Madison 26- Kennedale 0

[JR2004]

Article from the DMN on the game.



Madison gets its swagger back

By SCOTT McDONALD / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

Madison made a bold statement Friday night against Kennedale at Pleasant Grove Stadium.

"We're going all the way to state, and we're gonna win it," Madison defensive end Jarred Price said.

Madison showed it belongs among the elite in a convincing 26-0 victory against Kennedale. Madison took control early and put a stranglehold on a good Kennedale team.

"They're scary good," Kennedale coach Richard Barrett said after the game.

Scary might be another word for confident. Or maybe cocky.

"I think I saw that swagger in our kids' eyes tonight," Madison coach Ronald Johnson said. "We've finally gotten back to Madison football."

Madison (8-1, 3-0 in District 10-3A) won its first district title since 1990.

Madison junior Shawnbrey McNeil rushed for 182 yards and two touchdowns. The offense, he said, has started to play better in the last four games, and he gave credit to the offensive line.

"I also told the defense to keep putting me back out there so I could get the ball again," McNeil said.

And the defense didn't disappoint. It stopped two key fourth-down plays, including a goal-line stand late in the game. Greg Jordan intercepted a pass that set up one of McNeil's touchdowns, and it scored one when Price recorded one of his six sacks that forced a fumble into the end zone. Josh Valentine recovered to give Madison its 26-0 lead.

"We've really been playing good since the Lincoln game," Price said of his team's only loss this season.

Actually, Madison somewhat resembled the 2004 Lincoln team on the final night of the regular season. With the district championship on the line last year, Lincoln's defense came through for a tough victory that set the tone for a march to the Class 4A state championship game. Madison has the same big-play potential and hard-hitting defense that Lincoln had a year ago.

And Friday, they showed a winning swagger and attitude.

"This is only the beginning of what we're going to do," Price said.

[kaorder1999]

ive been saying not to overlook madison

[JR2004]

Those kids played their tail off tonight. Best overall game they've had all year long. The offense moved the ball efficiently all night long and the defense was nothing short of spectacular. They held Kennedale to 155 yards on the ground and 173 total yards. I'm real glad to see the offense waking up at the right time of year. They've been the extremely big question mark for Madison, but they seem to have found a good rhythm now and Shawnbrey and his offensive line are playing very good and JL Wallace is starting to look comfortable as the starting QB. Real proud of these guys tonight and real proud of the effort of the defense. Best defensive effort I've seen them put together all season long. Can't wait for the playoffs to start next week and I'm sure I'm not alone on that. :)

[Aesculus gilmus]

Way to go, Trojans. It looks to me as if, barring some sort of collapse on your part, you will cruise all the way to the third round against Tatum. Tatum had to come from behind against Carthage last night and escaped with a 21-20 win. The late Wilmer-Hutchins clearly outplayed Tatum at TMF Rose Stadium in Tyler in the third round last year. Tatum was very fortunate to win that game. They were so beat up from that game that Gilmer had no problem disposing of them a week later, 60-35.

My prediction is that Madison and Gilmer will face off for the Region II championship on Dec. 2 or 3. And, as I said yesterday, I would imagine a 'home-and-home' coin flip would be readily agreed to by our coaches. Buckeye Stadium has now been upgraded to a playoff-caliber venue. The only problem might be having enough seating for all the fans from all over the region who might want to come. Gilmer also likes to play at Rose Stadium and it does have three times as many seats, but that would be a long way for you guys to travel.

First we have to avenge our only loss of the year to Daingerfield next week in Mount Pleasant. After that, I see the Buckeyes cruising all the way to the quarterfinals.

[garageoffice]

Madison really has some great athletes. That's the best combination of size where you need it and speed where you can use it that I've seen all year. McNeil is an awesome runner!

Still, it might have been a much more interesting game if not for some pretty rich home cooking from the ref on the Madison sidelines. He couldn't find his flag when Madison ran to that side, even though their receivers were holding almost every time. Madison was off-side on 3 consecutive kicks in the third quarter without a single flag. AND, there was an EXTREMELY late flag in the first quarter to bring back a long Kennedale touchdown on a block below the waist (how often do you see that called on an outside running play?). Madison scored their first TD on a fade route that was perfectly covered until the reciever put his hands on the defenders shoulders and climbed his back to make the catch on the same side of the field, no call.

