Mavericks outlast Pendleton in rain, win 12-7

Sep. 22—LINDSIDE — After what James Monroe's football program has been through these past two seasons, a little bit of rain was not about to get in the way of the Mavericks' progress.

Cooper Ridgeway rushed for 107 yards and two touchdowns and James Monroe rounded up a 12-7 win over visiting Pendleton County on Tuesday night.

"We've [put together a winning record] right now, but I tell you it's getting ready to get tougher," said JM head football coach John Mustain. "It won't get any easier."

The Mavericks carried on the number 20 jersey and honored the late Ben Thornton, a 1999 first-team all-stater who finished third in the Kennedy Award voting and who was an assistant coach at the school for several years.

The Wildcats (1-2) found the end zone first when Dillon Smith scored on a 29 yard run in the first quarter. Braden McClanahan's extra point kick put Pendleton County up 7-0.

Ridgeway came up with a reply in the second quarter, exploding for a 73-yard touchdown run. The extra-point kick failed, leaving the Mavericks trailing 7-6 — a deficit that held up through intermission.

Mustain noted that his team's first wet game conditions of the season was somewhat of a factor in the first half, but not so much in the second when precipitation decreased to a light drizzle.

"We didn't get to throw as much in the first half as we wanted to, but even in the second half when we did throw it was a little bit sloppy," Mustain said. "I'm sure it played a role for their passing game, too, because they've got a pretty decent passing game. But all in all, it wasn't like kids were out there slipping around a lot. The turf's in decent shape and I was pretty tickled with how the field survived, to be honest with you."

Ridgeway finally put James Monroe (2-1) in the driver's seat with a little over two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, scoring on a 3-yard scoring plunge. The two-point conversion attempt failed, however, leaving the Wildcats six points away with two minutes remaining to mount a comeback.

Led by Jacoby Meadows up front, James Monroe played suffocating defense all night, confining Pendleton to 66 total yards rushing and 60 total yards rushing on the night. The Mavs weren't any more generous in the final stretch.

Eli Allen sealed the deal for James Monroe, collecting his second interception of the night with 1:15 remaining to play to turn the lights out on the Wildcats.

"Defense had a really good night. Eli Allen had those two interceptions that were huge. Had a really good pass breakup in a key situation by Chad Boggs. Defensively, I thought we did a really, really good job," Mustain said.

James Monroe had 441 yards total offense, racking up 253 rushing and 188 passing.

Ridgeway had 17 carries for his triple-digit rushing yardage, also going 5-for-5 pass on attempts for 59 yards. Allen was James Monroe's second-leading passer for the night, completing 5 of 8 passing attempts for 45 yards. He was picked off once. Grant Lively (2-30), Thomas (2-30) and Allen (3-38) led the receivers. Layton Dowdy rushed for 62 yards on 12 carries while Allen had 61 yards on 15 jaunts.

"Offensively we did a lot of good things. But it was a lot of us playing from the 30 to the 30. We headed down inside the 10 one time in the first half and started shooting ourselves in the foot. Penalties or bad snaps or something like that," Mustain said. "We had 441 yards total offense and only scored 12 points."

James Monroe's previously-scheduled game at Covington this Friday was called off by the Cougars due to insufficient numbers due to COVID-19 protocols. The Mavericks are expected to return to action on Oct. 1 at PikeView.

Mustain had mixed feelings about the postponement of Friday's game. The physicality of football takes its toll — even on younger bodies.

"Had we gone to Covington this Friday, it was going to be pretty tough to recover, having played tonight. This is football. I don't think the average person understands why you only play one football game a week. Come out here and try to do it yourself and you'd see why," Mustain said.

At Lindside

James Monroe 12, Pendleton 7

Pendleton County.......7 0 0 0 — 7

James Monroe...........0 6 0 0 — 12

First Quarter

PC — Dillon Smith 29 run (McClanahan kick)

Second Quarter

JM — Cooper Ridgeway 73 run (kick failed)

Fourth Quarter

JM — Ridgeway 3 run (run failed)