Preps Plus

Let’s admit it, if you live outside Greene County your reaction to William Monroe winning its season opener in football was probably something like this: “Good for them, but they better enjoy it now.“

The Dragons opened up the season with a thrashing of East Rockingham, but that was against a first-year school—which typically struggle in their debut seasons—and was probably scheduled as a game designed to give William Monroe its best opportunity to snap the 22-game losing streak that dated back to 2007. But after coming back and taking it to rival Madison County 36-19 on Friday ... well maybe it is time to start looking at Mark Sanford’s WMHS program in a different light.

It’s not surprising that Sanford, a former UVa standout and a successful coach at Covenant, has changed the fortunes of the Greene Dragons. But who would have thought they would go from 0-10 in Sanfords first season to a convincing 2-0 so quickly. Madison County had beaten Monroe by an average of 36 points the previous four meetings and the Mountaineers hadn’t lost to a Jefferson District opponent since 2006, including a victory against Fluvanna in their season opener.

Sure, this isn’t the same Madison team that won its first nine games and went to the playoffs last year, but there is some talent back at MCHS and they were good enough to get by the Flucos.

William Monroe’s turnaround began well before the season kicked off. With Sanford’s arrival came the installation of a rigorous offseason workout program and when the Dragons began practice this season they did so with a roster full of players who already knew the offensive and defensive schemes and knew Sanford’s expectations. During an early-season practice, Sanford said that quarterback Mitchell Morris may have been the hardest working athlete he had ever coached, and it has paid off.

Morris has provided exactly what a coach hopes for a in a high school quarterback. He hasn’t put up incredible numbers, but he’s been virtually mistake free and his stats have been good enough to get the Dragons victories. Against Madison he competed 5 of 10 passes for 92 yards and also rushed for 41. In both games he’s stretched the defense with long TD passes. He’s also got some help on offense.

The Dragons seem to have a pair of capable running backs with Logan Forloines having a huge game (five TDs) in the opener and the Doug Sizemore rushing for 153 yards against Madison.

It’s about to get tougher for Monroe in the next two weeks. Eastern View and Louisa are both extremely athletic teams, but right now there’s no reason to think the Dragons can’t hang around with most of the teams in the Jefferson District.

Follow Preps Plus at twitter.com/shanemettlen or e-mail Shane at