In a season full of unprecedented challenges, one thing has been a constant for the Monticello football team in 2021.
Close calls.
With the exception of the week-three blowout at the hands of Louisa County, every Monticello game this spring has come down to the fourth quarter and Friday night’s road tilt with Charlottesville was no different.
Seven days after special teams saved the day against Orange, it was up to the Monticello defense to seal the win over rival Charlottesville. As has been the case all year, it was nerve-racking at times, but eventually, the Mustangs’ defense did enough to walk away with the win.
With the Knights knocking on the door late the fourth quarter, the Monticello defense made three consecutive big plays to turn CHS over on downs, and escape with a 27-24 road triumph.
The victory marked MHS’ third contest in the six-game season that was decided by a touchdown or less. Monticello is 3-0 in those games.
“Big stops in big moments, that’s what we’ve been about in these past few games for sure — Really exciting football, definitely football that will age me quickly as a head coach,” Monticello head coach Matt Hicks said with a laugh. “These guys know that every time they get to go out there is a blessing, and they really give it their all.”
Sophomore cornerback Matt Dixon was responsible for perhaps the most important defensive play of the game. After having marched all the way to the Monticello 38-yard line with 90 seconds remaining, the Knights elected to try for a rare passing play on second down.
Quarterback Caldwell Boyles tossed a pretty pass to a seemingly-open receiver down the right side of the field, before Dixon came up with the biggest pass breakup of his young career. Dixon had been playing in an arm cast for the past four weeks, and did not have it removed until the day before the Charlottesville game. Then with Charlottesville threatening to take control of the seesaw battle, Dixon stepped up and made the deflection with his previously-injured arm.
“I was having a rough game before [the pass breakup]. The arm finally got out of the cast, and just my teammates encouraged me throughout the whole game. I had seen [the opposing wide receiver] look up, and I just had to break it up” said Dixon of the key defensive stop.
On the ensuing play, senior defensive lineman Giacomo Wilson stormed the gap for a sack that drove Charlottesville back 10 yards.
Finally, facing a fourth and 20, Boyles dumped a screen pass off to Quincy Edwards, but a host of Mustangs limited the senior running back to just eight yards. The fourth down stand turned the ball back over to Malachi Fields, who knelt twice to close out the win.
Charlottesville outgained Monticello by 42 yards and held a lead for most of the fourth quarter, but once the victors pulled ahead late, Dixon and the defense made sure that it would stay that way.
“We had little mistakes that just added up, but we kept coming back and stopped them. I believed in the team — I knew we would pull it out,” Dixon said. “During all of these close games, it just prepares us for bigger moments and bigger games.”
Clinging to a one-point lead for the entire third quarter, Monticello opened the fourth quarter with a quick, seven-yard touchdown run to grab a 20-12 lead.
Charlottesville’s Eddison Duolo responded with his third rushing touchdown of the night just over a minute later to trim the deficit to just two points.
The Mustangs started the ensuing drive close to midfield, but it was all for naught, as Nasir Lindsay picked up a wild fumble and scampered 47 yards for a scoop-and-score to put CHS ahead, 24-20. With Monticello staring down another close finish, Hicks turned to his senior lead, Fields to return the momentum to the visiting sideline.
Fields, who had just 12 net-yards rushing prior to the crucial drive, finally broke free for a gain of 24, which brought the Mustangs into Black Knight territory.
A few plays later, Fields called his own number on a fourth-down-and-one, and picked up three hard-earned yards.
Charlottesville then called a timeout to settle the defense down and figure out a way to slow down a surging Fields. CHS head coach Eric Sherry drew up a great defensive plan following the stoppage, as several Knights swarmed the backfield and had a clear shot at the future Virginia Cavalier.
It did not matter.
Fields made several impressive moves at the line of scrimmage to shed tacklers, and rushed 18 yards into the end zone to put his team ahead for good.
“When you talk about blessings, having [Fields] is definitely one of them,” Hicks said. “He plays so hard, he plays for his team, and they respond really well. There were critical moments in the game where he asked his teammates to rally around him, and they did — they stepped up and answered. He’s also someone that puts a lot of belief in his teammates. Whenever in key in critical moments. He told a young offensive line, ‘We’re coming behind you, and we got it’, and they did.”
Fields finished the contest with 111 yards of total offense. The senior also had a fumble recovery for a touchdown in the first quarter.
Charlottesville fell despite a valiant effort from Duolo on the ground. The freshman carried the ball 32 times for 203 yards and three scores. His first of the day came from five yards out on the opening play of the second quarter.
Seven minutes later, Duolo again found paydirt from five yards out, to give the Knights a 12-6 lead.
Duolo’s most impressive stretch of the evening came in the fourth quarter Charlottesville had fallen behind by eight. On the heEls of reaching midfield on a 17-yard carry a minute earlier, Duolo raced 32 yards to the house to trim the visitors’ lead to just two points.
The freshman gained 30 yards in four plays on Charlottesville’s final drive of the night, before going down with an injury after reaching the 50 yardline.
Senior Quincy Edwards took over as the primary ball carrier in Duolo’s brief absence and notched a big first down at the Monticello 38 with 2:09 left to play. Unfortunately for Charlottesville, that run was its last positive offensive play of the game.
Charlottesville will look for its first win of the season next Friday across town against Albemarle, while Monticello will enjoy a much-deserved week off. The Mustangs (3-2) will conclude the regular season against Fluvanna on April 2.
