-Bulldogs’ O Line pounds Madison 38-7.
September 24, Memorial Stadium, West Milton, OH
On September 17, 2010, Coach Bret Pearce and this edition of Milton-Union football left Bellbrook High School with a lot of questions and not very many answers. M-U had been defeated three weeks in a row, and the latest loss had been domination. The team had continued to be sloppy in areas, and turnovers were killing promising drives and placing the defense in constant jeopardy. With league play just one week away, something had to be done.
Good coaches find ways to put their teams in a position to win. Coach Pearce and his staff made the changes necessary to do just that during this week of preparation: The result, a dominating performance over the Madison Mohawks 38-7, serving notice to the other teams in the Buckeye Division that there is a new bulldog in town, and he bites.
“With a young offensive line to start the season, the staff thought our best chance to win in our first four games was to spread the offense out,” Coach Pearce stated before the game. “Tonight we feel like power football is our best option.” It was. The rapidly improving offensive line opened gaping holes and gashed the young Mohawk defense into submission.
How dominant was the performance? Milton ran for 400 yards and passed exactly two times (both complete). The Bulldogs never punted in the football game, and scored on every possession with the first team offense except for one (a twenty-seven yard field goal wide left). Final stats show that this was never a football game, but that could not be farther from the truth.
Madison started the first quarter using a spread option passing attack that had the Bulldog defense acting instead of reacting. The Mohawks dinked and dunked from the twelve yard line all the way down to the M-U twenty-two. On fourth down, the Mohawk coaching staff called on outstanding kicker Billy McGuire to hit a thirty-five yard field goal, but the kick sailed wide, and Milton had held.
M-U took possession, and their opening drive took seven plays and 2:31 off the clock. Key runs by Adam Martin (thirty-eight yards) and Jake Finfrock (eighteen yards) led to a bruising eleven yard touchdown run by Tyler Brown. Nick Fields added the PAT, and the Bulldogs led 7-0.
Madison’s next drive moved the ball thirty-one yards to midfield, but the drive stalled and M-U took over on the twenty-three yard line following the Mohawk punt. Methodically, the Bulldog offense continued to run at will with four consecutive running plays totaling forty-three yards. Cain Smiley then surprised everyone in the stadium, by hitting a twenty-one yard pop pass to Cody Hill setting up the Bulldogs at the Madison fifteen yard line. Three plays later on fourth down, Nick Fields was sent into the game to try a twenty-seven yard field goal. Fields pulled it to the left, and the Mohawks escaped any damage.
After a false start penalty, Madison drove from its own fifteen yard line all the way to Milton’s twenty-two using quick passes and option runs. Again, the M-U defense seemed to be a step behind and Madison’s quarterback Cody Wilmot hit Dylan Dwyer on a screen pass that traveled twenty-two yards for the game tying touchdown. With 7:01 to play in the first half, the score stood 7-7.
That would be the last time Madison saw the ball in the first half as M-U went on a sixteen play drive (all runs) all the way to the Madison seven yard line. With 30.7 seconds to play Coach Pearce called his final timeout of the half, and sent in the play that he hoped would give his team a touchdown edge at the half. Cain Smiley rolled to his right and kept the ball, but he was stopped at the two yard line. The kicking team sprinted onto the field, and Nick Fields calmly nailed a nineteen yard field goal, to give the Bulldogs a 10-7 lead at the half.
Let the carnage begin. Coach Tim Antonides, the M-U defensive coordinator, made huge adjustments at the half that led to complete domination of the football game, but first it was more of the same from the MU offense. After a crushing return of the kick by Adam Martin, M-U went seven plays in just 2:58 to take a 16-7 lead on Tyler Brown’s second touchdown of the game. Nick Fields added his second extra point, and the lead grew to 17-7.
Now it was time for the Bulldog defense to flex its muscle. On the third play of the drive, Clay Minton intercepted a Wilmot pass and returned it to the Madison twenty yard line. Three plays later, Martin added a fourteen yard touchdown run to his already huge night, and Fields added the PAT to give MU a commanding 24-7 advantage.
Again the M-U defense held after just one first down by Madison, and the Bulldogs had the ball again following the punt. Three plays later Adam Martin scampered forty-six yards to the Madison one yard line, where Jake Finfrock got into the act adding a one yard touchdown run. The rout was on as Fields remained PAT perfect, and the score stood 31-7 with 2:26 left in the third quarter. M-U had 134 yards in the third stanza to Madison’s seventeen.
Madison’s next two drives ended again with interceptions, and M-U took advantage once again with Martin adding his second touchdown of the game on a twelve yard run making the final score 38-7.
For the game, M-U had 431 total yards. Martin led the way with 199 yards rushing with Tyler Brown adding 101 yards. Jake Finfrock added fifty-three yards to the total. Madison had 248 yards total but only eighty-one of those yards came after the half.
M-U (2-3, 1-0) has a huge test this Friday night when they travel to state-ranked Carlisle.
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