How NC high school dual-threat quarterback Johnathan Montague found a home in Clayton

Urban sprawl can cost a small town its Mayberry charm. Another price to pay is the singular identity that rallies a community around its lone high school — particularly on football Friday nights.

Clayton is one of those rapidly growing towns in Johnston County, just across the Raleigh/Wake County border.

Clayton High opened in 1901, and for more than a century the Comets were the only game in town. By 2010, though, expanding population opened Cleveland High. Town loyalties were split between the old and new.

But instead of disconnected apathy, Clayton’s two fan bases are holding back the tide of time, defying a common socio-economic trend. Clayton High quarterback John Montague is a senior transfer and has thus viewed his adopted hometown’s support as part insider, part outsider.

“The atmosphere is great here,” Montague said. “The stands are packed for our home games. The fans are great. They cheer us on.”

The Rams and Comets meet in their city rivalry game at 7 p.m. Friday at Clayton’s field, and the stakes are doubled with the Greater Neuse River 4A Conference title on the line. Cleveland (9-0, 6-0 GNR 4A), ranked No. 7 in the state 4A poll, travels 8.9 miles across town to face the Comets (8-1, 6-0 GNR 4A) in the regular-season finale.

Get there early. Cleveland and Clayton are enjoying the best of both worlds. Progress allows the Comets and Rams to compete among the large-school 4A teams. Small-time charm brings out the fans’ passion.

Dual-threat quarterback

Montague’s play as a 6-foot-2, 208-pound dual threat quarterback has added to the buzz while he closes in on 2,000 yards rushing. In last week’s 49-6 win at Willow Spring, he ran 11 times for 191 yards and three touchdowns and completed 7-of-9 passes for 125 yards and two TDs. And all that was before Clayton coach Scott Chadwick emptied the bench in the second half.

Through nine games, Montague has 178 carries for 1,801 yards and 28 rushing touchdowns, averaging 10.1 per carry and 200.1 per game. He has completed 85-of-119 passes (71 percent) for 1,080 yards and nine touchdowns with two interceptions.

Although this is Montague’s first season at Clayton, he is a fourth-year varsity starting quarterback.

As a freshman at East Wake in the 2020 COVID-delayed season that was contested in the spring of 2021, he played in all four games of an 0-4 season. He played at Knightdale as a sophomore in the fall of 2021 and junior in 2022.

In 2021 he passed for 2,205 yards and 27 touchdowns and ran for 631 and six TDs. The 2022 season he threw for 1,713 yards and 14 touchdowns and rushed for 318 and 10 scores.

An impressive resume — especially if he bookends a 2,000-yard rushing season in 2023 with his 2,000-yard passing season in 2021 — but numbers don’t always attract recruiting interest. Montague was under the radar until he recently picked up his first Power 5 school offer from Boston College.

“BC has gone to a quarterback-run game in their offense,” Chadwick said. “It’s a big part of their offense now. They feel they’ve had success with it. They’ve watched John and thought, ‘Man, this is a guy who can fit the offense we play.’”

Montague’s other offers are from Arkansas State, Temple and Division II schools. Arkansas State offered Montague after Red Wolves offensive coordinator Kirk Heckendorf flipped open his address book to Chadwick’s name. Heckendorf is a former North Carolina assistant, and he has recruited Chadwick’s players in the past when Chadwick coached at Myers Park in Charlotte.

Installing an offense

Among Chadwick’s Myers Park quarterbacks have been Drake Maye, a UNC junior projected as an NFL first-round draft pick; Jack Davidson, a former UNC backup; and Braydon Hawkins, who signed with UTEP and later played at Akron and UT Martin.

Chadwick said he didn’t know Montague transferred to Clayton until January, but once he watched some film, he began tinkering with his playbook.

A spread offense is nothing new for Chadwick’s teams, but his schemes fit Maye and drop-back QBs. With Montague, Chadwick switched to a run-first spread utilizing a run-pass-option, RPO. The results were immediate in a 54-42 season-opening win over Wake Forest.

“He ran for 260 yards against Wake Forest,” Chadwick said. “You don’t do that against Wake Forest.”

When opponents have forced Montague to pass, he has taken care of the ball. He has completed 29 of his past 32 passes without an interception.

Montague says his transfer to Clayton wasn’t as calculated as it seems in this age of high school athletes mimicking NFL free agency or the college transfer portal. He had some friends playing at Clayton, including Cameron Royal, Ny’quavious Armston and Daylon Fuller, but he said he didn’t transfer with expectations of Chadwick accommodating him.

“I was very excited when he started talking about the run-pass-option,” said Montague, expressing his understatement with a slow nod of his head. “I was very pleased.”

Conference championship dreams

But he’s enjoyed more than the offense and the conference title chase. He cited the Comets’ laser focus, which was put to a unique test at Willow Spring.

The kickoff was scheduled for 7 p.m., but lightning forced delays. The players retreated from warming up on the field to the gym’s visitor locker room area. Each flash in the sky reset the clock another 30 minutes. The game didn’t start until 8:40 p.m.

“We were fired up to play when we got there,” Montague said. “Then we had to wait, but when we finally got on the field, we were ready.”

He spoke Saturday morning while seated in Clayton High’s bleachers. He continued his thought while looking ahead the city rivalry.

“These last couple weeks of practice we’ve been locked in. The game this week is for the conference championship. They’ll be a bunch of people out here. We have to show up ready to play.”

In Clayton, “Friday Night Lights” is more than a movie, and this week’s show stars championship drama.