Madison Southern continued their run in the history books at Kroger Field Saturday night and in the way was possibly the best team in the State of Kentucky regardless of class affiliation. Covington Catholic (14-0) came in with a resume that rivaled any team the Eagles have ever played. A.J. Mayer, a leading candidate for Mr. Football and Miami of Ohio signee, has 3114 yards passing 40 touchdowns only 3 interceptions, and 14 touchdowns on the ground proved to be too much to handle.
The game played in front of a record crowd of 10,646 fans, for a 5A state championship game began with Cov Cath winning the toss and electing to go on offense first. On the opening play of the game Luke Lebihan rushes for a first down. Three plays later Mayer completes a pass for 31 yards to the Eagles 9 yard line, 2 plays later Mayer goes into the end zone from 2 yards out for the first score of the game. Colonels go 7 plays in 3:18 and take a 7-0 lead. Eagles get the ball and go three and out giving the ball back to Cov Cath and Mayer completes a 25 yard touchdown pass to Lenihan to put the Colonels up 13-0 extra point fails. Eagles down 13 to the mighty Cov Cath and you could sense some of the crowd thinking this was going to be an early win for them, but Madison Southern (11-4) as they have all year long wouldn’t back down from adversity. Southern gets the ball down 13 and puts together a long drive of 14 plays for 80 yards that ends with a Trey Livingood two yard touchdown run, Eagles cut the lead in half at 13-7 to end the opening quarter.
The second quarter Covington Catholic answered back with another A.J. Mayer 14 yard touchdown run to push the lead back out to 20-7. Cov Cath offense is a quick scoring machine, only taking 2:30 minutes to go 72 yards. Once again Eagles down two scores and once again they rally back with a 27 yard completion from Landon Stacy to Hunter Richardson on first down to get inside Cov Cath territory. Eagles move the ball back inside the five and another Trey Livingood touchdown and they are back in this one, extra point was blocked making score 20-13 with 3:12 to play before half. Once again though Mayer proves to be too much to handle, 2 long completions and a 6 yard run by the QB makes the score 27-13 with only 48 seconds left in the half. Eagles go three out once again and Catholic scores before the half ends and take a 34-13 lead into halftime.
At halftime Mayer had 4 total touchdowns to lead the Colonels to a huge lead in total yardage at the half, Catholic had 345 total yards to only 174 yards for Madison Southern. Landon Stacy led the Eagles in rushing at the half with 72 yards. The Colonels did a great job of doing what no other team had been able to do and that is contain Carter Smith. Smith with only 34 rushing yards in the opening half.
The second half seen the Eagles get the ball and move the ball downfield but a quarterback hit by Andrew Shelton forced an arrant pass by Stacy that lead to a interception at the 23 yard line. 4 plays and only 1:17 Covington Catholic was back in the endzone on another Mayers run to push the lead out to 41-13. Eagles get the ball and put together a nice drive but it stalls at the Cov Cath 40 yard line where it is turned over on downs. The high power offense of the Colonels once again reared its head on a 60 yard bomb from Mayers to Casey McGinness and a two point conversion pushed the lead out to a 49-13 lead and that is how the game ended.
The outcome was not what Madison Southern was looking for but for almost a half they had Covington Catholic in a tight game, something the Colonels haven’t been in. Final teams stats saw the Colonels rack up 476 yards of total offense, AJ Mayer with 337 yards passing for 3 touchdowns and he adds 71 yards on the ground and 3 scores. Eagles are led by Landon Stacy and his 137 rushing yards and 111 passing yards. Stacy playing his final game as an Eagles became a leader that many outside the program didn’t believe he could be. Carter Smith, a player who if he was only a couple inches taller would be one of the most sought after recruits in the state, finishes with 92 yards on the ground 4 catches for 27 yards and 5 tackles in the game, 2 of those tackles for a loss. Trey Livingood, the Marshall commit, with 2 touchdown runs in his final game. He was injured early in the season and make a return in time for the playoff push, another player that even though he signed with Marshall flew under the radar for much of his career.
The fact that so many of these players are able to sign and play college football yet go unnoticed really plays into the whole “team before me” concept that Coach Jon Clark and his staff has in place. Nate Eads, another one of the seniors, finished with 4 yards on the ground and 2 catches for 21 yards. Hunter Richardson, a future EKU Colonel, had 2 rushing yards and a team best 5 catches for 63 yards. Jordan Casteel with another INT to put his team record at 10 on the season.
There are a lot of seniors who will be leaving the program and a lot of big shoes to fill but this Madison Southern team returns a great sophomore class and a host of players who have gotten quality minutes throughout this past season. Can the Eagles repeat as district champions, yes. Can the Eagles win in the playoffs, they have proven they can. Can the Eagles go back to Kroger Field next season and compete for another state title…Why Not Us?
It was a great season to watch and be a part of and thank you for coming on the ride with us here at Wallingford Broadcasting, whether you watched on WBONTV.Com or listened along on 103.5 WKXO or 106.7 the Dog, Thank you for joining us!
