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Eagles score 21 in Second Half to Beat Madison
reprinted from The Athens Banner-Herald Saturday, September 15 edition.
| |COVINGTON - Madison County held a slight halftime advantage Friday, but the second half was all Eastside as the Red Raiders lost their first game of the season, falling 24-9.
Madison County (2-1) scored in the second quarter on a 13-yard run by quarterback Spencer Baird and led 6-3 at the half, but the Eagles (3-0), bolstered by a pair of Red Raiders turnovers, answered with 21 second-half points.
Jack Orr added a 30-yard field goal with 8:25 remaining in the third quarter for Madison County, which plays at Dacula on Friday.
| TEAM | Madison Co. | Eastside | |||||||||
| SCORE | 9 | 24 | |||||||||
| NUMBER OF RUSHING ATTEMPTS | 25 | 42 | |||||||||
| RUSHES - YARDAGE (NET) | 82 | 119 | |||||||||
| PASSING YARDAGE (NET) | 211 | 111 | |||||||||
| ATTEMPTED PASSES | 29 | 20 | |||||||||
| COMPLETED PASSES | 20 | 10 | |||||||||
| INTERCEPTIONS | 1 | 0 | |||||||||
| TOTAL OFFENSE - YARDS | 293 | 230 | |||||||||
| FIRST DOWNS | 18 | 19 | |||||||||
| FUMBLES | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| RECVRD BY OPPONENT | 1 | 0 | |||||||||
| PENALTIES | 4 | 3 | |||||||||
| PENALTY YARDS | 40 | 12 | |||||||||
| OFFENSIVE INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS | |||||||||||
| RUSHING | ATT. | YDS | TD | RECEIVING | NO. | YDS | TD | ||||
| #5 Al Allen | 10 | 42 | 0 | #1 Ben Morris | 4 | 47 | 0 | ||||
| #7 Cello Latimer | 5 | 19 | 0 | #5 Al Allen | 5 | 82 | 0 | ||||
| #9 Spencer Baird | 9 | 21 | 0 | #7 C. Latimer | 3 | 7 | 0 | ||||
| #13 Jacob Owens | 0 | 0 | 0 | #10 B. Turner | 6 | 62 | 0 | ||||
| #32 Matthew Dean | 0 | 0 | 0 | #34 C. Johnson | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| #33 Stacy Mack | 1 | 0 | 0 | # 81 A. Caudell | 2 | 13 | 0 | ||||
| #34 C. Johnson | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| #44 M. Robertson | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Total | 25 | 82 | 0 | Total | 20 | 211 | 0 | ||||
| PUNTING | NO. | YDS | AVG | PASSING | COM | ATT | TD | YARDS | |||
| #38 Jack Orr | 2 | 66 | 33 | #9 Spencer Baird | 20 | 29 | 0 | 211 | |||
| NAME | Comp.% | 69.0% | INT: | 1 | |||||||
| KICKING | MADE | ATT. | |||||||||
| #38 Jack Orr | PAT | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| FG | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
reprinted from The Madison County Journal Thursday, September 13, 2007 edition
Raiders taking on unbeaten, unscored upon Eastside team
BY BEN MUNRO
Eastside is certainly doing its part to make those 24-straight losses that happened between 2003 and 2005 a distant memory
For starters, the Eagles played .500 football last year.
This year, Eastside (2-0) hasn’t given up a point.
The Eagles — who host Madison County Friday night — whipped cross-town rival Newton County 31-0 to open the season and blanked region foe Loganville 21-0 this past weekend. Madison County (2-0) players are certainly aware of the restoration project that’s been going on in Convington.
“They’re a good team,” said Raider standout Al Allen, who’s coming off a 246-all-purpose yard effort against Elbert County. “They’re putting up stats, as we’ve seen. They beat Newton. We just come out to play hard and do what we’ve got to do. We ain’t going to let down.”
Madison County and Eastside square off in Covington Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the Raiders’ first region game.
Madison County pounded Eastside 42-7 in 2005 on the road, but had to hold on for a 10-7 win last year in Danielsville. The Eagles improved to 5-5 in 2006 after the doldrums of back-to-back 0-10 campaigns. Now, they’re seeking a 3-0 start in 2007.
Raider head coach Randell Owens said talent has never been an issue at Eastside as the program now seems to be coming into its own. “We will definitely have our hands full,” he said.
Owens noted the job third-year Eagles coach Rick Hurst has done in turning that program around. With seven wins in its last 12 games, Eastside is now a region team that believes it can win on any night, Owens said.
“He’s got them believing,” he said. “The biggest thing is that he’s got them all working together and playing hard.”
Owens said that the Eagles’ offense all starts with its quarterback Justin Wray, who he called “the real deal.” The Raider coach also warned that Eastside has receivers who can “go get it,” solid running backs and “corn-fed looking” linemen.
Defensively? Well, the numbers speak for themselves. Eastside is shooting for its third-straight shutout.
Madison County comes in after putting 49 points on the scoreboard against Elbert County. However, the Raiders face a much different challenge this weekend.
“I know we’re going to have to come out hard practicing …,” Raider quarterback Spencer Baird said after Friday night’s win over Elbert County. “I’m going to have to put this game up on the shelf and concentrate on Eastside and get our minds set on them.”
