Monroe looks to bounce back against Thomas County Central

ALBANY — So far, Monroe football head coach Charles Truitt has seen what his Tornadoes look like at their best, as well as their worst.

Thursday, the 1-1 Tornadoes look to rebound from a poor showing with a 7 p.m. contest at Hugh Mills Stadium against Thomas County Central.

Last week, Monroe lost 45-7 at Thomasville, a team that is ranked eighth in GHSA Class 2A. Truitt said his team lacked the discipline needed to carry out defensive assignments.

“We were not a disciplined ball club,” he said. “We made a lot mistakes defensively. Coverage and things we were supposed to do, we didn’t do. We weren’t a disciplined team, and I take the fault for that. We’re going to have to play disciplined football in order to be a good football team.”

He said he takes a bit of solace that the team, following some film sessions, is now able to see what happens when they stick to the game plan.

“We came back on Sunday and showed the kids the mistakes that they made, and in order for us to be consistent and win on a consistent basis we’ve got to handle things like that,” he said. “We were able to take both tapes and see when we do what we’re supposed to do well we have success and when we don’t we fall by the wayside.”

The Tornadoes will see a Yellow Jackets team this Truitt described as “consistent” and added Thomas County Central will definitely test Monroe defensively.

“They run the option and that split backfield and they do a great job of it, so if we don’t handle our responsibilities defensively it can get real ugly,” he said.

Despite last week’s loss, Truitt said he believes his defensive line gives Monroe the edge in the contest.

“It has been the play of our defensive line,” he said. “Even though we gave up 45 points, those guys did a great job. I think they only gave up like 30 yards rushing, even though they had a lot of yards passing. But we feel good our front up there. We feel good about both fronts, but our defensive front has really been playing lights out football for us.”

In order to get the secondary on board, Truitt has his team concentrated on assignment football.

“They’re not reading their keys,” he said. “When you don’t read your keys, you miss out on a lot of things you’re supposed to cover. A lot of the mistakes we made last week are correctable, but we have to be able to run the defense as we plan on running it and not have everyone doing their own individual thing.”