Monday Night Blowout

Monday Night Football at Maury Stadium didn’t feature the typical atmosphere of a James Monroe home game. It didn’t feature your typical scoring output, either. The teams combined for over 80 points as the Yellow Jackets rolled over visiting Freedom High School 62-18.

“This is the perfect start to the season,” remarked Yellow Jackets’ running back Ethan Preston about his team’s 3-0 start in 2011. “In past years, we’ve lost the first game, so I’m very happy that we’re hitting a winning streak early.”

The Yellow Jackets dominated the first half, moving the ball seemingly at will on the ground. A’Darius Brown opened the scoring on JM’s first drive, running around left end and finding paydirt from nine yards out with 10:00 left in the first quarter. The snap on the extra point was botched and the Jackets jumped out to a 6-0 lead.

Less than three minutes later, Preston took an inside give and scored from ten yards out. The two-point conversion toss from Demontaz Brown to Kasine Conway extended JM’s advantage to 14-0.

After Freedom Quarterback Chris Braswell was picked off by JM senior defensive back Torreik Ferguson, Conway broke off a huge gainer, shrugging off several Freedom tackles and scoring from 58 yards out with 4:00 left in the opening quarter.

As the quarter ran out, the teams reversed sides of the field, but JM’s momentum never slowed.  On just the third play of the second quarter, Demontaz Brown found the stat sheet, hitting A’Darius Brown with a strike from 25 yards out.

With JM leading 48-0 at the half, VHSL’s mercy rule, a continuous running clock, was put into effect. James Monroe head coach Rich Serbay opted for wholesale substitution, essentially putting in his entire second team. Junior Julian Bumbrey took over at QB and Tony Scott and Adrian Boone shared backfield duties.

More than 10 quarters into their 2011 season, the Eagles found the end zone. With 4:58 remaining in the third quarter, Chris Braswell hooked up with Gerald Johnson for a 15-yard score.

Freedom showed determination despite the lopsided score, with head coach Gary Wortham going so far as to call his team’s timeouts with less than a minute remaining, apparently to send a message that the game wasn’t over.

"That's [JM] a very good football team over there, great tradition," said Wortham. "That's exactly what we're working on here at Freedom. We're going to continue to take our lumps, but we're getting better every day."

James Monroe (3-0, 0-0 Battlefield) will have a bye this Friday before opening up district play against Eastern View, Friday, September 23.

"I don't think they are as potent as they were last year," said Serbay looking ahead to the district opener. "I think we match up well; I'm really looking forward to it, the kids are looking forward to it. We're excited about the Eastern View game."

Box Score                  1^st      2^nd   3^rd     4^th           F

Freedom                      0       0       12      6           18

James Monroe          21     20      14      7           62

Scoring Summary

JM- A’Darius Brown 9-yard run (10:00 1^st) (kick failed)

JM- Ethan Preston 10 yard run (7:40 1^st) (2pt conversion pass Brown to Kasine Conway)

JM-  Kasine Conway 58 yard run (4:00 1st) (Dit kick)

JM- Demontaz Brown 25 yard pass to A’Darius Brown (10:59 2^nd) (Dit kick)

JM Robert Lawrence 18-yard run (8:17 2^nd) (Kick failed)

JM- Ethan Preston Run 4:05 2^nd (Dit Kick)    

JM- Ethan Preston 17 yd run :31 half (Dit Kick)

Freedom- Chris Braswell 15 yard pass to Gerald Johnson (Kick failed) 4:58 3^rd

JM- Demontaz Brown 1 yd run (Bumbrey Kick) 2:21 3^rd

Freedom- Latimore 24 run  :38 3^rd (pass failed)

JM- Bumbrey 1 yd run 6:27 4^th (Dit kick) 

Freedom- Lattimore 26 yard run (2:43) (pass failed)