Monarchs go back to an old friend in Central District win

At the beginning of the season, Meadowbrook coach Bill Bowles announced his team would be moving away from its trademark Wing-T and into a spread formation.

Last night, Bowles reverted to form, using his old misdirection offense to put away Petersburg, 40-28.

The Monarchs, No. 4 in The Times-Dispatch Top 10 Poll, scored 26 points in the second quarter, building a 20-point lead that proved insurmountable.

“The kids were in a good rhythm running the ball,“ Bowles said. “We came out in a Wing-T, and I don’t think they were ready for it right off the bat. . . . It’s nice to be able to do it to get some steady running game in, to give some people some different things to look at, to give us a little more misdirection.“

Sophomore Donico Phillips scored two of his three rushing touchdowns in the second quarter. Phillips rushed for 112 yards and caught two passes—both for touchdowns—from junior quarterback Desmond Coble.

“Misdirection opened things up . . . made them start thinking a bit more about other things,“ Bowles said. “We were able to start throwing the ball a little bit, and Coble had a pretty good night passing.“

Coble also rushed for 112 yards and completed 9-of-20 passes for 170 yards.

Petersburg coach Mike Scott said he elected to prepare only for the spread offense after watching the film. The Crimson Wave (0-1 Central District, 4-1) made adjustments defensively after the first half and held Meadowbrook to six points.

Phillips had a 6-yard touchdown to open the second quarter, giving Meadowbrook (1-1, 4-1) its first lead of the game, 15-14 with 11:55 left in the first half.

In its three remaining possessions of the half, Petersburg was held to a single set of downs each time.

“On defense tonight, we were very undisciplined,“ Petersburg coach Mike Scott said. “But that undiscipline came from Bill Bowles doing a good job of coaching the Wing-T tonight. He had spread it out the whole game, never ran the Wing-T, and came out tonight in the Wing T. . . . I’m like, ‘Man, I should get ready for the Wing-T in case he does.‘ Then I went, ‘No, this is what you saw on film. Lets go ahead and go with this.‘“

The Crimson Wave looked explosive early, scoring on the game’s opening possession. Running back Demondre Woodson turned the corner and raced 36-yards for the touchdown, the first of his two scoring runs.

Damian McLaughlin returned a kickoff 85 yards to give Petersburg a 14-8 lead after one quarter.

“When they had that big kickoff return, we were kind of shaky, but we just had to pick it up,“ Phillips said.

Contact Andee Sears at (804) 649-6210 or .

Meadowbrook 8 26 6 0—40
Petersburg 14 0 8 6—28

P—Woodson 36 run (Green run)

M—Chatmon safety on blocked punt

M—Phillips 2 run (pass fail)

P—McLaughlin 85 kick off return (run rail)

M—Phillips 6 run (Ornelus kick)

M—Ragin 23 pass from Coble (kick fail)

M—Wright 21 pass from Coble (Ornelus kick)

M—Phillips 2 run (kick blocked)

P—Woodson 8 run (Allen run)

M—Phillips 6 pass from Coble (kick fail)

P—Magruder 5 run (run failed)

RUSHING
Meadowbrook—Coble 10-112 yards; Phillips 29-112, Worsham 4-17; Ragin 5-12, Carter 3-2, Ornelus 2-(-34). Petersburg—Woodson 10-51, Green 7-6, Magruder 2-10, Allen 1-1, M. Jones 1-(-2).

PASSING
Meadowbrook—Coble 9-20-0, 170 yards. Petersburg—Green 1-10-1-15; Magruder 2-6-2-27.

RECEIVING
Meadowbrook—Carter 2-58, Ragin 2-45, Wright 2-32, Phillips 2-17, Rooney 1-8. Petersburg—K. Johnson 1-25, Jones 1-15, Octavis Whitaker 1-2.