Madison County Red Raiders

reprinted from The Madison County Journal October 15, 2009 edition

by Ben Munro

But Madison County’s playoff hopes are still alive and well, though a five-game winning streak is now over.

The Raiders’ two preseason goals are to have a winning record and qualify for the state playoffs, and both objectives are still attainable.

But Madison County (5-2) needs a win Friday at Heritage to get back on track.

“Last week, we were dealing with a group that was sky-high over a big win … This week, we’re hurting, but we’ve got to quit licking wounds,” coach Randell Owens said.

Madison County seeks its ever first victory over Heritage.

The schools have met only three times. The Patriots won 7-0 last year.

Heritage (1-5) has been victimized by some close losses this year, dropping four games by a touchdown or less. But the Patriots did beat Rockdale County (14-10), which handled Madison County 28-6 in the Raiders’ season-opener.

Owens, who coached at Heritage from 2001-2003, says to not pay too much attention to Heritage’s 1-5 record.

“They’re very athletic,” Owens said. “Our kids are going to have to not look at the record but look at what you’re seeing on the film and the athletes that you have to lineup and compete against.”

Heritage also benefits from having had an off week this past Friday. The Patriots haven’t played since a 35-24 loss to Loganville Oct. 2.

“They’ve got two weeks to get ready to focus on us … We’ve got three days,” Owens said.

Madison County is still tied with Clarke Central for second place in the region, while Apalachee is first. So the Raiders are still in position to have a winning season and claim a playoff spot, but they need a victory Friday to keep pace.

“It’s still out in front of us,” Owens said. “With three games to go, we’ve still got an opportunity for a winning season and an opportunity to get to the state playoffs. (But) we don’t have a lot of cushion. We don’t have a lot of slack.”

Meanwhile, Madison County preps for one of its longest road trips of the year. The bus ride to Conyers is approximately an hour and 45 minutes.

Playing an away game in high school football is never easy, Owens said, because of “the hassle of traveling.”

“At the high school level, it’s more like being a daddy tying to get everything packed in a mini-van to go to the beach for a week,” he said. “You hope you don’t forget something. It’s challenging.”

reprinted from The Athens Banner Herald October 2, 2009 edition

MT. AIRY --  Madison County 's Kendrick Butler rushed nine times for 100 yards and three touchdowns Friday as the Red Raiders defeated Habersham Central 35-6 in Region 8-AAAA play.

Madison County is now 5-1 and off to its best start since 2006.

Quarterback Jacob Owens completed 8 of 13 passes for 109 yards, one interception and a 50-yard touchdown pass to Jamal Cooper.

Owens also rushed for a 1-yard touchdown.

The Red Raiders' defense held Habersham Central (3-3, 3-3) to but 75 yards of offense.

reprinted from The Madison County Journal online edition October 10, 2009

by Ben Munro

A close Region 8-AAAA game got out of hand seemingly in a matter of seconds Friday night.

Leading just 14-7, Loganville outscored Madison County 20-7 in the third quarter -- turning two crucial turnovers into immediate points -- in a 37-22 win over the Raiders in Danielsville.

The loss ended Madison County’s five-game winning streak. Madison County moves on to face Heritage next Friday in Conyers.

Trailing by only a touchdown, Madison County fumbled the ball away on its first possession of the second half with just over 10:00 remaining in the third quarter. Loganville’s Storm Johnson answered by breaking off a 46-yard touchdown run on the next play. Madison County then fumbled away the subsequent kickoff and Loganville's A.J. Schmidt threw a 33-yard touchdown pass one play later to give the Red Devils a 27-7 lead with 9:50 left in the third quarter.

Loganville tacked on another touchdown in the period to take a 34-7 lead.

Madison County ran just five plays in the third quarter, but did get a momentary boost when Jamal Cooper returned a kickoff 85 yards to cut the lead to 34-14. It was Cooper’s third return for a touchdown this season.

Loganville added a field goal in the fourth quarter, while Raider quarterback Jacob Owens scored from 12 yards out – his second touchdown of the night -- with 3:08 left in the game.

Loganville controlled the line of scrimmage, running for 366 yards. Johnson, a major college prospect who de-committed from LSU, finished with 179 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Mykel Wyyett added 122 more on the ground and one touchdown.

Loganville limited the Raiders to just 92 yards rushing and 166 total yards.

Madison County looked in position early to win its sixth-straight game, leading 7-0 in the first quarter after a one-yard touchdown run from Owens. That score was set up by a Matt Dean interception at the Loganville 28.

But Johnson warmed up in the second quarter, scoring two touchdowns in the period to give Loganville a 14-7 lead.

The loss moves the Raiders back into a tie for second place in 8-AAAA with Clarke Central. Both teams have 5-2 records. Loganville is half a game back at 4-2.

