Madison County rolls in spring game against Hamilton County

JASPER – One team was trying to forget about last season, one team was looking to build upon what it had done last season Friday night in Jasper as the Madison County Cowboys defeated the Hamilton County Trojans 37-7

Madison County, which made the trip to Veterans Stadium on the campus of Hamilton County High School, was looking to put its 5-5 season in the past from 2013. It was the first time in 20 seasons that the Cowboys missed the playoffs.

At the same time, Hamilton County was looking to push forward from its playoff season last year where the team went to the regional finals before falling to eventual state champion Trenton.

The game got started with Madison County receiving possession of the ball to start the game and capitalized quickly.

With three and half minutes burned off the clock, RB Eric Bright, Jr. took up the gut for a 6 yard touchdown run to put the Cowboys up 7-0.

Hamilton County would in turn get their first chance of the night to try to exchange points on the board. However, Madison County’s defense was not going to let the Trojans have their way forcing a three and out.

With the ball back in their possession at their own 27 yard line, the Cowboys readily put together another drive with QB Akevious Williams throwing a 53 yard pass to Jacquez Arnold to put them quickly in Hamilton County territory. Things quickly however, stalled out for the Cowboys as the Trojans manage to put a sack on Williams and not recovering much of the yards loss. That forced Madison County to settle for a 25 yard field goal to take a 10-0 lead.

No sooner that Hamilton County got the ball back a fumble gave it right back to Madison County.

And it did not take long for the Cowboys to convert the turnover into points with a Patrick Brown nine yard rushing touchdown to cap off a three play drive.

After the touchdown it put Madison County up 16-0.

Hamilton County continued with not gaining much on offense during the first quarter as Madison County pushed for another touchdown at start of the second quarter to take a 23-0 lead.

After another Hamilton County series that went nowhere, the Trojans found their spark when it forced a fumble by Madison County at the Cowboys 32 yard line.

The Trojans with the ball at hand took on the march with J’Quan Cole under center. Cole lead the drive down the field and on fourth down scored from 10 yards out on the quarterback keeper to give Hamilton County their only points of the night.

The touchdown cut down Madison County’s lead to 23-7, which was the score going into half time.

The third quarter was a defense battle between both teams, not allowing either to get much going and neither team giving up a scoring drive to the other.

In the fourth quarter Madison County pushed hard to put more points on the board as the teams started to bring in some of the younger players.

The Cowboys scored on a Zach Young two yard rush eight second into the fourth quarter, taking a 30-7 lead.

The final score of the night came on a 20 yard rush from Kenny McQuay to put the Cowboys up 37-7.

At the end of the game Hamilton County finally came alive putting together a drive, but time expired before any points could be scored.

NOTES

• Hamilton County QB Kentwan Daniels did not play due to being ineligible to play. Daniels transferred back to Hamilton County for the upcoming season after spending the last two seasons at Eagle’s View Academy in Jacksonville.
• Hamilton County expects to have a position battle at the quarterback spot when the fall gets here. Each quarterback has different qualities that could helped them lead the program.
• Hamilton County also held out Malik Robison (RB/DB), Darrell Walker (RB/LB) and Deangelo Robinson (OG/LB) to keep them healthy. There three players are considered some of the best players on the squad, according several people connected to the team.
• Madison County “buried” the 2013 season into the past after the game with pounding a shovel into the ground with the team huddled up.
• Coach Coe said they expect to dress about 45 to 50 players this coming season for the varsity roster for Madison County.
• Akevious Willams (QB), Patrick Brown (RB) and Eric Bright, Jr. (RB/MLB) were just some of the solid players on the roster for Madison and are names that will be heard a lot during the fall.
• Hamilton County coach Blair Armstrong noted that his line was a little thin up front and his team will need to learn to start making plays and drives happen earlier in the game and not so late. He said this was an issue a few times last year and wants to get it corrected before the season starts.

QUOTABLES

“Well I thought we played fast, we went to a new offense and we wanted to play tempo and I think we did that. We made a lot of mistakes…we have had a great spring, the effort, the leadership, the enthusiasm. Just being able to coach again and not have to discipline a whole bunch.” – Madison County Head Coach Mike Coe

We wanted to play somebody to make us get better, make us have a reason to work hard. We knew we had some things to work on. We had a kid injured that couldn’t play. Not making excuses. We had to make some adjustments at the last minute. The kids that we had did a good job…I think the kids did pretty good.” – Hamilton County Head Coach Blair Armstrong