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Football
Madison County upsets No. 1 seed Ridgeland for first-ever state playoff win
By Kyle Funderburk
kyle@mainstreetnews.com
Friday night was a long time com
ing for the Madison County commu
nity and a football program in its 63rd
season.
Prior to Friday night’s four-hour
road trip to play No. 1 seed Ridge
land High School, the Red Raiders
had never won a state playoff game.
With a late touchdown run by Dayton
Gresham and a game-clinching in
terception by Colby Smith, Madison
County changed its history, upsetting
the Panthers 27-20 and advancing to
the second round of the Class AAAA
state playoffs. Madison County trav
els to Mary Persons next Friday night.
The magnitude of winning the
programs first state playoff game
wasn’t lost on anybody, especially
head coach Chris Smith who played
at Madison County in the early 1990s
and has coached the Raiders since
2012.
“We had everything stacked against
us; we could have easily folded.”
Smith said. “I’m proud of our guys,
it’s all about them and our communi
ty. To do something that’s never been
done before, that’s awesome. I’m so
proud of our boys. I’m so glad for our
kids and our community.”
His son Colby Smith, quarterback
and safety, reiterated his coach’s
statement.
“It’s crazy, we talked about this all
year. We talked about making history
all week,” he said.
Dayton Gresham added, “It doesn’t
REGION SWEEP
All four playoff teams from Region 8-AAAA
defeated their first round opponents from
Region 6-AAAA. Region 8 teams battle teams
from Region 2 and Region 4 in the second
round.
Oconee County 41
NW Whitfield 14
North Oconee 45
Pickens 24
St. Pius X 42
Heritage 14
Madison County 27
Ridgeland 20
feel real. It doesn’t seem like much,
but it means a lot to the people in the
community and the people on the
team. We’ll look back 20 years from
now and it’s something we’ll be able
to tell our kids. It’s a blessing.”
See Upset, page 2B
Photo by Kyle Funderburk
Tameris Gaines and Adam Echols hug each other while
the team celebrates and the marching band plays the
school fight song.
Photo by Kyle Funderburk
Adam Echols is fired up on the sidelines after the Red Raiders recovered a squib kick
during Madiosn County’s upset win over Ridgeland.
Madison County travels to Mary Persons
for first ever sweet 16 appearance
By Kyle Funderburk
kyle@mainstreetnews.com
Wrestling
Three Raiders
bring home
gold from Buford
By Kyle Funderburk
kyle@mainstreetnews.com
Madison County dove into the 2019-
20 wrestling season Saturday at the al-
ways-competitive Buford Invitational.
The Red Raiders finished seventh
out of 17 schools with three first place
finishers (Josh Kincaid, Jaxson Hoet-
zel and Hamilton Cooper). Woodward
Academy won the event with a pair
of first place finishers and four run
ners-up. Buford and Lassiter rounded
out the top three.
Kincaid (132 lbs.) won the tourna
ment with four pin fall victories Satur
day. Two of his matches ended before
reaching a minute.
Kincaid opened the tournament by
pinning Loganville’s Michael Berardi-
nelli in 43 seconds and followed that
win with a 46-second pin over Dan
iel Mejia. Kincaid’s last two matches
were more competitive.
He trailed Andrew Adams from
Lowndes 10-3 late in the third period
before scoring three points on an es
cape and takedown. Adams conceded a
point by stalling, but got the point back
with an escape and led 11-7. Kincaid
won the bout on a late takedown. After
two near falls put Kincaid ahead 13-11
in point, he finally scored a pin fall vic
tory moments before the buzzer.
Kincaid had an easier time with Mt.
Pisgah’s Joey Bertrand. He fell behind
2-0 early after a takedown, but domi
nated the rest of the match and pinned
Bertrand early in the third period.
Hoetzel (195 lbs.) also swept the
tournament with pin falls, but none of
his matches were close. A violation
late in the first period was his only flaw
against Johns Creek’s T.J. Radford.
He came out of the break on fire and
scored the pin early in the second pe
riod. An early takedown of Buford’s
Aaron Kirkland led to a quick pin fall
in round two and he won a long, but
lopsided match with Woodward Acad
emy’s Brandon Smith in the champi
onship round.
Cooper (285 lbs.) didn’t score any
pin falls, but he never allowed a punt
through two matches Saturday. After
a first period stalemate with Forsyth
Central’s Darius Green, Cooper scored
five points in the second period via two
near falls. He started the third period
on the bottom but quickly scored two
more points with a reversal. He won by
a 7-0 decision.
Cooper battled Woodward’s Robert
Joseph to another 0-0 first period in the
finals before five near falls gave him a
14-0 lead after two periods. An escape
seconds into the third period allowed
him to win by a 15-0 technical deci
sion.
Chase Bond (152 lbs.) and Mattox
Hinsley (126 lbs.) also stood on the
podium at the end of the day. Bond fin
ished fourth after entering as the No.
3 seed and advancing on two forfeits.
He lost his third round match by pin
fall and his third place match by a 3-1
decision.
Hinsley started the tournament with
a 10-1 major decision loss, but he
bounced back with two victories in the
consolation bracket. His victory in the
fifth place match was a first period pin
fall.
