Madison Southern football began the season thinking they would be a good football team but there was some who still questioned if they could win the big one, after all this is Madison Southern football they can’t win when it counts. This group of seniors have been together since middle school and some of them played together before that. This team, the team that everyone said couldn’t do it, they play Black Friday for a trip to the state championship.
Coach Clark said on WBONTV after the game that everyone told him not to take the Madison Southern football job, it was a dead end job, these kids are not hard workers, the usual negativity that had been said before. Before Jon Clark took the job the Eagles were 1-10, 1-9, 0-10, and 1-9, he had his work cut out for him to turn a program around that wasn’t used to winning and no excitement around it. His first season his team won two games, but in his second season the Eagles won seven games an hosted and won a playoff game. The third year brought ten wins and a trip to the regional finals where they lost to Pulaski county but the foundation had been laid, the Eagles have won three straight district championships and have now won a regional title, the first in school history and the first Madison County team since Madison High in 1979 to win a regional championship. That Madison High team lost the class A championship 7-0 to Bellevue.
The Eagles (10-3) won the regional by defeating a very good Montgomery team (10-3), a district foe that gave Madison Southern all they could handle earlier in the year at Montgomery. In that game Southern trailed by nine with 7 minutes left before rallying back to win 36-30. This game started much like the one earlier the Eagles jump out to a early lead on a Carter Smith 20 yard TD run less than a minute into the game. Before the Indians tied it at 14 in the second quarter. That is when QB Landon Stacy found TE Seth Sheppard in the endzone to give the Eagles the lead 21-14, another quick TD from Stacy to Tobias Storm pushed the lead out to fourteen right before halftime, the Indians had the ball and were looking to move it downfield hoping to cut into the lead but a pick six by Nate Eads all but assured the Eagles were in control. The halftime score was 35-14 and the second half was much like the first half. The Eagles scored forty seven unanswered points to win the game going away 61-20.
The Eagles will now play Harlan County (8-5) who are playing their best football of the season. The Black bears began the season 1-4 but finished the season 4-1 to even the record heading into the playoffs. They’ve been on the road every week and after beating Pulaski County 40-0 they upset a good North Laurel team (9-3) 28-21 and beat Southwestern (10-3) last week 23-18. The Bears are led by Senior Quinton Mickens and his 870 yards on the ground. As a team the Bears have 2775 yards on the ground.
The Eagles and Harlan County have history with each other when it comes to the playoffs. In 2012 Harlan County ended the season for Madison Southern with a 41-21 at home, in 2013 the Eagles went to Harlan County and returned the favor ending the Black Bear season with 41-28 win.
This time around the stakes are much higher, the winner Friday night will be going to Lexington and competing for a state championship in class 5A. It is imperative that everyone in Madison County comes out Friday night at 7:30 to support this team as they look to accomplish something that hasn’t been done in 38 years play for a state championship. If you can’t make it out to the game we have you covered here at Wallingford broadcasting. You can watch the game on WBONTV.com or on the Facebook of WBONTV. You can also listen to it on 106.7 FM the Dog, or 103.5 FM WKXO. Pregame is 7:10 and kickoff is set for 7:30
