Brooks County mauls Monroe

ALBANY — What started as a duel between two evenly-matched teams got out of hand quickly at Hugh Mills stadium Friday night. The Brooks County Trojans kept their undefeated season alive with a 26-6 win over Monroe.

After trading blows — yet not converting them into points — for most of the first half, the visitors saw a glimmer of opportunity and pounced all over it in the second quarter.

In less than two minutes, the Trojans had built enough of a lead to coast for the rest of the way. After chipping away with designed quarterback runs and quick screens, it was defensive and special teams plays that made the difference.

Junior linebacker Michael Edmonds intercepted a deflected pass from Monroe quarterback David Dillard and returned it to the 15-yard line with 1:19 left in the first half. On the very next play, sophomore wide receiver Deon Fountain ran a fade route and snatched a 15-yard score to give Brooks a 7-0 lead.

On the ensuing kickoff, Brooks recovered an onside kick, giving them the ball at midfield. After junior receiver Khalid Humphries grabbed a 47-yard reception, Naiquavis Sutton plunged across the goal line to give the Trojans a 13-0 lead.

“I think that was the turning point,” Tornadoes head coach Charles Truitt said of that stretch in the second quarter. “We had a chance to get to halftime, but messed around and gave up two touchdowns. It swung the game wide open. It took momentum from us and we were playing uphill from that point on.”

The Tornadoes gave up two touchdowns on similar flea-flicker, double-pass gadget plays. They also turned the ball over on at least three separate occasions.

“We made some uncharacteristic mistakes,” Truitt said. “We missed a lot of tackles, that’s something we don’t usually do. We’ll just have to come back and work on tackling.”

At the half, Sutton had racked up 162 total yards, 102 coming through the air. He finished with 234 total yards and three touchdowns.

The Trojans doubled their lead in the third quarter with a pair of touchdown passes, one from Deon Fountain to Ce’Darius Arnold.

“We’re usually a disciplined ball club,” Truitt said. “We weren’t tonight. They made plays and we didn’t. Now region play is opening up and we have a good Dougherty team coming. If we want to make the playoffs, we’ve got to play better.”

Brooks County moved to 4-0 on the season with the win. Monroe fell to 2-2. After a bye week, the Tornadoes meet crosstown rival Dougherty on Oct. 8 in the Region 1-AAA opener.