NOTES: Several of Madison County’s first-year varsity players will be playing in their first road game. Owens said he hopes those young players will be ready. “This isn’t a youth group trip to Six Flags,” he quipped. “This is a business trip” … Eastside’s victory over Loganville was its first road victory since the 2003 season.
Elbert County Game Always Special to Raiders’ Allen
By Ben Munro
If it seems like Raider tailback-receiver Al Allen saves his best for Elbert County, there a reason why. “That’s where I originate from,” Allen said Friday night right after the Raiders 49-7 victory over the Blue Devils. “My dad is from there.”
The Raider junior has wreaked havoc on his father’s old team in two career games against the Blue Devils. Allen followed up a 116-yard, two-touchdown performance last year against the Blue Devils with a six-catch, 182-yard, three-touchdown performance Friday night in Madison County’s 49-7 thrashing of Elbert County.
“Every time I go out there, I think of my dad,” said Allen, whose father played for the Blue Devils in the late 1980s. “My dad was a good players there, so I make him proud and I make my mom proud too.”
Al Allen punched in a five-yard score to start his night and put the Raiders up by 8-0. But his three touchdown catches were the real crowd-pleasers.
With 3:37 left in the first quarter, Allen reached up over a Blue Devil defender and pulled down a pass from Spencer Baird for a 34-yard score to up the Raiders’ lead to 22-0. Moments later, he caught a short pass from Baird and outran Elbert County defenders 37 yards down the sideline for another score to cap the first quarter, putting Madison County ahead 29-0.
He saved his biggest play for the second quarter when he went deep and pulled down a 74-yard aerial from Baird and the Raiders led 36-0.
“He made a couple catches that were unbelievable—just circus catches,” Raider head coach Randell Owens said. “I’m just shocked that he came up with the ball.”
The coach also complimented how Allen followed his blockers and ran tough inside when he had to, barreling his way to 64 yards on just six carries.
Allen added another ground score later in the second quarter, a 13-yarder, and finished off what would have to be the most prolific first half of football in Madison County football history.
Allen tallied 246 yards on the night and five scores. He already had 218 yards receiving and 155 yards just two games into his junior season.
Owens said Allen’s future is bright if he works hard and takes care of business in the classroom.
“The sky is the limit . . . For him to get to the next level and make it, he’s got to approach practice like it’s a game night with that same intensity and he’s got to improve his work ethic in the off season,” said Owens.
by Ben Munro
MCHS Nearly Scores 50 in First Half Dismantling of Elbert
Off now at college, Jarrod Owens’ sent a simple message back home to his old Raider teammates: Score 50 points on Elbert County.
Well, Madison County almost took care of the former Raider quarterback’s request by halftime Friday night.
Behind a five-touchdown first half from tailback Al Allen, the Raiders cruised to a 49-0 halftime lead in a 49-7 win over the once powerful Blue Devils.
OK, Madison County didn’t break the 50-point barrier, but no one was complaining.
“When we cam out scoring 49 at the half, we were just expecting 50,” said Raider quarterback Spencer Baird, who mentioned Owens’ request. “But it’s all good. We still got the big ‘W.’”
Madison County led 22-0 by the time most fans had found their seats and 29-0 by the end of the first quarter. Baird then connected with Al Allen on a 74-yard scoring strike to start the second-quarter as the Raiders charged out toward a 49-point lead at halftime.
Paired with last year’s 49-7 win, Madison County head coach Randell Owens has now beaten the school for which he used to coach by an 98-14 in two victories. Owens was a Blue Devil assistant coach back in the 1990s.
“Coach Owens had told us we need this really bad,” Allen explained. “We wanted it. He coached there a couple years back. We did it all for Coach Owens.”
Allen left Blue Devil defenders in his wake, tallying 182 yards receiving and 64 on the ground. Owens marveled at the junior’s phenomenal receiving night, but also said Allen showed a bit of maturity in an all-around performance.
“I’m real happy for him,” Owens said. “He did a lot of little things right. . . It’s the kind of game we’ve been looking for since last year.”
Meanwhile, Baird hit 72 percent of his passes (18-of-25), racked up over 300 total yards—289 of that in the air—and accounted fro five touchdowns (four passing, one running) in the blowout.
“I think the production stats speak for themselves,” Owens said of Baird’s night.
Madison County threatened to run their Elbert County border rivals back to the Broad River after pouring four touchdowns on the Blue Devils in the first quarter.
The Raiders drove 65 yards for their first touchdown, a five-yard run by Allen, and tacked on a two-point conversion.
The landslide, though, started after Elbert County fumbled on its own 43 yard line on its subsequent possession. Over the next four minutes, the Raiders found the end zone three times with Baird scoring on a four-yard keeper and Allen grabbing touchdowns of 34 and 37 yards.
Allen followed his 74-yard score in the second quarter four minutes later with a 13-yard scoring run. Cello Latimer capped off the first-half carnage with a nine-yard touchdown catch with 26 seconds left in the first half.
The second half was a mere formality as a running clock was imposed as part of the Georgia High School Association’s mercy rule.
Elbert County hit a 54-yard touchdown pass with 1:38 left in the game to avoid being shutout.
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