The Madison County football team wasn’t going to let the homecoming court have all the highlights Friday.
Shaking off a pedestrian first half, Madison County (2-1) exploded for four second-half touchdowns in a 34-0 win over Monroe Area on homecoming night.
“We just executed our offense better,” said quarterback Jacob Owens, who threw for a career-high 212 yards and three touchdowns. “We got some more fire in the second half.”
Defensively, Madison County forced four turnovers — including three interceptions from safety Bracken Turner — and earned its first shutout since a 29-0 blanking of Jackson County in 2005.
“I credit all that to the defensive line,” Turner said of his three-interception performance. “They were in the quarterback’s face all night. He had no time to read and throw. He was just letting it go. They all happened to be right at me.”
Seeking its second win of the year, Madison County led just 6-0 at the half. The only score came in the first quarter when Owens found Turner for a 22-yard touchdown.
But the floodgates opened up after the Raiders regrouped at halftime.
Owens ran for a 14-yard score on an option keeper early in the third quarter and then found Jamal Cooper, who outran the Monroe Area secondary for a 54-yard touchdown to put Madison County up 21-0.
“We didn’t do anything different (in) the second half than we did the first half,” Raider head coach Randell Owens said. “We just did it better.”
Al Allen, who caught four passes for 96 yards, added a score on the ground late in the third and caught a 25-yard touchdown pass in the fourth as the Raiders won in a blowout for the second-straight week.
Jacob Owens said Monroe Area gave Madison County some different defensive looks from what it saw on film all week, which resulted in some first half struggles for the Raiders on offense.
“What we prepared for all week, that’s not what they did defensively,” he said. “They came out in something totally different than we expected … The second half, we adjusted, we saw what they were doing, we talked about it in the locker room.”
And while the offense found its footing, the Raider defense continued to stuff Monroe Area, holding the Purple Hurricanes to just 38 yards in the second half.
Madison County finished the night with seven sacks.
Monroe Area’s spread offense was very much similar to Madison County’s offensive scheme, which made preparation easier for the Raider defense.
“Oh yeah,” Bracken Turner said. “Watching the film, we could pretty much call the play they were running.”