SCORE-BY-QUARTER

Loganville 0 14 20 3 -- 37
Madison Co. 7 0 7 8 -- 22

STATISTICS

Rushing -- Maxwell 8-30, Owens 12-30-2 TD, Cooper 5-4, Butler 4-8, Dean 1-2
Passing -- Maxwell 1-1, 50 yds; Owens 6-12, 45 yds
Receiving -- Turner 2-57, Cooper 2-20, McCrary 1-9, Maxwell 2-6

REGION SCORES

Apalachee 21, Habersham Central 13
Loganville 37, Madison Co. 22
Clarke Central 23, Salem 20
Rockdale Co. 14, Cedar Shoals 0
Winder-Barrow 48, Monroe Area 41

REGION STANDINGS

Apalachee 6-0
Madison Co. 5-2
Clarke Central 5-2
Loganville 4-2
Rockdale Co. 3-3
Salem 3-3
Cedar Shoals 3-4
Hab. Central 3-4
Winder-Barrow 2-4
Heritage 1-5
Monroe Area 0-6

 reprinted from The Athens Banner Herald October 10, 2009 edition

By Jeff Cochran
jeff.cochran@onlineathens.com

DANIELSVILLE -- Despite being run over for most of the first half, Madison County still had reason to be hopeful against defending Region 8-AAAA champ Loganville on Friday night.

That hope quickly vanished after a disastrous start to the second half from which the Red Raiders could not recover, falling to the Red Devils 37-22 at Red Raiders Stadium. The loss snapped a five-game winning streak that had Madison County crawling up the region standings.

"All that talk about winning streaks and stuff like that," Madison County coach Randell Owens said, "that is for sports writers and for people to talk about a coffee shops. We are just worried about the next game."

Down 14-7 at halftime, Madison County 's Donavon Carey came up with an interception on Loganville's second play of the second half. Two plays later, Red Raiders quarterback Jacob Owens pitched the ball past Kendrick Butler near midfield and Loganville recovered the fumble on Madison County 's 45-yard line.

On the next play, Loganville running back Storm Johnson broke three tackles and sprinted past the Madison County secondary for a 45-yard touchdown run.

Madison County's Presley McKeever fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Loganville again recovered deep in Red Raiders' territory. The Red Devils (4-2, 4-2 in Region 8-AAAA) struck again a play later with a 33-yard touchdown pass from A.J. Schmidt to Clay Garner.

"I don't even know what happened," senior running back Stan Maxwell said. "They are a really tough team. They just came out and played us really hard."

After the game, Randell Owens rushed back to the fieldhouse to tend to his hurt team. When asked about the start of the second half -- which also featured a series of personal fouls and one ejected Loganville coach -- he didn't want to think about it.

"All I have to say about that is that Loganville is a really good team," the coach said. "They showed up ready to play. I'm just proud of our kids. They didn't quit. They kept battling."

The Red Raiders (5-2, 5-2) kept the game from being a blowout with the help of an 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Jamal Cooper, his second of the season, in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, a fumble recovery by Carey set the Red Raiders up for their third touchdown of the game and a 2-point conversion.

But the damage done by Johnson and company was too much to battle back from.

Madison County's coach knew containing Johnson was going to be a priority. Once the running back warmed up and his offensive line started creating holes, Madison County saw the trouble it was in.

Johnson scored on runs of 3 and 8 yards in the second quarter to give the Red Devils a 14-7 halftime lead. He ran for 94 yards on 16 carries in the first half alone. Only once did not gain at least 2 yards on a carry and he didn't run for a loss in the first half.

He finished the game with 175 yards on 25 carries, gaining more yards than the entire Madison County offense.

"It was his offensive line," Randell Owens said. "They have some great offensive linemen."

Loganville's first scoring drive went 90 yards in 10 plays and featured seven carries by Johnson, including a 3-yard touchdown run around the right end to cap off the drive.

An early Loganville turnover gave Madison County a short field for its first touchdown drive of the game. On the Red Devils' first offensive play, quarterback A.J. Schmidt was picked off by Madison County 's Matthew Dean at the Loganville 28-yard line.

Kendrick Butler reversed field on his first carry of the game and went 13 yards, setting up quarterback Jacob Owens' 1-yard dive for a touchdown three plays later.

Randell Owens made aggressive play calls in the first half, some of which worked but none of which resulted in more points for the Red Raiders.

Twice Owens opted to go for a fourth-down conversion in the first half, neither of which worked. On the second attempt, from the Loganville 46-yard line, Jacob Owens' pitch to Butler was dropped and recovered by Loganville at the Madison county 47-yard line.

"We just felt like we had to do some things to get on the board early and keep our defense off the field," Randell Owens said.

On Madison County's first offensive play from scrimmage, the coach dialed up a reverse pass that resulted in a 47-yard completion from Maxwell to Bracken Turner.

The Red Raiders would get inside the Loganville 20-yard line but would fail to convert on a fourth-and-2