The Shadow
Both teams wanted this one.
You could feel the energy from each teams sidelines.
You could hear it the players voices.
They were pumped up from the start of the game to the final whistle.
In what was a battle through all four quarters, the James Monroe (Linside, WV)
Mavericks, got the better of the Covington Cougars, 35-16 in non district play.
But the final score is deceiving of the game itself.
The game was never out of reach for the Cougars until towards the end of the fourth quarter.
The Cougars even had a chance early in the fourth quarter to take the lead.
To start the game, after a 17 yard kickoff return by Purcel Turner to the Cougars own 38 yard line, running back, Dontai Samuels fumbled the ball on the first offensive play of the game.
The fumble set up the games first score, as the Mavericks took advantage of the turnover with a five yard rushing touchdown by Cooper Ridgeway. Following a made extra point, the Mavericks led 7-0.
A game can be determined by the first drive, but Samuels and the Cougars made sure that was not the case as Samuels kept his head up and shook off the fumble and finished the game with 70 yards rushing on 18 carries.
Following the touchdown by the Mavericks, the Cougars answered on their next drive by grabbing a 37 yard field goal from Chadwick Tacy. Despite the wet field conditions, Tacy made the field goal with ease. On the drive, Samuels helped guide the team with 22 rushing yards to help set up the field goal made by Tacy.
After the field goal, the Cougars and Mavericks defenses stepped up and traded off three-and-outs and short drives for the rest of the first quarter and majority of the second quarter.
With just under two minutes left in the first half, the Mavericks grabbed a nine-play drive that ended with a five yard rushing touchdown Layton Dowdy.
After the Cougars turned the ball over on downs at the Mavericks 30 yard line with just over a minute left, it seemed they would be content to go into halftime with a double digit lead at 14-3.
On their second play of the drive, Ridgeway over threw his targeted receiver and was intercepted by Javier Yancy who returned the ball to the Mavericks 16 yard line.
Following an incomplete pass and a false start penalty, the Cougars had only four seconds left to work with.
Yancy would scramble out of the pocket and as time expired, he would find Turner open in the end zone from 21 yards out. The Cougars failed a two-point attempt to cut the lead to only three and went into the half trailing 14-9.
Towards the end of the third quarter, the game changed on one play.
The Cougars had first-and-goal on the Mavericks five yard line and seemed poised to get in the end zone to take the lead. However, a Yancy’s exchange with Turner slipped by and was picked up by Granger Gore of the Mavericks who returned the fumble to the Cougars 32 yard line before Yancy brought him down.
Six plays later, Ridgeway found the end zone from a yard out to give the Mavericks a 21-9 lead.
Despite the turnover, the Cougars kept their heads up.
After Yancy connected with Tacy for 20 yards to set up a fresh set of downs for the Cougars, Yancy would break free on an untouched 46 yard rushing touchdown to get the Cougars back on the scoreboard. The extra point was good which cut the lead to five points at 21-16.
On the ensuing drive for the Mavericks, the game was changed once again.
Senior, Ethan Martin who was a force and nightmare all night long for the Mavericks offensive line finished the game with a team-high 12 tackles, but his biggest one came on a big hit on Ridgeway following the Cougars touchdown which caused him to fumble and was recovered by Yancy.
The home crowd was roaring as the well traveled visiting crowd was stunned.
Not bothered by the momentum going for the Cougars, the defense of the Mavericks would have their biggest win of the day. With just under 10 minutes left in the game, the Mavericks sent the Cougars offense back to the sidelines for a three-and-out and were forced to punt.
It was the last time the Cougars had a chance to go for the lead. On the very next offensive play, the Mavericks got a 37 yard rushing touchdown from Dowdy to put the Mavericks back ahead double digits at 28-16.
With under two minutes left in the game, Ridgeway would seal the game with a 27 yard rushing touchdown.
Despite the loss, the Cougars had no reason to hang their heads.
The team played well despite a few costly turnovers and had chances to win the game. In a non conference game, you never know what to expect.
The teams kryptonite however, was dropped passes. The team had a handful of dropped passes that would of been receptions of 15 yards or more.
In the loss, Yancy finished the game with 65 yards passing, 98 yards rushing, and two touchdowns, one passing and rushing.
Turner finished the game with one reception of 21 yards for a touchdown, 11 yards rushing and a game-high 85 kick return yards.
The loss for the Cougars was the teams third in a row and dropped them to an overall record at 3-5.
As of yesterday morning in an updated VHSL Region 1C ranking, the Cougars remained in 7th place.
The Cougars season finale is tomorrow night at home as the team hosts Craig County on senior night.
Team-Quarter-Points-Final Score
Mavericks 7-7-0-21=35
Cougars 3-6-0-7=16
Games Scoring Drives;
First Quarter – Cooper Ridgeway 5yd rushing TD (extra point, good) 9:32 – JMHS 7-0
First Quarter – Chadwick Tacy 37yd field goal, 3:50 – JMHS 7-3
Second Quarter – Layton Dowdy 5yd rushing TD (extra point, good) 1:49 – JMHS 14-3
Second Quarter – Javier Yancy pass to Purcel Turner 21yds TD (2pt attempt, no good) 0:00 – JMHS 14-9
Fourth Quarter – Cooper Ridgeway 1yd rushing TD (extra point, good) 11:56 – JMHS 21-9
Fourth Quarter – Javier Yancy 46yd rushing TD (extra point, good) 10:24 – JMHS 21-16
Fourth Quarter – Layton Dowdy 37yd rushing TD (extra point, good) 6:56 – JMHS 28-16
Fourth Quarter – Cooper Ridgeway 27yd rushing TD (extra point, good) 1:55 – JMHS 35-16
