Hurricane Defense Shines, Downs Titans
The Monticello Hurricane varsity football team made the short jaunt over to Lake Oconee Academy last Friday night to do battle against the Titans.
In what would become a defensive standoff, the Hurricanes came out on top 12-6, holding the Titans to just two long field goals for their points. This was the second meeting between the two schools, with Lake Oconee in just their second year of varsity competition for the newer charter school in Greene County.
The game started with Monticello winning the toss and electing to receive the opening kickoff. After returning the opening kickoff for seven-yards, the Canes went to work at their own 28-yard line. The first play was stopped by a blown whistle after a false start by the Hurricanes. The Titans returned the favor on the next play after a run for no gain with an inadvertent facemask penalty that put the ball back at the original line of scrimmage.
Two short runs and a fumbled snap led to the first Hurricane punt for the evening, as Parker Eaton booted one 38-yards to flip the field and bring the Cane defense out to work. The Titans moved down the field mixing the run with the pass in a balanced approach before having to settle for a 37-yard field goal attempt from kicker Knox Van Mol.
The Hurricanes were set to return the kickoff when Van Mol’s kick bounced into no-man’s-land of the Hurricane return team, and was recovered by the Titans. On the second play from scrimmage, Titan quarterback Ike O’Neal threw for the end zone, where the ball met with the hands of Canes defensive back Josiah Cotterell for the interception and touchback, giving the ball to the Canes at their own 20.
With the ball and momentum, they reeled off three consecutive first downs, a 15-yard pass on the forward pitch from Chevy Sands to Cotterell, an 18-yard reception and run by Jalen Stewart, and a huge 33-yard run by Sands to move the ball all the way to the Titan 10-yard line. After a false start penalty was assessed, Tyler Banks powered his way through the Titan defense, picking up the 15-yard score. The try for two was unsuccessful, and the score was now 6-3.
The Titans and Hurricanes exchanged punts for the rest of the half, with both running sustained drives, and the Hurricanes also forcing a turnover on downs after a fourth down stop with one yard to gain. Lake Oconee began the second half by receiving the kickoff, and after no gain on the first play, and an incompletion on the second, O’Neal dropped and rolled to pass for the Titans and found Kaidon Whidby covering his receiver like peanut butter on bread. Whidby came away with the pick, and stopped the Titan drive after three plays.
The Hurricanes came back and moved the ball across midfield before punting back to the Titans. Three plays and a minute later, the Titans were returning the favor. This time, the Hurricane offense put together a sustained drive, all on the ground, and working almost three-and-a-half minutes off of the clock.
Consecutive first downs on runs by Zychez Nolley and Stewart moved the ball to the Titan five-yard line, where Whidby, after a false start penalty moved the Canes back to the ten, ran the ball three consecutive times, the last for a three-yard touchdown. The Hurricanes again went for two with 1:56 remaining in the third, but were again unsuccessful in their attempt.
A Lake Oconee punt to start the second half gave the Hurricanes possession again, this time at midfield. The Canes drove downfield, helped by a big first down run by Stewart on a 20-yard gain, and an 11-yard gain by Sands putting the Hurricanes in striking distance again. This time, the Titans defense held, and the Canes turned the ball over on downs.
A bend but don’t break defense allowed the Titans to gain yardage, once on a 28-yard gain on fourth and three, but was able to keep the Titans out of the end zone, holding them to a 30-yard field goal, again by Van Mol. Two big first downs on runs by Stewart allowed the Hurricanes to kill the clock down to zeroes, where Sands took part in the greatest play in football, the victory knee, to put this one to bed.
Defensively, two players were nominated for their performance and recognized by the Georgia High School Football Daily, Brandon Ridley and Cam Farley both came away with four big tackles for loss each, along with two timely sacks for Tyler Banks to stop Titan drives. The win moves the Hurricanes to 3-2 for the season.
This Friday, the Hurricanes welcome the Mount Zion Eagles of Carroll County to Hurricane Field. The Eagles will come into the game sporting a 3-1 record following a loss to Brookstone. As a team last year, the Eagles ran the ball 45 times for 213 yards, only throwing it eight. The Canes were led in last year’s game by Stewart, who ran the ball 15 times for 73 yards in the 21-0 loss.
This will be the third meeting overall between the two teams, separated by only a good length of Georgia asphalt on Highway 16. The first time these two met was in the GHSA State Playoffs in 1991, a game won by the Hurricanes 25-21 at Mount Zion.
Kickoff Friday is a 7:30 p.m. at Hurricane Field.