Dougherty holds on to beat Monroe

ALBANY — Dougherty High School read the newspaper and they knew what was at stake.

A Monroe victory Saturday night would have given the Tornadoes the city championship.

Instead, it was an inspired Dougherty squad that denied Monroe the city title and also took a leg up in the Region 1-AAA standings with a 21-14 victory Saturday night at Hugh Mills Stadium.

Monroe had scored convincing victories over Dougherty County rivals Westover and Albany High. All that was left was Dougherty, who because of a subregion schedule hadn’t played Monroe in football since the 2013 season.

Dougherty made the wait worthwhile for its fans.

With Monroe attempting the potential game-tying score with 40 seconds left, Keithtavious Cobey tackled quarterback David Dillard and forced a fumble the Trojans recovered.

Then the offense burned the final few seconds, capping a wild celebration.

“It was a hard-fought game, but you see that score?” Cobey said. “We’re going to stay humble and keep grinding. We’re going to keep pushing.”

Cobey led a Dougherty defense that harassed Monroe all night, forcing four fumbles and intercepting two passes. No turnovers were more gut-wrenching than the two Monroe had inside two minutes left in the game, including one inside the Trojans’ 20-yard line.

“These guys don’t know the magnitude of Dougherty and Monroe,” Dougherty coach Corey Joyner said. “We talked about that all week and they came to play. It’s a great feeling.”

More importantly than keeping Monroe from claiming the city championship was a victory in the Region 1-AAA opener. The Trojans (2-4, 1-0 Region 1-AAA) held on when it seemed they had nothing left in the tank.

“I keep telling people that at the end, we get tired and those guys gave up touchdowns because they were tired,” Joyner said. “They fought through today and I’m proud of the guys for the effort they gave. We prepared for this.”

Dougherty scored all of its points during a decisive second quarter. The last interception Dougherty recorded from Devin Cooper led to a 12-yard touchdown scamper by Demerious Milton to give Dougherty a three-touchdown advantage before halftime.

But Monroe changed quarterbacks shortly before halftime, giving standout Ulysses Williams a chance. The senior didn’t disappoint, putting the Tornadoes within striking distance with a strong second-half.

On a busted play in which Dougherty forced Williams out of the pocket, the Albany Herald Dynamite Dozen selection used his athleticism to score on a 20-yard touchdown run with 4:19 left in the third quarter. After the extra point attempt failed, Dougherty held a 21-6 advantage.

But after the Trojans failed to muster anything positive on their ensuing possession, Monroe took over and Theodore Harrold dashed 48 yards for a score. Williams then hit Teague on a 2-point conversion pass to pull the Tornadoes to within seven at 21-14 early in the fourth quarter.

But costly turnovers kept Monroe (2-3, 0-1) from getting any closer.

Jaylen Joyner tossed a 16-yard touchdown pass to Dre’Shon Alston to give the Trojans an early 7-0 advantage. But Dougherty didn’t stop there.

Anphrenee Jordan scored a 13-yard run to make it 14-0 with 2:55 left.

Joyner and the Trojans are going to enjoy this one for a while.

“It’s a good feeling, proud of the guys and the coaching staff for the plan they had,” he said. “It feel reals good to be 1-0 in the region.”