The Madison County football team made
history last Friday night by upsetting Rid
geland in the first round of the Class AAAA
state playoffs. Now the Red Raiders are hop
ing lightning strikes twice this Friday at Mary
Persons.
Mary Persons, on the other hand, is trying to
salvage and make the most out of a disappoint
ing 2019 season. The Bulldogs had won four-
straight Region 2-AAAA championships and
entered the season ranked No. 7 in the class,
but a 2-2 start knocked Mary Persons out of
the rankings and it dropped to 5-5 by seasons
end. The Bulldogs settled for third place in the
region, and opened the playoffs by beating No.
2 seed Eastside 28-21.
Madison County (5-6, 1-3 region 8-AAAA)
should feel good about the matchup on de
fense. Mary Persons relies heavily on its run
ning game led by running backs William Stew
art and Enrico Harden. Both have over 600
yards and have combined for 18 touchdowns.
The Bulldogs place the passing game on the
shoulders of freshman Logan Hickman. In 10
games this year, Hickman has 1,268 yards and
11 touchdowns with eight interceptions. All
of the picks came in losses, including three
interceptions against West Laurens and Perry.
He does have three 200-yard passing games.
In those outings, he completed over half of his
passes and threw six touchdowns.
Madison County’s defense is at its best
against one dimensional teams. If the Red
Raiders can stuff the running game, they’ll
force the freshman to throw into a defense that
knows how to intercept passes.
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY ON OFFENSE
Mary Persons’ defense was uncharacteristic
this season. After never allowing more than
250 points (allowed 146 points in 2018). the
Bulldogs have allowed 330 points through 11
games this year.
Though one stat in Mary Persons favor are
turnovers. The Bulldogs have 10 interceptions
and 13 fumble recoveries. Turnovers have been
Madison County’s achilles heel in 2019 and led
to 14 for Ridgeland last Friday. The Red Raid
ers will move the ball against Mary Persons,
but they’ve moved the ball against most teams
this year. Cutting down on turnovers will de
cide how good of a day Madison County has.
Basketball
Lady Raiders
dominate 4th
quarter to rout
Cedar Shoals
By Kyle Funderburk
kyle@mainstreetne ws .com
Madison County’s Tuesday night
meeting with Cedar Shoals was a tale of
two halves, even though the Red Raiders
led for three quarters.
Kayla McPherson led the squad with a
steady night consisting of 45 point and 10
assist. But It wasn’t until her teammates
settled down and produced on both ends
that the game transitioned from a struggle
to an 80-61 victory on the road.
Madison County (1-1, 0-0 Region
8-AAAA) struggled on the defensive
end in the first half, committing 13 fouls
and failing to secure rebounds. The slop
py effort allowed Cedar Shoals (0-2, 0-0
region 8-AAAAA) to score 24 points in
the first quarter which featured 12 lead
changes and three ties.
McPherson nearly matched the Jag
uars’ offensive output by scoring 18
points and contributing five more via as
sists to Keia Cooper for a comer three and
Tommenesha Heard down in the post.
Her pull up jumper before the end of
the quarter sparked a rally that led to the
Red Raiders taking their first multi-score
lead of the game. Tiffany Wilson started
the second quarter with a layup to tie
the game and McPherson gave her team
the lead with a quick shot off a rebound.
Madison County led 32-25 early in the
quarter before Cedar Shoals went on a
10-0 run to take a 35-32 lead.
Cooper snapped the run with another
comer three to tie the game. The Jaguars
responded with a single free throw, but
when McPherson sunk both her attempts
from the foul line, the Red Raiders took a
37-36 lead and they wouldn’t relinquish
it. The half ended with Madison County
ahead 41-36 after layups by McPherson
and Wilson.
Madison County looked like a com
pletely different team on offense in an
18-point third quarter. McPherson only
scored six points, but she had two assists
in transition. Caidyn Arwood and Kirsten
Watts joined the scoring column. The
Red Raiders weren’t able to pull much
further away and led 59-52 after three
quarters.
“A lot of it was nerves.” Lampe said.
“A lot of them came out playing scared a
little bit. Kayla is the only one who has a
lot of minutes on varsity, so they played a
little scared. They acclimated to it.
“We keep telling them, our biggest
thing is the transition from defense to of
fense, we need to get quicker. The minute
there is a turnover, you put your foot in
the ground and take off. Once they learn
that, they’re going to be doing it more and
more. Kayla can’t do it by herself and as
the season goes on and on, all the other
players are going to keep improving their
game. We have a lot of upside to us.”
The team finally put together a great
quarter on both ends in the fourth quar
ter by outscoring Cedar Shoals 21-9 on
route to an 80-61 victory. McPherson
dominated the fourth quarter with 13
points. Chancey added four points to join
McPherson in double figures with 10
points.
Madison County’s next outing is
Saturday against Dawson County in
the Raider Classic at North Forsyth.
FISHING TOURNAMENT WINNERS
Madison County High School’s Logan Fisher and Will Hart won the Hartwell fishing tour
nament this past weekend out of over 100 boats.