It was truly a game fought in the trenches. There weren’t any long runs and there weren’t any big passes in the Region B, Division 1 semifinal game between Madison County and Altavista – though the Mountaineers certainly tried.
The game was fought and won between the hash marks, and in the end, it was the Colonels left standing as they were able pick up a field goal in the first half, and turn a Madison turnover in the second half into seven more points to win at home, 10-0.
“There was some awfully good team defense out there,” said Altavista head coach Mike Scharnus. “It turned out to be a very physical football game, there’s no doubt about that. Our kids just hung in there and did what they had to to win.”
It wasn’t that the two teams couldn’t move the ball, because they did. But whenever either side drove into enemy territory, the defenses clenched up and either forced a punt or a turnover on downs.
In the first quarter, the Colonels got within five yards of the Madison endzone, but were unable to come away with any points as the Mountaineers stepped up on fourth and one from their own 3-yard line. Madison put together a pair of quality first half drives but wasn’t able to get into field goal range, nor could they covert on fourth down.
“We never could get the consistency out of offense like we had in the past,” said Mountaineers coach Stuart Dean. “We’d get two good plays and then break down. Then we’d have another good play and (Altavista) would make a great play.”
Finally, with less than a minute to play before halftime, Altavista broke the scoreless tie when Blake Todd connected on a 29-yard field goal.
Remarkably, in the second half, the defenses wound up playing even better. Madison was disrupting the Colonels three-pronged rushing attack, and Altavista was stuffing the Mountaineers ground game and defending the pass before forcing and recovering a fumble that gave them a short field with four minutes left in the third quarter.
Altavista made the most of the turnover when quarterback Rick Adams capped the short drive with a 1-yard keeper to extend his team’s lead to 10 points.
The Colonels’ nearly returned the favor by forcing what should have been a three-and-out and then muffing the punt. Antonio Childress recovered the loose ball and instantly brought life back to the Madison sidelines. On the ensuing drive, the Mountaineers marched down to the Altavista 15-yard line, but couldn’t convert. With four minutes to play, both teams exchanged turnovers again, this time with Madison muffing a punt, but on the very next play, the Colonels fumbled the ball back.
But as it did all game, the Altavista defense held strong received the ball on a turnover on downs before their offense was able to earn a first down and milk the clock dry.
“It seemed like all of the sudden – boom – we’d get the momentum but then we just couldn’t take advantage of it like we did in our other games this year,” Dean said.
Together, the two teams combined for just 324 yards of offense with Altavista tipping the scale in their favor with 191. Running back Chris Clarke accounted for 138 of those yards for the Colonels on 24 carries. For Madison, only Ralph Yates and Childress were able to accumulate more than 50 yards. Yates had 58 yards on eight carries while Childress has 55 yards on five receptions.
Though his team was unable to walk away with the victory, Dean was more than pleased with the effort he received from his kids, especially on defense.
“Our defense did a hell of a job tonight,” Dean said. “They came to play and I think they were a little upset over last week (against Clarke County) and they really proved themselves tonight. I couldn’t be more proud of what those guys did upfront.”
After the game Dean and his coaching staff embraced 19 emotional seniors that they’re going miss next year.
“You could see it after the game,” Dean said. “We’re going to miss them for what they’ve done for us in the last three years. I couldn’t be more proud of them and they deserve a lot of credit for our success this year.”
