#2 Madison Southern boy’s basketball win district
For 21 years the 44th district boy’s basketball tournament was just a formality with Madison Central winning it for over two decades. It was the longest active streak in the state. This year though Madison Southern Head Coach Shane Buttry had a feeling that this team was special. Buttry was as assistant on the last Eagles team to win a district title back in 1995. The Eagles had a magical season winning a school record 26 games, with winning streaks of 12 games and 10 games. Going into the championship game the Eagles had to find a way to stop Central big man Isaiah Cozart and they did holding him scoreless for the game. Southern scored the first four points and held a 9-7 lead after a quarter. Back to back three pointers pushed the lead out to 15-7 and and an 18-14 lead at the half. Cozart had three fouls and had to watch as the Eagles ran out to a 27-19 lead and 28-22 lead going to the fourth quarter. The Eagles were determined to make it the year the streak ended and they run out to an 11 point lead and hold on for a 44-33 win. The Eagles were lead by one of the best players to ever put on a Southern jersey, Michael Jefferson, he averaged 15 points a game while shooting nearly 60% from the field as a guard. He is now playing at Transylvania.
#1 Story Madison Southern Football plays for a state football championship
The top story of the past year has to be Madison Southern football playing for a class 5A state championship. Going into this season the Eagles had won back to back district championships and many thought that was as good as it gets for the Eagles football program, after all this was a team that had gone 2-29 in the three seasons before Jon Clark took over the program. This season the Eagles started the year 2-2 and the fan base was getting a little restless, but after the loss to county rival Madison Central they ran off five wins in a row and were ranked in the top ten of class 5A. In the winning streak Eagles get a huge comeback win at Montgomery County and win the district for a third straight time. The playoffs begin and the Eagles are at home through out and opened with a big win over Atherton and then meet district rivals Anderson County and Montgomery County. Both rematches were hard fought battles and for only the third time in school history the Eagles were playing for a regional championship. Harlan County stood in the way and it took a late turnover to help the Eagles get the win.
For the first time since 1979 a Madison County team was playing for a state championship. Standing in the way was possibly the best high school team in the state of Kentucky in Covington Catholic. Cov Cath ranked #1 most of the season, was too much to overcome as they defeat the Eagles 49-13. Even with the loss this Eagle football team has accomplished things on the football unthinkable when Clark took over, three straight district titles, going undefeated in district play, and playing for a state championship. This team was led by a group of seniors that will be hard to replace on and off the field and that will live forever in Eagle football lore. Led by Carter Smith who leaves Southern as the school all time leading tackler and who was named all state multiple times. Trey Livingood, who was injured early in the season, came back in time for the playoff push and scored two touchdowns in the state championship game. He has signed with Marshall. Hunter Richardson,who led the team in receiving, is set to walk on for the Colonels of EKU. As of this writing the remaining seniors have not announced their college plans including QB Landon Stacy. Stacy, who didn’t have the biggest arm of any QB, but had the biggest heart of any player you’ve ever seen play. He could beat the defense with his arm or legs, in the state championship game he led both teams in rushing. Replacing Stacy at quarterback will be the biggest test for the Eagles next season.
The past year had many story’s that showed the underdogs coming up big and how it didn’t matter which school you played for, you could still set records and even get drafted to play professional sports. Thank you to each and everyone of you for joining us for the ride and we look forward to bigger and better coverage for 2018 here at WBONTV.COM!
