While it is the Hopkinsville Tigers that will forever lead the all-time football series with Madisonville-North Hopkins, it is the Maroons that forever will be the team to have won the last game between the two programs. In their 116th, and final, meeting Friday night in Madisonville, the Maroons got a huge game from Markezz Hightower as Madisonville hit quickly and rolled to a 42-19 over the Hopkinsville Tigers.
Hightower’s last game against Hopkinsville will be a memorable one as he rushed for 238 yards and four touchdowns in leading the Maroons to the victory.
For most of the night, the Madisonville defense locked down the Hopkinsville offense as the Maroons built a big lead, while the offense ground it out, moving up and down the field behind the running efforts of Hightower.
After winning the opening toss, Madisonville took the ball and immediately took off on a 50 yard drive that ended with Markezz Hightower running it in from 3 yards out to give the Maroons a 7-0 lead with still 8:35 to go in the first quarter.
Hightower was right back at it on the Maroons’ third possession of the game, taking the handoff and then blasting off on a 70 yard touchdown run to push the lead out to 14-0 with 1:44 to go in the first.
The Maroon defense, which has been really good for the first two weeks, outside of a stretch in the fourth quarter after the game had been put away Friday night, stopped the Tigers on the next possession and then came up with a blocked punt that Madisonville recovered at the Hopkinsville 41.
The Maroons quickly drove down the field and scored on a 3 yard touchdown run from Ryder Sandidge and just like that, with still 11:37 to go in the half, Madisonville-North Hopkins lead the Hopkinsville Tigers 21-0.
After hearing from Coach Lopez after Madisonville’s third touchdown of the night, the Tigers a drive going, capping it off with a 13 yard pass from Jasiah McCarley to Aiden Jesse, who made a nice move to the end zone for the score. Madisonville’s Ryder Sandidge blocked the extra point, leaving the score at 21-6.
The Maroons got that touchdown back a couple of possessions later when Markezz Hightower scored for the third time, this one a three yard run, nudging the lead out to 28-6 with 3:07 to go in the opening half.
After the Madisonville defense again stopped another Tiger possession on the opening drive of the second half, the Maroons drove down the field and found the end zone again, this time on a 7 yard touchdown pass from Alex Richards to Jayden Travis that ran the score out to 35-6.
Madisonville special teams again came up big with :29 seconds to go in the third, blocking their second punt of the night and recovering the ball at Hopkinsville’s 22 yard line. Less than 30 seconds later, Markezz Hightower scored his fourth touchdown of the night, pushing the lead out to 42-6 and bringing the running clock into play.
With the Maroons interspersing some reserves into the lineup over the final 12 minutes, the Tigers were able to strike on big plays for a couple of scores in the fourth. James Bradley caught a 70 yard touchdown pass from Jasiah McCarley and then McCarley hit Aiden Jesse for a 62 yard strike with 5:06 left in the game that got the score to 42-19.
Thanks to those late scores, Hopkinsville finished with 267 yards of total offense, 65 rushing and 202 through the air. Nearly half, 132 yards of the Tigers’ total offense came on the two touchdowns in the final quarter.
Jasiah McCarley was 11 of 25 passing the ball for 202 yards. James Bradley Jr. had 18 carries for 64 yards on the ground.
For the Maroons, they ended up with 391 total yards, 328 yards on the ground and 63 yards throwing the ball. In addition to Hightower’s 238 rushing yards, Ryder Sandidage added 50 rushing yards.
After giving up four turnovers on offense last week against Union County, the Maroons did not give the ball away Friday night. Special teams also came up big, blocking two punts and one extra point. Noah Mays was 6 for 6 on extra points, making him 13 for 13 on the season.
Madisonville improves to 2-0 with the win, while Hopkinsville falls to 1-1 for the young season.
One Response
Why was it the final game, tell the story.