Hurricanes Show Improvement

GAME 1

Crawford 12

Monticello 6

It was a beautiful night for football, and although warm and humid, the rain held off. The captains for the scrimmage last Friday were seniors Cedrion Stone and Jacarian Grier, and Juniors Chevy Sands and Brandon Ridley.

Monticello won the toss against Crawford and started on their own 30. After an Eagle penalty before the first snap, Hunter Hays connected with Demonte Greene for a 45-yard gain to move the Canes quickly into Eagle territory at the 20-yard line. The drive culminated at the 11, after a run and completed pass to Kaidon Whidby, the Canes went for it on 4th and 1 and were unable to convert.

Crawford County then took over at the 11, and drove the length of the field, finishing with a 17-yard touchdown (TD) pass from Judd Puckett. The extra point was no good, and at the end of the first quarter, the score remained 6-0 Crawford.

Early in the second quarter the Eagles again took to the airwaves, driving downfield, and completing a 25-yard TD pass to make the score 12-0. Crawford went for two, but was unable to convert as the Cane defense was able to put pressure on Puckett and he threw low for an incompletion.

After a Monticello three-and-out, the Canes turned up the defensive pressure and stopped Crawford on a three-and-out of their own. The next drive had one of the bigger plays of the night, with Whidby running for a 1st down on a nice 17-yard run. The teams swapped possessions, keeping each other scoreless as the second quarter ran out.

After a short break, the Monticello JV offense came on the field for a short six-minute period against the Crawford County JV defense. During this time, Austin Young (5 attempts/44 yards/1 TD) took over at quarterback for the ‘Canes, and was successful in moving the ball downfield with a good mix of running and passing.

From Coach Ashley Henderson, “he continues to impress. The kid is a Swiss-army knife of a player that can do it all. He plays out wide for us, plays some quarterback, and is a good long snapper. He is a great teammate and even better kid.”

Highlights of the drive included Travis Teran picking up a backwards pass (fumble) and carrying it 24-yards downfield to put the ‘Canes inside the redzone. After a completed pass while rolling to his left for an 8-yard gain to Jay Vinson, Young threw an incompletion, and then kept on a read play, carrying the ball in for a 7-yard six-pointer. Teran was just wide on his extra point attempt, and this closed out the scoring for the ‘Canes.

GAME 2

Jackson 14

Monticello 0

The ‘Canes kicked off to their rival from the west, the Jackson Red Devils, for the third “mini-game” of the evening. After being stopped for a loss on the first play from scrimmage, Jackson moved quickly down the field, scoring in two plays.

The drive-ender and consequently big-play of the drive was a 44-yard TD pass on a quick screen from Jeshua Hosford to Etavious Pitts. The extra point was good, and much like the ominous weather front that appeared ready to rain down before the evening’s events started, the Jackson offense looked like it was about to run wild.

But the Canes bowed their necks and responded to the challenge. Led by the hard-charging running of Jaylen Stewart (5 attempts/40 yards), the Hurricanes moved quickly from their own 25 to the Jackson 23 courtesy of a nine play drive, highlighted by Stewart’s twisting and turning 25-yard run on a 4th and 2 conversion.

The drive stalled out though a few plays later when a 4th and 4 attempt came up two yards short. Jackson moved back down the field at this point, using an 11-play, 77-yard drive to score their second touchdown of the night, this one on a 24-yard run by Bam Lyons.

For the third quarter, the Monticello JV defense was pitted against the Jackson JV offense. The Canes defense held their own, keeping Jackson’s offense off the scoreboard, ending the game with the score 14-0.

After the game, Coach Henderson noted many improvements and adjustments made between the two scrimmage games, stating that “I thought we cleaned up the second half from the first. We came out with more juice and competed our tails off. We have to understand we can’t wait to get down to turn it on.”

“From Lamar till now, I think our offensive line has improved; they’re fitting blocks better and our running backs are starting to trust their reads.”

Coach Henderson also stated that “defensively, we need more turnovers. Thought we had two versus Crawford that didn’t go our way, but ended the night with zero turnovers. We have to give our offense a short field if we can.”

The Hurricanes kickoff the regular season Friday, August 19 hosting the Walnut Grove Warriors with a 7:30 kickoff.