Monroe takes care of Westover

ALBANY — It was a game filled with missed opportunities and even more missed field goals for the Westover Patriots, and cross-town rival Monroe made sure to take full advantage en route to a 21-6 victory Friday night.

Westover falls to 1-1 on the season while Monroe starts their campaign off 1-0.

The game got off to a messy start for Westover (1-1) as a big defensive penalty put Monroe in Patriots territory. Larry Whitfield capped the drive off for the Tornadoes with 1:50 to go in the first with a 32-yard touchdown run.

The second quarter is when the special team woes started for the Patriots. An attempt from the Monroe 28 fell short. Westover got another crack at it later in that quarter, falling short again, but a penalty on Monroe gave the Patriots a second chance.

That attempt, too, was off the mark.

Westover missed four field goal attempts and one extra point attempt, making a difference in a game that was separated by just a touchdown for nearly 40 minutes.

Westover head coach Octavia Jones said the struggles were somewhat baffling.

“I have no clue what was going on (Friday),” Jones said. “From our side, it looked like it was going in, but of course the officials have the better vantage point.

“Those were all makeable field goals. I think it would be a different game had we made those, but that’s how the game goes sometimes and we gotta take it however it goes.”

Missed field goals weren’t the only thing hampering the Patriots, as the penalties mounted up and kept several Monroe drives alive.

Jones said his team might have gotten caught up in the rivalry hype.

“That’s the rivalry aspect of it,” he said. “Two teams that are rivals like this, sometimes they’re more focused on beating each other rather than playing the game … just being overly excited and playing more off of emotions instead of playing off technique and the way you’ve been coached.”

Monroe had its fair share of penalties.

Head coach Charles Truitt said his team made mistakes, as expected in the first game of the season, and they’ll look to clean that up moving forward.

“We made some bonehead plays, and so did they,” he said. “It’s the first game we’ve played, and we’ll have to correct that.”

Monroe (1-0) got going offensively despite the miscues. It started the second half off with a successful drive that ended with a 13-yard touchdown run by Ryan Flownory to go up 14-0 with 8:57 left in the third.

Westover finally scored with 11:19 left in the fourth. A catch by Daveon Sanders set up a first-and-goal from the 5, where quarterback Jordan Walton took it in himself.

Down just a touchdown, Westover gave itself a chance to tie things up on first-and-goal from the Monroe 8 with 7:46 remaining, but the Tornadoes’ defense broke up three straight passes and forced a field goal attempt, again off the mark.

Truitt said his defense played fundamentally sound football, and it paid off.

“We played our assignments against a good ball club,” he said. “We made tackles in space, and the d-line played well. We executed on that side of the ball like we knew we had to.”

Monroe remained aggressive in an attempt to put the game on ice, and David Dillard found Cameron Atkins for a 28-yard reception that put the Tornadoes at the Westover 45. Whitfield scored again to put the game away.

Monroe heads to Thomasville next Friday, while the Patriots are off until their Sept. 8 contest with Dougherty.