Friday Nights Are Back for the Monticello Hurricanes

The Purple Hurricanes of Monticello High School opened up the 2022 football season with their first preseason scrimmage against a former region rival in the Lamar County Trojans of Barnesville last Friday at the Monticello Sports Complex .

The game also served as the first look into new Head Coach Ashley Henderson and his staff’s hard work throughout the summer that has led us to this point.

Lamar County, coming off of a 6-4 season and a fifth place finish in region 3-AA, is returning some talent from that 2021 team, starting with All-Region, All-State, UGA commit C.J. Allen (113/1080/16 rush, 91 tackles defensively).

Lamar County is also dropping down in classification to Class A Division 1, but will be in Region 4, which is more of a west Georgia region.

The game was played as a controlled scrimmage, where the coaches set up different scenarios that each team would work from. The first and fourth quarters were played as a regular football game, but with each team swapping after 10 plays.

During the second quarter, both teams worked on their redzone (inside 20), goal-line (inside 10), and starting inside the 5-yard line and driving the length of the field. The third quarter was played by mostly junior varsity and backup players, but also included work on different down and distance scenarios.

The first quarter began with the Trojans obtaining possession from Monticello winning the coin toss and deferring to the second half. After a couple of drive extending runs on third down, Monticello was able to come away with an interception by Kaiden Whidby deep in their own territory extinguishing a sustained Trojan drive, and turning the momentum back over to the Hurricanes. Both sides drove the ball between the 20s, and there were some early season hiccups on both sides that were to be expected out of both teams.

Lamar County broke the lid off the scoring drought late in the first quarter on a 75-yard touchdown run by the aforementioned Allen (6/88/1). The previous play was a false start by the Trojans, coupled with a fumble which was recovered by the Hurricanes. Because of the scrimmage format, Lamar retained possession, and on the next play Allen scampered around the left end for the long run.

The second quarter was situational football. During this portion of the scrimmage, Monticello made a few big defensive stops, led by seniors Cedrion Stone and Jacarian Grier, and junior Whidby. Lamar County did eventually score twice in short yardage situations, but the defense did well in containing the Trojan offense and limiting big plays in crucial situations.

Coach Henderson said that he has been “challenging the guys that we want to establish an offensive and defensive identity and build on it. I thought our guys really tried to establish that.”

The third quarter was mainly focused on junior varsity and backup players, but also included the biggest play of the night for the Hurricanes, a 56-yard touchdown pass from junior Austin Young to freshman Bryan Ridley. Ridley was able to sneak behind a defender, lock the ball in, and out-run him into the end zone for the Hurricane touchdown. Travis Teran added the extra point. Lamar County was able to tack on a late touchdown with a 25-yard run to close out the scoring for the evening.

“We lined up against a good football team,” noted Coach Henderson when asked about his thoughts on the game. “We went toe to toe and never backed down. I thought that we had a few opportunities on 50/50 plays that we did not make, but the more opportunities these guys get, the more we will win those plays…football is a collision sport, and our guys tried to bring the physicality…this is something that we have been hammering them about all summer, and they are learning not to shy away from competition.”

Throughout the contest, there was a lot of determination shown by the young men in purple.

After the game Coach Henderson said, “we have good kids, and they are working their tails off. I know they felt the energy the crowd brought tonight. They’ve done everything we’ve asked and have bought in (to the program). The motto remains the same. Compete!”

Tomorrow, August 12, the Hurricanes will have their second preseason scrimmage hosting former region rival Crawford County and longtime neighbor rival Jackson High School at the Monticello Athletics Complex.

The Hurricanes will have their last tune-up before the regular season begins! This scrimmage will be jamboree style, with each team playing a 15-minute period against each other. The periods will be divided up with nine minutes of varsity action, followed by six minutes of junior varsity focus. The night will begin with Crawford playing against Monticello, followed by Jackson and Crawford. Monticello will finish the evening against Jackson.

Kickoff for this scrimmage will be at 7 p.m. Come and support the Canes in their last tune-up before the regular season begins on August 19!