The Madisonville-North Hopkins Maroons head into their bye week the same way they went into their game at Muhlenberg County Thursday night. Unbeaten. The state’s #1-ranked team in the RPI ratings for Class 5A took care of business with a 56-12 road win over the Mustangs.
Coming off a ‘way too close call’ last week, the Maroons got control of this one early and put the hammer down.
After winning the coin toss, the Maroons took the ball and got right to work. Madisonville took the opening drive and marched 56 yards, capped off by a 5-yard touchdown run from Markezz Hightower, putting the Maroons up 7-0 with still 7:44 to go in the opening quarter.
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Muhlenberg County was moving the ball on its opening possession of the night, but the drive ran out of gas deep in the Maroons’ end of the field. The Mustangs would end up turning the ball over on downs at the Madisonville 25-yard line with 4:40 to go in the first.
It did not take the Maroons long to take advantage of getting the ball back. Quarterback Alex Richards hit Jeremyah Sharp on a wide receiver screen with Sharp then taking the pass 52 yards to the house to push the Madisonville lead out to 14-0 with 3:42 left in the first.
After driving the ball down the field again on their second possession, the Mustangs found the endzone on the opening play of the second quarter when Klay Wilken found senior receiver Braydan Baskerville for a 15-yard score. The extra point attempt was blocked, and the Mustangs were within 14-6 with 11:54 to go in the half.
Neither team was able to get much going until late in the half. With the Maroons driving, Ryder Sandidge popped open running up the middle and ran it 10 yards to the end zone to extend the lead to 21-6 with 3:20 to go in the half.
On their next possession, the Mustangs elected to try a fake punt near midfield. The pass was picked off by Kirk LaGrange, setting the Maroons up with great field possession. Two plays later, Markezz Hightower was crossing the goal line on a 20-yard touchdown run with 1:06 to go in the half, moving the lead out to 28-6, and that would be the score as the teams headed off to the break.
Madisonville’s offense was producing almost at will in the first 24 minutes with more than 230 total yards.
Muhlenberg County got nothing going on the opening possession of the second half, and the Mustangs would pay dearly for not taking advantage of the opportunity.
Two plays after the Mustang punt, Alex Richards hit Ryder Sandidge on a quick slant that ‘quickly’ turned into a 56-yard touchdown. Noah Mays’ extra point made it 35-6 with 9:25 to go in the third quarter.
However, the Mustangs were not quite ready to go away just yet. Klay Wilken hit Logan Harris for a 75-yard touchdown with 8:17 to go in the third, trimming the lead to 35-12. The Maroons blocked their second extra point attempt of the night after the Muhlenberg County touchdown.
The problem for the Mustangs at this point was that the Madisonville offense had found its groove. The Maroons went right down the field, capping off the scoring drive with a 26-yard touchdown run from Markezz Hightower, moving the lead out to 42-12 with 6:58 to go in the third.
The Maroon defense came up with another stop, and now it appeared that Muhlenberg County could find no answers anymore for the Maroons’ offense. It worked so well in the first half, Alex Richards and Jeremyah Sharp went with the wide receiver screen again, and it led to another touchdown, this time for 68 yards, making it a 49-12 game with 3:08 to go in the third and bringing the running clock into play.
Another defensive stop for the Maroons led to still more offense. Madisonville capped off another scoring drive with a 5-yard run from Markezz Hightower to make it 56-12 with 8:45 left in the game.
The Madisonville offense was machine-like Thursday, piling up 520 yards of total offense, 250 on the ground and 270 through the air.
Markezz Hightower finished with 14 carries for 207 yards and four scores. Alex Richards was 10 of 16 for 270 yards and 3 touchdowns. Jeremyah Sharp caught two of those passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns.
The Maroons go to 7-0 overall and 3-0 in district play with the win. The Maroons are 7-0 for the first time since the 1983 season.
Madisonville has the week off next week to prepare for its massive back-to-back home district games against Apollo and Owensboro on October 17 and October 24.
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Go Maroons!
Go Maroons !!!