I don't like complaining about officiating and I'm usuallly the one defending the refs to my friends. In this case it wasn't the whole crew, just the one ref. In the first half he threw more flags than the rest of the crew combined, all but one against Kennedale while twice ignoring Madison defenders lined up off-side. Once he even threw a flag all the way from the sideline into the backfield to make a holding call that was right in front of the back judge who didn't think it was holding.

I was sitting near some scouts in the stands and even they couldn't believe the officiating. Don't get me wrong, except for a few plays, Madison dominated Kennedale on both sides of the ball. I think Madison still would have beaten Kennedale the way they played, but it would have been a much closer game.

I thought the Madison offense was very dangerous. The quarterback throws the quick routes pretty good, but isn't very accurate down the field. If he improves in that area they will really cook. I've read the posts about their OC, but he called a pretty good game last night (if I were him, though, I think I'd run McNeil even more). I was also impressed with the o-line. At first I thought they would wear down because they were already huffin and puffin in the first quarter, but their scheme doesn't call for a lot of mobility from them and they kept making the key blocks they needed. The defense is really impressive. They crowded the line and just overwhelmed Kennedale's smaller o-line. Most importantly, they tackle really well. Breaking tackles is usually one of the big stories for the Kennedale RBs, but the Madison defenders didn't miss many tackles.

[kenncat]

Im not gonna lie those were the WORST REFS IVE EVER SEEN
but its allright we got Royce City 1st round and thats all were thinking about

[catdad]

The calls were really one sided that's for sure. Plus you've got Madison coaches baiting our receivers lined up near their sidelines. Way to set an example coach.

[garageoffice]

Originally posted by catdad
The calls were really one sided that's for sure. Plus you've got Madison coaches baiting our receivers lined up near their sidelines. Way to set an example coach.

I heard the same thing from a player. He said the Madison coaches were yelling at him and calling him names.

Boy, now that's CLASS!! About what I've come to expect from most of those Dallas teams in that district, though.

[Aesculus gilmus]

Perhaps you had to be there to grasp the full horror of the baiting and all. Without knowing any details, it sounds like when the players on the opposing team during Little League would scream "hey, batter, batter, batter ... swing!" from their dugout while I was standing at the plate.

Football isn't golf or even tennis.

Now if they are shouting obscenities or something at your receivers, I would understand your point and any penalties incurred in terms of unsportsmanlike conduct. Maybe there is a UIL rule on the topic. It seems like there is one on practically everything.

[catdad]

Originally posted by Aesculus gilmus
Perhaps you had to be there to grasp the full horror of the baiting and all. Without knowing any details, it sounds like when the players on the opposing team during Little League would scream "hey, batter, batter, batter ... swing!" from their dugout while I was standing at the plate.

Football isn't golf or even tennis.

Now if they are shouting obscenities or something at your receivers, I would understand your point and any penalties incurred in terms of unsportsmanlike conduct. Maybe there is a UIL rule on the topic. It seems like there is one on practically everything.

The things that I was told were being said do not equate to "hey, batter batter". I guess the best way to sum it all up is DISD.

[dogdad]

Originally posted by kenncat
Im not gonna lie those were the WORST REFS IVE EVER SEEN
but its allright we got Royce City 1st round and thats all were thinking about
Good luck to Kennedale this week. I hope we can give you guys a good game Friday night. BTW, it's spelled R-o-y-s-e not Royce. It's a common mistake. The man who founded our town
was named G.B. Royse. Coach Barrett and the KHS program is a class act. We were very impressed last year.

[garageoffice]

Originally posted by Aesculus gilmus
Perhaps you had to be there to grasp the full horror of the baiting and all. Without knowing any details, it sounds like when the players on the opposing team during Little League would scream "hey, batter, batter, batter ... swing!" from their dugout while I was standing at the plate.

Football isn't golf or even tennis.

Now if they are shouting obscenities or something at your receivers, I would understand your point and any penalties incurred in terms of unsportsmanlike conduct. Maybe there is a UIL rule on the topic. It seems like there is one on practically everything.

Not talking about players baiting opposing players, or fans in the stands...that's part of almost any sport. I'm talking about the coaching staff hollering at receivers lined up on their side of the field that they suck and hurling racial slurs at them. Ironic that, huh?

Madison has a good football team and their coaches had them ready to play football. But I'm sorry, there's no place in any sport for that kind of behavior by a coach. Coaches are typically admired for their leadership and guidance in the real world, the way they help kids become better citizens as a result of lessons learned on the field.

