By Drew Goodman / Scrimmageplay.com contributor
One week after firing on all cylinders on offense, the Madison County football team managed to move the ball down the field again in its home opener against Luray.
Madison, behind 260 rushing yards from Isiah Smith, marched into Bulldog territory on each of their eight possessions, but at times, the Mountaineers were their own worst enemy.
How can a team that outgains its opponent by a wide margin still end up losing? Madison County closed both the second and fourth quarters by throwing interceptions in the end zone.
It was that kind of night for the Mountaineers.
Madison turned the ball over six times, including three inside the red zone, in a heartbreaking 35-33 loss to the Bulldogs.
“Six turnovers, that’s hard, especially with three of them… we marched the ball down the field and turned it over,” said Madison County head coach Stuart Dean following the defeat. That’s tough on our defense to have where we don’t come up with anything.”
Despite coughing the ball up five times in the game’s first 40 minutes, the Mountaineers (1-1) still had a shot to win at the end of regulation.
Following Madison’s first and only defensive stand of the second half, quarterback Chris Smith completed passes of 10, 15, and 19 yards, to put his team in business with time winding down on the clock.
After marching all the way to the 22-yard line however, Smith’s luck through the air ran out.
Facing a 4th down and five with just over 35 seconds remaining, Smith overthrew Isiah Smith in the endzone, allowing Luray’s Dylan Jenkins to seal the game with a backbreaking interception.
Jenkins, who also plays quarterback for the Bulldogs, was responsible for four of Madison’s six turnovers.
“We kind of screwed up on the drive before, but our kids have really good reserve,” Luray head coach Nolan Jeffries said. “We’ve been in tough situations before, so when we’re in situations like that, we expect to come through.”
The drive that Jeffries is referring to is one that likely saved the game at the time for Madison County. Trailing by nine with eight minutes to play, Madison County needed to score to keep up with Luray’s ground game.
Though turnovers were Madison’s biggest bugaboo of the night, the Mountaineers also shot themselves in the foot with costly penalties and inopportune times. Following a crucial holding call, Madison County was staring at a fourth down and 19 with the game on the line.
Despite having completed just one pass thus far in the second half, Chris Smith rolled out on fourth down and a mile and found a streaking Dylan Breeden, and the big tight end rumbled 58 yards for a touchdown.
“That was a big play and it was a good job of (Chris Smith) by extending the play and not giving up on it,” Dean said. “It was also a great job by our receivers for coming back to Chris and finding that open spot. It was a great job of finishing off that fourth down down.”
Shortly after the heroic play on fourth down, Breeden made a key stop in the backfield to set the table for Madison’s big defensive stand.
The turnover on downs represented the only time in the second half in which the Mountaineers could get a handle on Luray’s rushing attack.
Tristan Yowell, scored the second of his three touchdowns on the Bulldogs’ first offensive play of the second half, and the extra point gave the visitors a 21-20 lead.
Yowell burned the Mountaineers on the ground the rest of the night on the buck sweep, running the same play for most of the second half. Despite the Mountaineers knowing what was coming, Yowell used his ability and near 200-pound frame to gash Madison for 184 yards on the buck.
Following Madison’s fourth fumble of the day in the final quarter, Luray’s Drew Comer capped off an eight-play running-only drive with a 24-yard touchdown to give the Bulldogs their largest lead with eight minutes remaining.
After going three-and-out on their first two series’ of the game and being held in check for the bulk of the first half, Luray piled up 240 yards on the ground in the final two quarters.
