Sports

Monroe under the microscope

• Herald No. 2 Monroe hosts a dangerous Crisp County team tonight.

Paul Dehner Jr.

ALBANY — Sure, playing on Thursday night affords the Monroe High School football team the spotlight at Hugh Mills Stadium as the only area team in action.

Tornadoes coach Charles Truitt could care less.

He would trade every watt of power from that spotlight for an extra day of preparation.

“People just don’t realize how hard that is,” he said. “You have to really try to crunch a lot into few days. We went a little bit longer than normal in practices.”

The concern stems from awareness that playing in Region 1-AAA, there can never be enough time to prepare. When a Crisp County team which pushed Dougherty to the brink of defeat this past Friday travels south to Albany, the realization couldn’t be truer.

“Their kids don’t quit,” Truitt said of the Cougars. “If we don’t play our best game, it could be a long night for us.”

Just ask Dougherty. The Trojans needed a second half shutout and fourth-quarter touchdown pass by Felton Walls to top the Cougars (2-4) last week.

Crisp has lost three games in a row, but the last two have only come by a combined 11 points to the Herald No. 3 Americus-Sumter and No. 4 Dougherty.

To avoid a similar nail-biter, Truitt knows he will need to find a way to slow quarterback Chris Yowe, who leads the team in rushing all while racking up 414 passing yards this season.

He will be supported by running backs Quint Nance and Fred Johnson.

Last week, Monroe (5-1) went up against a strong Worth County rushing attack and held them to just 108 yards. More of the same against Crisp would likely end in Monroe’s seventh consecutive region win.

With every victory, the next becomes even harder for the Tornadoes. It is difficult enough surviving the brutal region schedule, but doing it as defending champions has this team realizing how hard repeating will be.

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