LAKE CITY, Fla. — In a battle between rivals Columbia (Lake City) and Madison County (Madison), as expected it came down to defenses but in the end, the one that decided the game was the defense that stood on the field to secure the final stop of the game with the visiting Cowboys coming away with an 18-13 victory.
Here are five takeaways from the game:
1. Madison run game still can’t be stopped
From the opening play when LJ Crumity took the ball 98 yards it was clear that Madison County even with Columbia knowing they would run the ball nearly every play were unable to stop the big play and Madison was able to pull off enough big runs to the outside in the game to dish out serious blows to a team that had given up a combined zero points in the previous two home games they played while shutting down the rushing attack of Suwannee and Hillsborough. It remains to be seen if anyone the rest of the season will be able to stop Madison County on the ground but even with questions about their ability to get yards in the air, if you can run the ball as consistently as Cowboys did last night and in their wins over Suwannee (Live Oak) and DeLand then you will need to pass.
2. Madison County didn’t throw much but the one throw they complete get nailed the final blow
Going into the game it was not expected that Madison would throw the ball around like they had Peyton Manning at the helm but that focus on stopping the run did bite Columbia in the third quarter when Madison scored their third TD of the night and it coming on a 44 yard TD in the air which eventually became the winning TD on the night for Madison County.
3. Columbia vs Madison rivalry still competitive and physical
Despite both teams sharing a common rival in Suwannee, both teams have controlled that rivalry as of late with Columbia winning 12 straight on Suwannee and Madison County only having one loss to Suwannee in the past 20 years, the rivalry that Columbia and Madison have with each other still have provided competitive games and physical contests which keeps everyone wanting to see this game stay on the schedule annually for both especially when both teams tend to have a hard time finding teams in this part of the state willing to play them.
4. Despite giving up points, Columbia’s defense got the necessary stops but offense could not capitalize
Despite giving up 18 points in the contest, Columbia’s defense held firm for much of the first half (6 points at halftime) and held Madison to 2 scores in the second half (one of which coming on a short field after a Columbia interception), Columbia’s offense didn’t get on the board until the first play of the 4th quarter and in the end Columbia’s offense waited too late to get into the end zone. Columbia’s defense will give them a chance to compete but the offense has to put up points if Columbia wants to make a run in the postseason.
5. Columbia needs a spark on offense and fast
Columbia is heading into a pivotal stretch of the season with games at Trinity Christian, a likely district championship matchup with St Augustine, and a road trip to Bolles before they get to their bye week. A good performance in this stretch of games could make or break Columbia having a path to the playoffs, especially with St Augustine on deck on September 27. However, through 4 games, Columbia has scored 13,13,20,13 in their respective games this season. That’s an average of 14.75 points per game. Throughout the Madison County game, Madison’s defense often played with only one safety over the top and 7 or 8 man box because they didn’t see the passing game as a big enough threat and seemed to focus on Zamarion Jones threat of scrambling for big yards to be bigger than the threat of Columbia hitting the air for big plays. With Xavier Collins potentially making his season debut soon for Columbia at QB maybe he could be the spark the offense needs but someone on the Columbia offense needs to be the spark that gets the offense going especially at the most important stretch of the regular season on deck for them right now.
Player of the game
LJ Crumity, Madison County
It is not often that you can say one play into a game that you knew who the best player on the field for a team was but it was pretty clear when Crumity went 98 yards on the opening play that he not only set the tone for the Madison County offense but also the game and his 44 yard TD pass to Sean Williams in the fourth quarter just solidified him as the player of the game.
Scoring Summary
1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT Total
Madison County 6 0 6 6 — 18
Columbia 0 0 0 13 — 13
FIRST QUARTER
Madison County – LJ Crumity 98 run, (Conversion Failed), 9:18
THIRD QUARTER
Madison County – Sean Williams 3 run (Conversion Failed), 3:16
FOURTH QUARTER
Columbia – Tashun Kelsey 8 pass from Zamarion Jones (PAT failed), 11:52
Madison County – Williams 44 pass from Crumity (Conversion failed), 10:00
Columbia – Jones 3 run (Mathan Cook kick), 6:08
