Madison County Red Raiders

Reprinted from The Madison County Journal, August 9, 2007 edition.

by Ben Munro

These aren’t your fathers’ or even older brothers’ Raiders.
The aura of Madison County football has changed and the Raiders continue to prove that.
A quick glance at the numbers tell the story of the recent Raider riches — two-straight state playoff appearances, three-straight winning seasons in region football and an average of seven wins per year since 2004 when head coach Randell Owens arrived.
Most of these are firsts for a half-century-old football program that’s long searched for milestones and highlights.
Madison County – which opens its season in just 22 days – now takes the field with something to uphold after stringing together three successful seasons.
Each of the past three years have built upon each other.
The 2004 Raiders turned heads by going 6-4 and snagging a signature win over Clarke Central. In 2005, Madison enjoyed a breakthrough season, reaching the state playoffs for the first time in 22 years. Last season, the Raiders proved none of this was a fluke, fashioning the program’s best regular season record in 24 years, beating defending region champion Salem and getting back to the state playoffs.
The last three years have also included three-straight wins over Franklin County (they’ve won four in a row overall in the series), three wins over traditional stalwart Clarke Central, one victory over Cedar Shoals and a woodshed job of Elbert County.
Also, Madison County hasn’t lost to a team from a bordering county the past two seasons. So they have some respect in the area.
Of course, all this doesn’t mean the next state superpower is on the rise, but it’s perhaps the start of a new legacy for a Raider program once lightly regarded by those outside the county. Remember, the team went 4-26 during the late ‘90s and then took four years off from region football earlier this decade.
No doubt, Randell Owens and company have the program navigating in the right direction, which brings us to an interesting 2007.
There’s a lot of youth in several spots on both sides of the ball. Owens will be the first to warn you of that.
And Madison County will have to get used to life without all-state quarterback Jarrod Owens. The prolific passer started all 21 of the Raiders’ victories the past three seasons during MCHS’s football revival. Not an easy component to replace as you try to uphold recent history.
But a good football program can absorb change and we’ll see if Madison County fits that bill.
The Raiders have won two out of every three games they’ve played the last three years and the expectation to win won’t change anytime soon.
These Raiders have something to carry on now.

Reprinted from The Madison County Journal, August 2, 2007 edition.

by Ben Munro

Lifting Program With Annual Competition

Expect a gym full of Raiders gunning for the title of strongest Raider to get a little gung-ho.
Or at least that’s what Madison County football coaches hope for Monday when the team is divided into three weight classes and players are pitted against each other in the Raiders’ annual lifting competition.

“We’ll be disappointed if it’s not,” Madison County head football coach Randell Owens said.
Players’ mettle will be tested in three lifts — bench press, parallel squats and power cling — as Monday’s competition offer a glimpse of the Raiders’ summer strides in the weight room.

Reprinted from Madison County Journal, July 26, 2007 edition

MCHS football players participate in annual weightlifting competition

BY ZACH MITCHAM

There was sweat and pain and strong displays of muscle Monday.

There just wasn’t enough of it, according to Raider head football coach Randell Owens.

With two a days just two days away, a number of Raider football players opted to stay away from the team’s annual weightlifting competition Monday evening in the steamy middle school gym. Owens said only about 25 out of 75 Raiders competed.

“It was bittersweet,” said Owens. “I was excited to see some of the gains some of the boys had. But I was disappointed in that we didn’t have enough folks there. A lot of people were missing. We would have liked to have had more parents and players there.”

Owens shouldered some of the blame for the poor turnout.

“It was probably poor planning on my part,” he said. “I should have scheduled it for last week.”

Owens said a lot of players were sneaking in a vacation or earning some extra summer money Monday, knowing that they would begin practicing twice a day Wednesday, Aug. 1, the first day that Georgia high schools are allowed to make practice mandatory.

The coach said the team will practice in helmets through Friday, before starting Monday in pads.
Owens said that coaches have been busy ever since a summer camp at West Georgia. He said getting ready for full-fledged practice is like getting ready for company at your house.

“It’s just like somebody coming over to your house,” he said. “You try to get everything ready for them. You walk around thinking about what all you need to do and inevitably, there’s going to be something you forget.”

Owens, who began coaching in 1980, said the beginning of another season is always exciting.

“It’s just like a jigsaw puzzle,” he said. “You try to get everybody into the right position to help the team.”