Mustangs ready for Judges

Monticello will meet a familiar, formidable opponent — John Handley — in the Group AA, Region II Division 3 championship.

The Mustangs (10-1) will play the top-seeded Judges — a team they have beaten twice in the playoffs in the past five years — on the road. Last year, Monticello knocked off Handley 21-17 in the region semifinals.

The Jefferson District champions then dispatched Millbrook, Poquoson and Richlands en route to its first state title.

In the teams’ only other meeting in 2003, Monticello beat Handley 31-30. The Mustangs reached the title game again that year, but fell to Gretna.

But it’s a different year, and a whole new ballgame.

“They’re a different team offensively in that they’re out of the spread and in the I. They’re running the ball very effectively and the play-action pass,” said Monticello coach Brud Bicknell. “It’s just a different approach offensively, but they’re sound as usual in all phases of the game.”

The Judges (10-1), who are also riding an eight-game winning streak, beat Millbrook 24-13 in the semifinals.

Jeremiah Wilson has powered Handley’s ground game this season. The tailback ran for a game-high 122 yards and a touchdown last week.

Handley coach Tony Rayburn knows that Monticello’s offense, piloted by quarterback Michael Graham, poses a big challenge to his team.

“Their running back can make big plays, their passing game is the best we’ve seen, and their quarterback can run as well — they’re multi-dimensional,” Rayburn said. ”On top of that, their offensive line is big and strong. We’re just going to try to do a few things to take away their game.”

The Judges’ defense has been stifling — they shut out the Pioneers in the second half last week. Handley will look for more of the same in the final.

“Defensively, we’re going to force them to earn

anything they get,” Rayburn said. “[We need to] limit the big plays and force some turnovers. They have one of the best defensive fronts we’ve seen. We know we have our hands full — we’ll have to play our absolute best to have a chance.”

A couple of mistakes early last week hurt Monticello, but the Mustangs made up for it with a solid ground game and some big defensive plays.

Tailback Hines Banks and rushed for a career-high 108 yards and a pair of scores in Monticello’s 30-13 semifinal win over Briar Woods as Graham was held to a season-low 64 yards passing.

The Mustangs know they have their work cut out for them against a stingy Handley defense, which held Millbrook to just 53 yards on the ground.

“We need to get back to coming out of the blocks quickly and just continuing to improve,” Bicknell said. “I think we played really well defensively. I think we can be a little sharper offensively, but a lot of that can be attributed to Briar Woods, too. We just need to continue to stay the course.”

And it’s the defense that has allowed Monticello to stay the course thus far.

Last week, the Mustangs came up with a fumble return and interception and held the Falcons to just 18 yards passing. In addition to keeping quarterback Brian Tavenner in check, they’ll look to contain Wilson this week.

There’s no question the defense is up to the challenge.

“Playoff time is when you really have to kick it in,” senior cornerback Marvin Mills said. “You’ve got to be heartless out there. You’ve got to be able to stop receivers, take down running backs — you’ve got to do it all.”

And if they can do that, the Mustangs just might find themselves winning it all.