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PAGE 2B — THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 10. 2009 Madison Co. 35, Winder-Barrow 29 McKeever INT, Owens Madison Co. Journal Pigskin Picker Madison Co. at Monroe Area South Carolina at Georgia Clemson at Georgia Tech Notre Dame at Michigan Mississippi State at Auburn UCLA at Tennessee USC at Ohio State Chicago at Green Bay Philadelphia at Carolina Miami at Atlanta TD lifts Raiders to victory Presly McKeever’s interception with 1:16 Friday night set up Madison County’s game-winning score. Ben Munro/staff Pick with 1:16 left sets up game-winning score vs. Winder-Barrow By Ben Munro ben@mainstreetnews.com W inder-Barrow threw Madison County a gift- wrapped interception in the waning moments Friday night, and Raider defensive back Presly McKeever was there to gladly accept it. With his team trailing Winder- Barrow 29-28 late and on the verge of losing, McKeever snagged a wayward pass from Christian Davila near the Bulldogg 25 and returned the ball to the one-yard line with 1:16 left. Raider quarterback Jacob Owens scored two players later to give Madison County (1-1) a wild 35-29 win over the Bulldoggs (0-1). “I was kind of scared,” McKeever said of the intercep tion. ‘‘I thought I was going to drop it. I was too open. But I caught it and tried to score.” As for Owens, it was the second touchdown of the night for the ailing quarterback who’d missed one day of school this week due to illness. His one-yard plunge with 1:05 left ensured that Madison County wouldn’t start the year 0-2. “That was easy, what I did,” Owens said. “The hard part was what Presley and the defense did. That was all them.” The game-changing intercep tion was the result of an appar ent Bulldogg miscommunica- tion. McKeever said the Winder- Barrow receiver ran a stop route, while the Davila threw it long. The Raider comerback read the quarterback and stayed with the pass. “I saw the quarterback rare back, so I knew he was fixing to throw it there,” said McKeever, who finished with four tackles and three pass break-ups. “I knew I had that one." McKeever’s interception and Owens’ score capped a helter-skelter series of events for Madison County, which had blown a 12-point fourth quarter lead. The Raiders took a 28-16 advantage with 11:30 left after Bracken Turner stepped in at quarterback, rolled right, and hit Patrick McCrary for a 78-yard touchdown pass. But Winder-Barrow rallied for two touchdowns to take a 29-28 edge with 5:37 left. Madison County then drove to the Bulldogg two, where it seemingly saw its hopes slip away when Jamal Cooper was stopped short of the end zone on a fourth down with just 2:52 left, giving the ball back to Winder-Barrow. But the Raider defense forced a third-and-seven, and that’s when McKeever fielded Davila’s errant pass, sprinted inside the five and hurled his body toward the endzone, get ting stopped just short of the goal line, A few Raider players thought he’d broken the plane and scored, including McKeever. “I think I hit the pylon a little bit,” McKeever said. The victory was the Raiders’ first since Sept. 12, 2008, when they beat Monroe Area 34-0. But Madison County had to survive being out-gained 331- 168 and play opportunistic football to win this one, Madison County, which led 21-14 at the half, forced five turnovers — two which led to touchdowns — while Jamal Cooper returned a kickoff 83 yards for a score, his second in as many weeks. “There was a lot of team effort in the game," McKeever said. “This is the best team effort we’ve had in a long time.” REGION 8-AAAA Standings Region Overall Apalachee 2-0 2-0 Clarke Central 2-0 2-0 Salem 2-0 2-0 Rockdale Co. 1-1 1-1 Cedar Shoals 1-1 1-1 Madison Co. 1-1 1-1 Hab. Central 1-1 1-1 Loganville 0-1 0-1 Winder-Barrow 0-1 0-1 Heritage 0-2 0-2 Monroe Area 0-2 0-2 Last Friday Hab. Central 13, Heritage 12 Apalachee 12, Cedar Shoals 6 Salem 21, Rockdale Co. 14 Madison Co. 35, Winder-Bar. 29 Clarke Central 21, Monroe Area 7 Loganville was idle This Friday Hab. Central @ Clarke Central Salem @ Loganville Rockdale Co. @ Heritage Winder-Barrow @ Cedar Shoals Madison Co. @ Monroe Area FRIDAYS TOTALS MCHS WBHS Score 35 29 Rush att-yds. 35-45 35-139 Pass comp-att.4-9 16-29 Pass yds. 123 192 Interceptions 0 2 Total offense 168 331 First downs 7 15 Fumbles 2 2 Rec. by opp. 1 2 Penalties-yds 5-50 9-60 Rushing att yds TD Maxwell 11 26 1 Dean 1 11 0 Owens 8 5 2 Butler 3 4 0 Samples 1 4 0 Turner 1 2 0 Cooper 10 -7 0 Passing c-att yds TD Turner 1-2 78 1 Owens 3-7 45 0 Receiving rec yds TD McCrary 2 102 1 Cooper 1 16 0 McKeever 1 5 0 Kicking extra pts. FG Webster 5-5 0-0 Punting att yds avg. Samples 4 130 33.25 Defense Tackle Sack INT NeSmith 12 0 0 Bodiford 12 0 0 Samples 9 1 0 Dove 8 0 0 Carey 8 0 0 Boyett 5 1 0 Maxwell 5 0 1 Dean 5 0 1 McKeever 4 0 1 Butler 4 0 0 Thomas 4 0 0 D. Long 3 0 0 Turner 3 0 0 Luna 2 0 0 Gordon 2 0 0 E. Long 2 0 0 