Sooner or later, the Union County Braves are going to get tired of seeing the Madisonville-North Hopkins Maroons in their football season opener. Last year, on their way to the state finals, the Braves got steamrolled by the Maroons 34-6 in Madisonville.
Friday night, it happened again, this time on the Braves home field.
Thanks to a strong defensive effort, Madisonville survived a bumpy first half that saw turnover issues and offensive struggles to blow by Union County in the second half on the way to a 49-13 win. The Maroon defense provided the spark at the beginning and then closing the door at the end, scoring the first TD of the game and the last.
Once the offense found its footing, Markezz Hightower got rolling and finished the night with three touchdowns as the Maroons pulled away for the big win.
The Madisonville defense, which gave up virtually nothing all night long, got things started on Union County’s second possession. Bryson Shoulders stepped in front of a pass and ran it back 37 yards to put the Maroons up 7-0 with 4:06 to go in the opening quarter.
On the very next possession for Union County, Clayton Gunkel snagged the Maroons second pick of the night to set Madisonville up at the Braves’ 35 yard line.
However, things went sideways for the Maroons on the very next play. Alex Richard’s pass out to the right flat ended up in the hands of Union County’s Willem McPeake for the first of his three first half interceptions. This one McPeake took 66 yards to the house to tie the game at 7-7.
On the next Madisonville possession, the Maroons were forced to punt, but Union County continued to be in a giving mood and mishandled the kick, turning the ball over to the Maroons for the third time in the first quarter at the Union County 30 yard line.
Two plays later, Markezz Hightower scored the first of his three touchdowns on a 25 yard run to put the Maroons back in front 14-7.
Neither team was able to generate much offensively over the next several minutes. The saving grace for the Braves was the play of Willem McPeake, who picked off two more passes over the rest of the first half.
Madisonville closed out the half on a 3 yard touchdown run from Travion Stafford to take a 21-7 lead into the break.
Ball security was a big issue for both teams in the opening half as each turned it over three times. If not for the turnovers, the Maroons may well have had this one out of reach at the break. The Madisonville D held Union County to 40 first half yards, while the Maroons were able to generate 131.
Both teams got the turnovers a bit under control in the second half, but the Madisonville defense just smothered the Brave attack.
After linebacker Kirk LaGrange, who had a monster night on defense, recovered a fumble at the Union County 21, the Maroons drove down the field and punched it in on a 3 yard run from Markezz Hightower to make it 28-7 with 11:55 to go in the game.
The Union County crowd got a jolt of energy on the ensuing kickoff as Rishard Green took it back 87 yards to cut the Maroon lead to 28-13, but the Maroons took a big hammer and nailed this one down over the final 11 minutes.
Markezz Hightower broke loose on a 40 yard run to make it 35-13. Ryder Sandidge got in on the fun with an impressive 21 yard score to run the lead out to 42-13 with 4:33 left. And then, deservedly so, the defense closed out the scoring when Kirk LaGrange picked one off and ran it back 42 yards to push the lead out to 49-13.
Once the Maroon offense got going, it started to pile up some numbers. Madisonville rushed the ball for 339 yards and passed for 46 more. Markezz Hightower ended up with 192 yards and three touchdowns.
The Maroons also got a big night from kicker Noah Mays. Mays was 7 of 7 on extra points and was able to change field position at key moments in the game with his punting, which included a 61 yard effort in the first half.
For the game, the Madisonville defense limited Union County to just 93 yards of total offense.
Madisonville (1-0) will be back in action next Friday night for the Maroons’ home opener against the Hopkinsville Tigers, which will be the final meeting between the two historic Western Kentucky football programs.
