By ANDREW FEEBACK
FAIRMOUNT—When a team finds itself down two scores before its offense even steps on the field, it usually doesn’t bode well for the rest of the game.
Such was the case for the Southern Wells Raiders Friday night, as a disastrous beginning led to a 52-0 loss to the host Madison-Grant Argylls.
It was a big step back after a big step forward for the Raiders last week.
“It was rather disappointing,” coach Jeff Sprunger said. “We allowed things to compound pretty early there on ourselves.”
Madison-Grant scored on its third play when Maverick Miller ran 46 yards for a touchdown.
The following kickoff took a funny bounce, and the Raiders couldn’t come up with it.
“Lack of talking there, and they ended up recovering,” Sprunger said. “We’re going to have to learn how to fight through difficult times like that.”
Cole Stitt’s touchdown run gave the home team a 14-0 lead before the Southern Wells offense even had the chance to run a play.
The Raiders had the ball for seven plays before turning it over on downs.
Andy Stanley’s 26-yard touchdown run gave the Argylls a three-score lead.
Southern Wells punted, and Madison-Grant scored on its next play, a 41-yard touchdown pass from Xavier Yeagy to Mavrick Griffin.
All of this came before the first quarter even ended, and it got no better in the second: Rosin White’s six-yard touchdown run made it 34-0 on the opening play of the quarter.
Another Raider punt was quickly followed by another Argyll touchdown, with Yeagy tossing a 63-yard strike to Claydon Campbell.
Southern Wells put together a 10-play drive that stalled 25 yards from the end zone.
Miller’s second touchdown run with about a minute left in the half made it 46-0.
“We started moving decently, then just had another miscue,” Sprunger said. “Just from that moment on, you could just tell, the old habits of ‘here we go again’ set in. We have to keep fighting that.”
Madison-Grant tacked on one final score in the fourth quarter when Harry Brooks scored on a 32-yard run.
Sprunger wants to see his team try to keep improving.
“We’ve got to fine-tune what we do and focus on getting ourselves better,” he said. “Ultimately, if we do that, we’re going to be successful, but until then, it’s going to be a long road.”
Southern Wells will host Jay County Friday night at home, 7 p.m.
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MADISON-GRANT 52, SOUTHERN WELLS 0
At Madison-Grant
Score By Quarters
Southern Wells 0 0 0 0 – 0
Madison-Grant 28 18 0 6 –52
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
MG—Maverick Miller 46 run (Rosin White kick), 11:25.
MG—Cole Stitt 2 run (White kick), 9:33.
MG—Andy Stanley 26 run (White kick), 5:24.
MG—Mavrick Griffin 41 pass from Xavier Yeagy (White kick), 3:47.
Second Quarter
MG—White 6 run (kick failed), 11:56.
MG—Claydon Campbell 63 pass from Yeagy (kick failed), 8:46.
MG—Miller 1 run (PAT failed), 1:16.
Third Quarter
No scoring.
Fourth Quarter
MG—Harry Brooks 32 run (kick failed), 7:08.
Team Statistics
SW MG
First Downs 6 9
Rushes-Yards 48-109 28-321
Yards Passing 0 131
Passing (C-A-I) 0-1-1 3-6-0
Penalties-Yards 4-35 4-45
Fumbles-Lost 5-2 2-0
Punts-Average 3-21 1-34
Time of Possession 31:37 16:23
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Southern Wells, Case Boxell 20-73, Bryar Gearheart 7-19, Trey Slusher 6-(minus 11), Tucker Worster 3-12, Owen King 1-(minus 4), William Johnson 4-(minus 1), Levon Goodnight 2-(minus 4), Levi Blake 2-9, Jacob Gearheart 2-16, Eli Elmore 1-0. Madison-Grant, Cole Stitt 10-103, Maverick Miller 5-98, Harry Brooks 3-38, OJ Blackwell 2-20, Andy Stanley 2-47, Brock Barnhart 1-23, Rosin White 1-6, Kamden Williams 1-3, Xavier Yeagy 1-(minus 4).
Passing: Southern Wells, Slusher 0-1-1-0. Madison-Grant, Yeagy 3-6-0-131.
Receiving: Southern Wells, N/A. Madison-Grant, Claydon Campbell 1-63, Ike Almeda 1-27, Mavrick Griffin 1-41.