Bush 0 1 0 Adams 0 1 0 Notes: Bodiford recovered two fumbles, NeSmith and E. Long each forced one. Football.. • continued from page IB Zach Mitcham- Last week: 8-2 Madison Co. South Carolina Georgia Tech Notre Dame Auburn Tennessee USC Chicago Philadelphia Atlanta Margie Richards Last week: 7-3 Madison Co. Georgia Georgia Tech Notre Dame Miss. St. Tennessee Ohio St. Chicago Philadelphia Miami Ricky McElroy Last week: 6-4 Madison Co. Georgia Georgia Tech Notre Dame Auburn Tennessee USC Green Bay Philadelphia Atlanta Ben Munro Last week: 6-4 Madison Co. South Carolina Georgia Tech Notre Dame Auburn Tennessee USC Green Bay Philadelphia Atlanta Allen McCannon Last week 5-5: Madison Co. Georgia Georgia Tech Notre Dame Auburn Tennessee USC Green Bay Philadelphia Atlanta Mitch McGhee Last week: 5-5 Madison Co. Georgia Georgia Tech Notre Dame Auburn Tennessee USC Chicago Carolina Atlanta Doug Kesler Last week: 4-6 Madison Co. Georgia Georgia Tech Notre Dame Auburn Tennessee USC Chicago Philadelphia Atlanta The players: Doug Kesler (long-time Madison Co. coach and current high school softball coach), Allen McCannon (associate superintendent of Madison Co. Schools), Ricky McElroy (fund-raising chairman of the Madison Co. Touchdown Club), Mitch McGhee (superintendent of Madison County Schools), Zach Mitcham (editor of The Madison County Journal), Ben Munro (reporter for The Madison County Journal) and Margie Richards (reporter for The Madison County Journal). Sports shorts Rec Dept offers women’s self defense class The Madison County Recreation Department will offer a women’s self defense class on Thursdays from Sept. 17 through Oct. 29 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the old Colbert gym. The fee is $40. The instructor is Jess Croya. No martial arts experi ence is needed to take this class. Participants must pre-register by Tuesday, Sept. 15, by going to the recreation department or calling it at 706-795-6270. Rotary hosts charity golf tourney Sept 19 The Madison County Rotary Club will sponsor a charity golf tournament at Sunrise Golf Course in Colbert Saturday, Sept. 19, with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. The event will end at 12:30 p.m. Zeb's BBQ will be served at the course following the tourney with recognition of winners and door prizes. The tourney will be a four-person Lauderdale format and winners will be determined from 9-hole blind draw by a course pro. Cash prizes will be awarded to the winning teams and there will be prizes for the longest drive and clos est to pin, along with numerous door prizes. A special hole-in-one prize (a Ranger boat, motor and trailer valued at over $25,000 and provided by Bond’s Marine Sales) will be award ed, and prizes will also be given away for a hole-in-one on all par 3’s. Entry fees are $75 per entrant and $300 per foursome. Individual or team registration is accepted. A $150 sponsor fee includes one player and a tee sign. The fee includes lunch, greens fees, cart and participant gift packs. Tournament proceeds will go to benefit Madison County Rotary’s support of local charities and ser vice activities performed by the club, organizers said. For registration forms or questions, cafi Jeff Dillard at 706-206-5724 or emailjsdillar@southemco.com Touchdown Club offering $10,000 prize The Madison County Touchdown Club will hold its 23 rd annual “$ 10,000 Giveaway” Oct. 24 at the Danielsville Volunteer Fire Department. Contact Ricky McElroy at 706- 789-2305 for tickets. The Touchdown Club is also sell ing 911 signs, while spots for the Raider Wall of Fame (located on the back of the press box) are still available. has lost 12 straight games. But the Purple Hurricanes are plenty dangerous, something evident last week. Monroe Area played Clarke Central tightly for three and a half quarters last week before losing 21-7. “Their kids are playing hard," Owens said. “They’ve got some athletes. They’ve got some WATKINS MONUMENTS Monument Sales & Date Engravings We are here to provide all your cemetery needs. Serving Madison and surrounding counties for over 30 years. BUCK WATKINS 706-283-7326 weapons.” As for Madison County, the victory last week seems to have invigorated the team, despite lingering sickness. And the grit it showed last week says a lot about this team, Owens said. “All I can say is that I’m really proud to be their coach ... It just makes you proud to be a part of these guys," Owens said. Madison County Board of Commissioners SEALED BIDS Madison County Board of Commissioners is seeking sealed bids for Law Enforcement/Jail Records Management Software. Sealed Bids will be accepted until 12:00 noon on September 10, 2009 in the Madison County Commissioners Office: 91 Albany Avenue, P.O. Box 147 Danielsville, GA 30633. Bids should be marked “SEALED BID”. For further information contact: Allison Craig at 706-795-6205. 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