You had to figure something like this was bound to happen. After being on the wrong side of one of the biggest upsets of the football season so far in Kentucky last Friday night in a 41-40 loss at Fort Campbell, you just knew.
You know the Madisonville-North Hopkins Maroons had heard the talk, wondering about what went wrong last week against the Falcons. You know they heard about it all week long at practice and around town. And, by Friday night, you know they were tired of hearing about it.
So, you also had to know that the Marshall County Marshals were strolling into an irritated bee hive when they came rolling into Madisonville Friday night. And, the Marshals got stung early in this one.
Madisonville-North Hopkins scored the first 30 points of the game and never looked back on their way to a 52-14 win over the Marshals in a game that was never in doubt from the opening kickoff to the final horn.
After forcing the Marshals to punt on their opening drive, the Maroons got right to work. Madisonville marched down the field on a 13 play drive, chewing up most of the first quarter. The drive was capped off when Kanyon Johnson hit Jayden Travis for a 21 yard touchdown pass with 1:32 to go in the opening quarter giving the Maroons an 8-0 lead.
Things went from bad to worse for the Marshals on the ensuing kickoff. Marshall County mishandled the kickoff and the Maroons recovered at the Marshall County 38 yard line. And, with a Maroon team determined to show that last week was an aberration, they would take full advantage of this early game gift.
Five plays later, Markezz Hightower ripped off a four yard touchdown run to push the lead out to 14-0 with 11:23 to go in the half. And, the Maroons were not done yet.
The Maroon defense, which was on overdrive during the first half, forced Marshall County into a three and out. After the punt, the Maroons took over at the Marshall County 40 yard line. At this point, the Marshals were looking up the mountain at a boulder headed down and picking up speed fast.
Four plays later, it was Travion Stafford pushing it in from one yard out as the lead moved out to 22-0. And now the Madisonville-North Hopkins defense was headed back to the field and that was bad, bad news for the Marshals.
Three plays later, Marshall County had lost 14 yards and had to punt the ball away again. The Maroons got the ball back at their own 46 and were still not in a mindset to let off the gas.
A six play, 54 yard drive was capped off with an 11 yard touchdown run from Markezz Hightower with 3:43 to go in the half giving the Maroons a 30-0 lead.
The Maroon defense was not about to let the offense steal the show at this point. Another three play drive for Marshall County went the wrong direction and the Marshals were forced to punt. Madisonville took over the ball at the Marshall Countyu 39. But then came a couple of scary minutes for the Maroons and their fans.
On the second play of the drive, Kanyon Johnson was picked off by the Marshall County defense. During the aftermath of the interception, Johnson was injured and came off the field favoring his right shoulder. He would miss the rest of the half and much of the third quarter.
Marshall County took advantage of the pick and drove 46 yards for their first score of the night. Neyland Jezik hit Cash Henson for a 16 yard touchdown with 8 seconds left in the half to send the game to the break at 30-7.
With Kirk LaGrange at quarterback to start the second half, the Maroons drove right down the field on the opening possession of the half. A 64 yard drive ended with an 8 yard touchdown run from Markezz Hightower, extending the lead to 36-7 with 7:44 to go in the third.
After the teams traded possessions that ended on downs, the Marshals mounted their second scoring drive of the night. This one covered 57 yards and ended much like the other scoring drive, this time it was a 14 yard pass from Neyland Jezik to Cash Henson that cut the lead to 36-14 with 1:54 to go in the third.
Kanyon Johnson returned to the lineup on the next possession for the Maroons and they promptly went on another long drive. This one went 56 yards and ended when Kanyon Johnson ran through the Marshall County defense for a 21 yard score to make it 44-14 with 9:34 left in the game.
The Marshals went four and out on the next possession giving Madisonville-North Hopkins the ball at the Marshall County 39 yard line. Six plays later the Maroons were back in the end zone when Johnson hit Hightower for an 11 yard touchdown making it 52-14 with 8:04 left in the game and bringing the running clock into play.
Madisonville got another big game from Markezz Hightower, who rushed for 119 yards and three touchdowns. He also caught a touchdown pass from Kanyon Johnson.
Johnson ran for 85 yards and a touchdown. He also passed for two more.
The Madisonville defense limited Marshall County to just 127 total yards of offense, 19 on the ground and 108 through the air. The Marshals had 48 yards in the first half and 79 in the second.
Madisonville improves to 4-1 with the win. The Maroons will hit the road next Friday night to take on Graves County in the district opener.
