Eastern View stops William Monroe

STANARDSVILLE — Eastern View High School’s goal during the week was to find balance in its offense.

Mission accomplished.

Sophomore quarterback Simon Pendleton threw for 303 yards and four touchdowns and Alquan Newman rushed for 85 yards and a score as the Cyclones blew away William Monroe 38-7 Friday night.

“I was very proud of our offensive line, I don’t know if Simon was pressured all night,” Eastern View head coach Greg Hatfield said. “I thought Alquan and Brandon Scott ran the ball exceptionally hard. We concentrate so much on what we do and our game plan for us to work on some things and get better, and I really felt like we did that now. I think our offensive numbers have to be pretty huge.”

Huge they were, especially through the air. Pendleton spread the ball around, connecting with V.J. Ivory six times for 108 yards, four times with Drayton Shanks for 64 yards, twice with Conner Settle for 44 yards and once on a long touchdown pass that went for 87 yards to Carl Lacy.

“They help me a lot,” Pendleton said of his receivers. “Especially when Conner had that nice catch and Drayton is just always there.”

The Cyclones’ aerial attack had been displayed earlier in the year, but the running game had been absent. Not Friday night against the Greene Dragons (0-3). Newman bowled players over from the start, Brandon Scott wore William Monroe down late in the game and Ivory added some spark with 23 yards rushing in the first half.

William Monroe struck first as Logan Forloines and Mitchell Morris led the Greene Dragons on an eight-play opening drive that culminated with an 8-yard run by Markees Towles. Forloines finished with 80 yards rushing.

From there, Eastern View answered. Pendleton scored from one yard out and then again from 10 yards out early in the second quarter for a 14-7 lead.

In the second half, Pendleton and the Cyclones (2-1) went to the air. He found Ivory for a 39-yard touchdown and then nailed Lacy with the 87-yard strike that broke the Dragons’ backs.

“We feel like we have a lot of playmakers out there, we’re very confident in our receiving corp,” Hatfield said. “Simon is growing as a quarterback. He’s getting better each week.”

One of the reasons Pendleton was able to torch the Dragons for more than 300 yards was his protection. The offensive line kept their quarterback clean all night and opened massive holes for the running game.

“I’m proud of the whole line, the way the whole offense played tonight,” senior lineman Patrick Wilson said.

Defensively, the Cyclones struggled early against William Monroe, but after calming down they shut the Dragons down and allowed only 21 yards in the second half.

“We started off tight, but then we played our game,” Wilson said. “We just continued to pump ourselves up.”