Mary Montgomery tackles too hard, runs too hard and has yet to play to its full potential

 

 

 

DAPHNE — Can a football team be considered great if it committed 18 penalties and still won? When one of the penalties is for tackling too hard, it might not matter.

In Mary G. Montgomery’s 41-31 victory over Daphne Friday night, Vikings linebacker Devin Pettway swallowed Jamir Alcius on a pass in the flats, then threw him down like he had just picked up a sack full of poisonous snakes. While Hulk Hogan would have been proud (and the 6-2, 210-pound Pettway showed he can cover a running back in space), the referees were not amused and threw a flag for a personal foul.

It seemed the only way Pettway could get control of Alcius, who was not injured while fighting to stay on his feet, but the play epitomized just how physically imposing MGM is in the fourth year of the Golson Project.

While he’s generally known for imaginative offenses which strikes opponents where they are not, coach Zach Golson has changed the Vikings from whipping boys to the boys who do the whipping. Against the Trojans, their running game resembled a freight train rumbling through custard, outgaining Daphne 279 yards to 56 on the ground, 199 of those gouged inside the ends.

“We felt good that they couldn’t stop us,” Golson said. “We felt like we could impose our will a little bit physically.”

The Golson Effect, the Zach Attack, the Mark of Z — whatever it is called — cannot be ignored. Since Golson left his job as the Trojans’ offensive coordinator in 2022, MGM has had but one goal: Win a Blue Map.

These facts are highly visible road signs along that path: Under Golson, the Vikings are 18-2 in their region, have won 12 of their last 14 road games (it took eight years before that for them to win that many) and Daphne has seen its offensive production drop nearly a full touchdown since he’s been gone. Conversely, MGM is averaging 17 more points per game in his four years there than it did in the four years before he came.

Golson didn’t rebuild this program, for there was nothing to rebuild. He created it. To say he has instilled confidence and winning standards in the Vikings doesn’t say enough. They expect to win every time they take the field now and, of course, if that is the result from here on out, Golson will complete one of the most incomprehensible feats of invention since Edison flipped a light switch or the delusional Rosie O’Donnell believing American Eagle would ever offer her an endorsement deal to wear its jeans.

 

The best is yet to come

 

An even more withering thought than O’Donnell modeling jeans is Golson, his coaches and players being fully dressed with everywhere to go. This senior-laden team is 3-0 and hasn’t come close to playing as well as it can. Mary Montgomery missed 19 tackles against Pace, Fla., and won 34-21. It had 18 penalties against Daphne and won. It came from behind in the fourth quarter and beat Gulf Shores 22-19 despite two interceptions by quarterback Jeremy Menhennett, who is learning just how deftly to operate the stick shift. Afterward, Dolphins coach Mark Hudspeth proclaimed the Vikings a deep playoff team.

“I feel like we could play way better,” said safety Shondell Harris, who blocked a Trojans punt for a touchdown and, along with fellow senior Pettway, represents the soul of this team. “Right now, we’re still learning as we go.”

MGM learned on Friday night that it can bash an opponent into submission with its running game, even when the other guys know what’s coming. Leading just 34-31 in the fourth quarter, the Vikings euthanized Daphne with a 68-yard, 11-play drive — all on the ground and with no holds — for Harris’ 1-yard TD run.

While all the penalties bothered Golson, he doesn’t think they will be a problem going forward, as they were last season.

“We did a lot of good stuff,” he said. “What really upsets me about us is last year’s team got a bad label. I think it was at times fair. This year’s team is not undisciplined. I’ve seen people posting about it. That’s not even who this team is.”

 

Another dagger

 

Nor could Daphne stop Jakenyon Allen, who is as hard to catch as an arrow once it leaves the bow, a compact but prolific big-play artist who gives Golson even more daggers to throw at opponents. He returned a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown after the Trojans cut MGM’s early 21-6 lead to 21-20 and his introduction to big-time Class 7A football included a 63-yard TD run on the second play and a fabulous catch on a perfect Menhennett fade in the back corner of the end zone. Allen had 211 all-purpose yards on just 11 touches, which Golson said is perfect for the 5-7, 150-pound junior.

“It’s not like he’s a big guy that needs to carry it 20 times a game,” Golson said. “I think he’s going to be more of a perimeter hitter and return guy. If we can get him 10 touches and him scoring three touchdowns, that would be great. There’s only so many ways that he can touch it.”

Some are waiting for the night Menhennett must put this team on his shoulders and win with the passing game but it will take so much to stop the Vikings’ running game that Menhennett should find Allen, D.J. Broughton and the other receivers open.

“D.J. got two targets the other night and he’s a guy that needs 10 targets too,” Golson said. “We’ve got a lot of playmakers. I thought Jeremy did a nice job of distributing the ball to the right guy. We took what they gave us. They were playing with two safeties deep most of the night, which allowed us to run the football.”

 

‘Just keep plugging’

 

MGM’s defense, with its 11 senior starters, hasn’t been dominant and has forced only two turnovers in three games but Golson and defensive coordinator Alex Page said some of that can be attributed to the competition.

“I think we have one of the best defenses in the state and I think we can play better defense,” Golson said. “We’ve played three good offenses. We’ll just keep plugging and getting better and seeing if we can find that special sauce as far as where to put our guys, maybe.”

Page wants to see more turnovers too.

“It’d be nice,” he said. “I think the other teams that we’ve played are really emphasizing protecting the ball. We’re preaching it and we’re calling for it but they’re just doing a good job taking care of it.”

There is a nagging theory that 7A Region 1 competition doesn’t prepare its champion for Auburn, Central-Phenix City, Thompson or Vestavia Hills in the playoffs. The Vikings’ postseason losses to Central and Vestavia Hills the last three years bolster such claims.

But a team that gets penalized for tackling too hard sounds like a contender, not a pretender.