Canes Beat Oglethorpe

It was an action packed Friday night lights as the Monticello Hurricanes shut out the Oglethorpe County Patriots and recognized the contributions of our seniors.

Seniors Braden Lynch, Jeff Cain, “Dip” Lawrence, Eli Ewing, and Chris Pennamon truly had a night to remember as they played their final game on Rose Bowl Field. The memories will be long lasting for these seniors as the Canes did not allow the Patriots any opportunity to get on the board and came away with a 34-0 victory.

It was a defensive first quarter for both teams as the Canes kicked the ball off to the Patriots who converted two fourth downs before turning the ball over on downs. The Canes were forced to punt soon after receiving the ball giving the Patriots possession to start the second quarter.

A strong defensive performance by the Canes gave possession back to the Canes offense early in the second. It was a strong start to the drive as Marquis Reese (#3) started the drive with a 25 yard rush. Soon after the strong rush, Dylan Jackson (#1) rushed for a 32 yard touchdown to give the Canes a 7-0 lead. A strong defensive performance led to the Canes defense forcing another turnover on downs setting the offense up to add to the lead.

On the offensive side of the ball, Matt Cain (#10) threw a 55 yard touchdown pass to senior Lawrence (#19) to extend the Canes lead to 13-0. With an unstoppable looking defense, the Canes forced another turn over on downs. This led to Cain throwing a 65 yard touchdown pass to Joe Sands (#4). This extended the Canes lead to 20-0 heading into halftime.

The halftime performance by the Marching Canes continued to showcase the talent of the seniors and the rest of the band members as they rallied the crowd into the third quarter.

A failed onside kick by the Patriots led to the perfect start to the second half as William Stewart (#24) rushed for a nine yard touchdown giving the Canes a commanding 27-0 lead over the Patriots. With the defense performing with grit on Friday night, they forced another punt keeping the Patriots off the board heading into the fourth quarter.

With a 27-0 lead, the Canes offense was unable to add to their lead and was forced to punt to start the fourth. With a goal in mind to shut out the Patriots, Jeremiah Jackson (#15) recovered a fumble to take possession away from the Patriots. After losing the ball on offense, a blocked field goal by senior Lynch (#7) was required for the Canes to secure the shut out. However, the Canes were not done as Lynch went down Rose Bowl Field a final time and rushed for a touchdown to allow the Canes to end the game with a shut out score of 34-0.

The Canes defense stood strong holding the Patriots to a shut-out. With nine tackles, Lynch led the defense. Max Dotson (#82) had five solo tackles, and Gavriel McClain (#13) and Jamel Gude (#2) made huge contributions to the shut-out with their five solo tackles, also Jaylon Mitchell (#35), Akirem Walker (#53), and Chantz Watts (#56) made defense contributions by assisting in a total of 13 tackles.

The Canes offense had 30 carries and rushed for a total of 229 yards. They attempted 12 passes and completed eight for 211 yards and had a total of 440 offensive yards. The defense had five tackles for a loss and one sack by Walker. There was one forced fumble and six kickoffs for 231 yards. Ewing (#45) had six kickoffs for a total of 231 yards.

The Canes will be on the road this Friday as they take on the Elbert County Blue Devils in Elberton as they look to rally up for a two game road trip in the final region games of the season.