Watch highlights and postgame interviews with Monroe quarterback Terrell “Pooty” Cunningham Jr. and offensive linemen Joziah Smith, Nicholas Reeves and Alijah Jones following the Red Jackets’ 42-15 victory over Canisius. (Video: Owen Parker/WNY Athletics)
Nineteen straight wins. Back-to-back undefeated campaigns. A junior defensive back holding 18 Division I offers and a senior quarterback actively rewriting Section V record books.
Rochester’s James Monroe High School isn’t just winning football games — they are forcing New York State to reconsider how it views Section V.
The contrast inside the Red Jackets’ locker room tells the entire story. On the perimeter sits James Brumfield II, a junior defensive back with offers from Oregon, Miami, Penn State, Auburn, Wisconsin and more. Under center sits senior quarterback Terrell “Pooty” Cunningham Jr. — the undisputed field general who holds Section V records for career passing yards, career passing touchdowns and the single-season passing touchdown mark, yet somehow remains one of the Northeast’s most overlooked prospects.
One has college visits on the regular; the other has to break every passing record in Rochester history just to prove he belongs.
When Monroe stepped on the field against Western New York private school power Canisius — then ranked No. 7 (now No. 10) in the state by MaxPreps — it wasn’t about surviving a ranked opponent. It was an audition for two players living in completely different recruiting realities.
The Power Four Magnet
James Brumfield II doesn’t just play cornerback; he eliminates half of the field.
Holding 18 Division I offers, Brumfield represents the modern, prototype national recruit that college programs drool over. Against Canisius, he didn’t need four quarters to show why college coaches are blowing up his phone.
On defense, he jumped two outside routes, taking both interceptions back for touchdowns while racking up six tackles. When Monroe lined him up on the perimeter offensively, he hauled in a 34-yard scoring strike from Cunningham. Three touchdowns and two-way authority from a junior who plays with the quiet confidence of someone who knows he will be playing on national television on Saturdays.
Brumfield commands the national recruiting headlines, but he’s just one weapon in an arsenal orchestrated by a quarterback who plays like he has everything to prove.
The Record-Breaking Quarterback College Scouts Are Missing
If Brumfield is the recruit colleges dream about, Pooty Cunningham is the quarterback they’ve mistakenly overlooked.
Cunningham’s resume reads like a video game: Section V’s all-time passing yards leader, Section V’s all-time passing touchdowns king and the single-season record holder with 39 touchdown passes as a junior. He hasn’t lost a regular-season game in two full calendar years.
Yet when Power Four programs scout Upstate New York, Cunningham’s phone stays silent. College evaluators have missed the fact that he makes every single throw on schedule, commands the line of scrimmage and wins every time he steps between the white lines.
His father, head coach Terrell Cunningham Sr., doesn’t run an offense with training wheels. He has handed his son full pre-snap audible control. Cunningham checks protections, changes route concepts at the line and manipulates safeties with his eyes.
Against Canisius, he carved up the Crusaders for 282 passing yards and three touchdowns, dropping back-shoulder dimes to Raymond Garcia, launching deep balls to University at Buffalo commit Brien Walker and using his legs to extend plays when the pocket broke down.
“We came into the game obviously to win, but in a way that we haven’t won before,” Cunningham said. “We definitely have a lot of respect for our opponents. This one was a great game to watch and a great game to play.”
That maturity shows up in his versatility. When defenses scheme to take away his primary reads, he forces them to defend the entire field.
“A lot of people come into our games thinking I’m just a one-dimensional quarterback,” Cunningham said. “It’s pretty good that I’m able to keep guys on their toes and surprise them with my legs, not just my arm.”
The knock against Rochester quarterbacks is always the same: Can they do it against top competition? Cunningham took the No. 7 team in New York and hung three touchdowns on them like it was a routine Tuesday practice.
Trench Bullies
It’s hard to win 19 straight games from offense alone. Behind Brumfield’s star power and Cunningham’s record-setting arm is an offensive and defensive front that plays with a chip on its shoulders.
All season, critics tried to label Monroe as a “7-on-7 team” — a group of athletes who look great in shorts but couldn’t hold up in the trenches against traditional private school powers.
Linemen Joziah Smith, Nicholas Reeves and two-way standout Alijah Jones put that narrative to rest. Jones, a Rutgers commit, dominated the line with 11 tackles, four tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks, setting a physical tone that suffocated Canisius from the jump.
“It was 77 versus 77,” Jones said with a grin about his matchup in the trenches. “I just had to show him who the real one was.”
Jones was just as blunt about the statement Monroe made against a marquee Buffalo opponent.
“We over-prepared, and that’s how you win games like this,” Jones said. “This was supposed to be the number two team in Western New York, but I think things look a little different now.”
Smith and Reeves echoed the preparation that fueled their physical push up front.
“It was a monumental win,” Reeves said. “If you can stop a great run team when you’re labeled as a ‘7-on-7 team’ then who can do anything with you?”
Smith added: “All week in practice, we went over their blitzes. We were already prepared for it. Once they started doing it, it was easy to pick up, hands down.”
One Goal Left
Monroe sits at 7-0, heading into the Section V Class B playoffs as the undisputed No. 1 overall seed.
Recruiters will keep chasing Brumfield, and Cunningham’s long-overdue college commitment will take care of itself after the season. But inside the Red Jackets’ locker room, personal stats and offer sheets take a back seat.
There is only one destination this program cares about: the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse, where a state championship would make Monroe’s dominance undeniable.
“That’s always been the goal ever since I stepped foot on the varsity field,” Cunningham said. “We just gotta maintain dominance at this point.”
As Joziah Smith put it before heading into the locker room: “We already showed you what we’re capable of, and we’ll continue to show you what we’re capable of by going to states once again.”
