Advertisement

James Monroe looks to keep improving in homecoming clash this week

george thwaites, bluefield daily telegraph, w.va.
·6 min read

Oct. 20—LINDSIDE — After the James Monroe football team had been let go early to participate in Wednesday's homecoming parade, Mavericks head coach John Mustain took care of a necessary chore that he'd already put off a few times.

He was put fresh lines on James Monroe's practice field.

"I figured I was going to get stuck in traffic... they do it right on 219," quipped Mustain, whose 5-1 squad takes on Class AA Liberty-Raleigh (1-6) at home tonight.

Calmly taking care of the things that need taken care of is probably one of the reasons Mustain's teams respond so positively to disappointment. After getting knocked off of its Class A top-ranked roost in a 25-8 loss to Greenbrier West two weeks ago, the Mavs got back in the saddle last week and dusted Midland Trail 49-0.

James Monroe is currently ranked No. 3 in the WVSSAC Class A rankings while the Cavaliers (7-0) are ranked No. 2. Tucker County (7-0) has taken over the top spot in the Class A rankings.

In Lindside, if nobody panics and everybody keeps working — it's all good. Progress is still being made,

"I was real happy with our defense last week. I hate to put it this way, but we weren't playing against the same kind of team we faced when we played West. But we did see kids get into position better and reading their keys better, probably than we had all year," said Mustain, who points out that JM had only two starters in the back seven return from last year.

"There were, and still are, a lot of kinks to work out. But the kids are making strides, Hopefully on these last three we can somehow pull them out," he said.

Aside from Greenbrier West's relative stifling of JM on the scoreboard two weeks ago, the Mavericks offense tended to have its way with most opponents this season.

Cooper Ridgeway remains one of the area's top ball-carriers, having rushed for 811 yards and 13 touchdowns. Layton Dowdy leads the Mavericks passing attack, having completed 41 of 65 attempts for 573 yards and nine touchdowns. Chaz Boggs paces the receivers with 18 catches for 334 yards and seven TDs.

Losing to Greenbrier West was a learning experience. The two teams are still not so far apart in the grand scheme of things. They may very well cross paths again.

"My biggest goal always, whatever I'm coaching, is to be playing better at the end of the year than we were playing at the beginning of the year. Sometimes you can do that and still not make the playoffs. Sometimes you can do that and go 0-10," Mustain said.

"You want to see your kids progress throughout the year. That was definitely a tough loss at West, but it wasn't like we lost to some cupcake team. They have a very good team, they had one last year. They've had one for several years now. That loss definitely hurt, but I'm hoping it was a wake-up call. I definitely saw a difference in their attitude last week," Mustain said.

Bluefield (3-4) at Oak Hill (6-1), 7:30 p.m.

This week, Bluefield is tied in the Class AA rankings at No. 20 with Wayne after falling 35-30 to VHSL Class 1 unbeaten Grayson County. It was a spectacular football game that, alas, somebody had to lose. The Red Devils sit No. 10 in the Class AA rankings, their only loss of the season thus far having been to Class AA No. 4 Princeton (which is open this week). Sometimes a team living in the moment has to just go out and be part of a great football game and hopefully this is another one of those. Bryson Redmond taking over at quarterback has helped the offense be more effective while RJ Hairston, Sencere Fields, Gerrard Wade, Jojo Campbell and the rest of the Beavers have put forth impressive efforts in multiple phases of play.

Graham (6-1) at Pulaski County (2-5), 7 p.m.

Last week's 69-13 win over Blacksburg is probably the most fun the Class 3 Cougars have had in a while. The ever-improving Class 2 G-Men are highly-incentivized to make sure the fun stops at Dublin tonight. While more things have been falling into place on both sides of the football for the defending Class 2 state champs in recent weeks, it's good to remember that Pulaski County scored 40 points against Princeton not so very long ago. The Cougars are apt to be feeling their oats after mopping up the Bruins last week.

Meadow Bridge (3-4) at Montcalm (5-1), 7 p.m.

The Generals' battle plans got sidetracked a bit by River View's 24-0 shutout at Bradshaw — the first time Class A No. 12 Montcalm has been blanked this season. Adam Havens' troops can be expected to regroup for this opponent, which is coming off a 67-0 loss to Summers County.

Richlands (0-7) at Galax (4-3), 7 p.m.

The Blue Tornado is coming off of a deeply frustrating 28-24 Southwest District loss to Virginia High. The Maroon Tide is coming in off of a 14-6 Mountain Empire District win over Giles. Richlands very badly needs a win to break this skid, but even though Galax may be a shadow of its former selves, this is not the easiest place on the map to get one.

PikeView (0-7) at Wyoming East (1-6), 7 p.m.

The Panthers come in after an open date, which was preceded by a 43-0 loss to Bluefield. Remember that time when Wyoming East football seemed on the verge of being as consistently good as its' girls basketball program? The Warriors got their first win against Richwood two weeks ago (28-10) then got defenestrated by Shady Spring 68-7 last week. PikeView has had two weeks to fixate on this opponent.

Eastern Montgomery (2-5) at Narrows (5-2), 7 p.m.

The Green Wave is coming off a 74-51 non-district loss to exceedingly loaded and unbeaten Honaker. The Mustangs — not to be confused with Mavericks — are coming off a 49-90 Pioneer District loss to Bath County. Hopefully, this game will provide an opportunity for Narrows to mend, recover and built depth.

Twin Valley (2-6) at River View (3-4), 7 p.m.

The Raiders are coming off a 24-0 win over Montcalm. The Panthers are coming off a 43-8 loss to Thomas Walker — which also happens to be the western-most high school football stadium in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Just for review: Montcalm beat Twin Valley 54-0 at the beginning of the season.

Mount View (1-5) at Clay County (5-2), 7:30 p.m.

The Golden Knights are coming off a 42-6 loss to Tug Valley, which still counts as the inauguration of a new football era at Vic Nystrom Stadium. This week, they face another group of Panthers — this one coming off of a 41-7 win over Grafton.

Bland County Open

Note: The Bears (1-5) collected their first victory of the season last week, beating Jenkins (Ky) 27-8 at Bastian. Bland County is slated to take to the field again at Montcalm on Nov. 3.

Princeton Open

Note: The Tigers (7-1) are the No. 4 Class AAA football team according to the WVSSAC football rankings.