As for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, that obviously wasn't going to happen. Toward the end of the game, when some extracurricular pushing started at the end of a play, a kid came off the Madison sideline to get involved. I'm pretty sure that's an automatic ejection under the current rules, but there wasn't even a flag. You can guarantee that the ref wasn't going to say anything to the coaching staff for their conduct.

[JR2004]

Originally posted by Aesculus gilmus
Way to go, Trojans. It looks to me as if, barring some sort of collapse on your part, you will cruise all the way to the third round against Tatum. Tatum had to come from behind against Carthage last night and escaped with a 21-20 win. The late Wilmer-Hutchins clearly outplayed Tatum at TMF Rose Stadium in Tyler in the third round last year. Tatum was very fortunate to win that game. They were so beat up from that game that Gilmer had no problem disposing of them a week later, 60-35.


If we're fortunate enough to make it past Van Alstyne in a rematch from last season and then make it past a possible rematch with Mt. Vernon, what is Madison going to be going up against if they make it to the 3rd round and get Tatum? Are they as good as their record indicates they are? I know they have good athletes year in and year out, but I figure y'all folks from out there in East Texas would have better insight into Tatum and what makes them a good team than I would so I'm curious as to what they've got this year.

[JR2004]

Originally posted by garageoffice
Madison really has some great athletes. That's the best combination of size where you need it and speed where you can use it that I've seen all year. McNeil is an awesome runner!

Still, it might have been a much more interesting game if not for some pretty rich home cooking from the ref on the Madison sidelines. He couldn't find his flag when Madison ran to that side, even though their receivers were holding almost every time. Madison was off-side on 3 consecutive kicks in the third quarter without a single flag. AND, there was an EXTREMELY late flag in the first quarter to bring back a long Kennedale touchdown on a block below the waist (how often do you see that called on an outside running play?). Madison scored their first TD on a fade route that was perfectly covered until the reciever put his hands on the defenders shoulders and climbed his back to make the catch on the same side of the field, no call.

I don't like complaining about officiating and I'm usuallly the one defending the refs to my friends. In this case it wasn't the whole crew, just the one ref. In the first half he threw more flags than the rest of the crew combined, all but one against Kennedale while twice ignoring Madison defenders lined up off-side. Once he even threw a flag all the way from the sideline into the backfield to make a holding call that was right in front of the back judge who didn't think it was holding.




Madison does have some pretty good athletes on the roster this year. I wish the Good Lord would have let me have McNeil's speed for just one day...lol It'd be fun to be that fast even if just for a day!

The officiating overall wasn't very good...The same official you were obviously not happy with is the same one people on the Madison side were not happy with. As far as the flag on that touchdown...It was the right call, but for what it's worth, that was still a heck of a deceiving play. I don't think 3 people on the Madison side knew who had the ball until Norris was at about midfield. The fade route on that 4th down had contact during the play. Both guys were physical on that one. The correct call on that play, if a flag had been thrown, would've been for off-setting interference penalties and a replay of the down. The official looked like he decided to let them both go at it so that was his judgement call to make. That play being run at all was the result of a McNeil TD being called back due to a Madison penalty earlier on that drive.

I don't honestly see where there was any home-cooking by the officiating crew though. The officiating in Dallas as a whole is horrible and I see this played out every week when Madison plays a game at a DISD field, but checking the final stats shows that Kennedale was penalized 8 times. Madison managed to rack up 13 penalties which isn't a huge surprise because they usually get their fair share of penalties week in and week out. I will say that while I appreciate some of the compliments you have paid to the players for Madison (It's somewhat of a rare thing to hear anything nice said about Madison players in the media in Dallas) I do take some exception about something you said in a post further down in this thread. I'm a bit on the tired side right now, but I'll respond later on today.

Have a goodnight and I hope y'all make it out of the Region II bracket this year and get some revenge on Royse City this week.

[chs_#75]

the better team won that night.... although it does help to try and blame someone else....

[catdad]

I don't mind being beat. Madison does have the all the elements working(speed, size, execution). I just can't stand to see a coach or coaches who clearly have no class or control. They are showing these kids the wrong way to conduct themselves on the field. Kids will be kids and things are done and said in the heat of the moment but, the so called "leaders" should be held to higher standard. Good luck to those young men in the playoffs.