bland County for a key Mountain Empire District game next Friday for a 7 p.m. kickoff. Their coach wants them to keep putting in the work to change the result.

“I don’t want them to like a loss,” Kelly Lowe said. “I want them to get to where they hate the fact that they lost that game. But I want them to be proud of that effort and we’ve got to carry that effort over each week.”

James Monroe (4-2) hosts Greenbrier East next Friday. Jackson felt fortunate to leave with a win even though his team played far from perfect.

“Greenbrier East is really well coached and they don’t make mistakes. I don’t think they’ve had but one fumble all year,” Jackson said. “We make those mistakes like we did tonight and we’ll get in trouble.”

— Contact Jed Lockett

at jlockett@bdtonline.com



At H.E. Comer Jr. Sports Complex

Narrows…................................0 6 0 0 — 6

James Monroe….....................0 3 7 0 — 10

Second Quarter

Nar – Jon Martin 3 run (kick failed), 1:30

J.M. – Logan Ray 30 field goal, :00

Third Quarter

J.M. – Taylor Robertson 14 run (Logan Ray kick), 9:24

———

TEAM STATISTICS

Nar JM

First Downs 12 11

Rushes-Yards 38-107 38-134

Passing Yards 101 43

Comp.-Att.-Int. 8-19-2 4-10-0

Punts-Average 4-32 7-36.9

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 2-1

Penalties-Yards 8-45 3-35

———

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Narrows, Josh Collins 16-40, Jon Martin 6-33, Jeremy Hagerman 3-16, Corey Lowe 11-11, Jake Craft 2-7; James Monroe, Taylor Robertson 16-70, Nick Kisiel 11-32, John Ballengee 6-23, Lee Triplett 1-11, Jordan McKinney 2-1, Andrew Evans 2-(-3).

PASSING–Narrows, Corey Lowe 8-19-2 101; James Monroe, John Ballengee 4-9-0 43, Taylor Robertson 0-1-0 0.

RECEIVING–Narrows, Josh Collins 6-66, Aaron Blankenship 1-33, Jon Martin 1-2; James Monroe, Taylor Robertson 2-21, Nick Kisiel 1-15, Logan Ray 1-7.

        

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