‘Canes Open Season Versus Monroe Area

For the first time in many years the ‘Canes won’t be playing Social Circle in their season opener, but rather will travel to Monroe to take on the Monroe Area Purple Hurricanes.

Besides the two teams having the same names they also have similar records over the past five years with Monticello holding a slight edge. Monticello is 12-38 while Monroe is 8-45.

The ‘Canes were 2-8 last year while Monroe was 0-10. Monroe was also 0-10 the year before which means they haven’t won a game in the last two seasons and haven’t had a winning season since 2003.
However a move down from Region 4-AAAA, where they played teams like Clarke Central and Applachee, to Region 8-AAA should level the playing field for them.

Also, their Head Coach, Matt Fligg, replaced their entire defensive coaching staff during the winter, so expect to see a team which is an improvement over last year, during which four of their losses were by seven or fewer points.

They expect to have a strong defensive line with Senior Stephen Truitt and Junior Lendarious Whitehead, both division one recruits, at the ends, and could be looking at the ‘Canes as a warm-up game before they begin play in their new region.
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Meanwhile, the local ‘Canes, will be looking for their first win under new Head Football Coach Eddie Roberts, which could happen after they built some confidence last week when they trounced GMC 24-7 in a scrimmage game.

Coach Roberts said, “We did some good things in the scrimmage game and it enabled us to see where we are and what we needed to work on.
“I was pleased with the team’s effort, but we have a lot of details we have to work out like alignments, assignments and special teams. The scrimmage also provided us with film so we could show the kids where mistakes were made.

“Monroe will have a talented group of players and they’ve got one of the top defensive ends in the country. They play hard and it’ll be a big test for us.”

The coach provided the following starting lineups beginning with the offense: Dee Chapman at quarterback, Adrian Campbell, Brady McMichael and Billy Edwards at wide receivers, Chris Thomas and Sadarius Rooks at running backs, Austin Pierce at center, Shane Pulliam and Kevin Camp at guards and Travis Hulsey and Ellis Ammons at the tackles.

On defense: Brandon Barger and Justin Van Horne at defensive ends, Timmy Postelwaite and Dionta Norwood at defensive tackles, Sadrious Rooks, A.J. Thomas and Skylar Blankenship at linebackers and Chris Thomas, Deatrius Stone, Tray Jackson and Jubanal Brumutize in the secondary.