For the fourth straight season, a trip to the city of Bowling Green for the opening round of the football playoffs did not go well for the Madisonville-North Hopkins Maroons. Noah Mays 53-yard field goal attempt with 43 seconds left in the game lifted off into the ever-thickening fog descending on Greenwood High School but came down short, and the Gators were then able to run out the clock as Greenwood claimed a 21-18 win.
A big defensive series gave the Maroons the ball and one last chance, starting at their own 20-yard line with two minutes to go in the game, but Madisonville was out of timeouts and had to go high-speed with their offense. Maroons fans in attendance had their hopes of pulling off the comeback when Alex Richards hit Evan Wilson with a 43-yard strike, through the fog, to get the Maroons on the Greenwood side of the field.
However, Richards was sacked on the next play, and that put the Maroons behind the sticks and ended up leading Coach Chris Price to opt for a long field goal on fourth down, rather than try to pick up the first down with no time outs left.
The night got off to a bumpy start for the Maroons, as they went three-and-out on the opening possession of the game. The Greewood offense then took advantage of the opportunity.
The Gators drove 56-yards and capped off the drive with a 10-yard run from Nathan Self to take a 7-0 lead with 7:28 to go in the first quarter.
The Greenwood defense forced the Maroons into another three-and-out on their second possession. However, the Maroons got the ball back just three plays later when Ryder Sandidge came up with an interception at the Madisonville 42-yard line.
The Maroons then turned up the ground game and got down to the Gator 24-yard line. But, Noah Mays 41-yard field goal attempt was off the mark as Greenwood kept a 7-0 lead with 57 seconds left in the opening quarter.
Early in the second, it was Nathan Self with his second touchdown of the night, this one on a big play, a 43-yard touchdown run that pushed the lead out to 14-0 with 11:17 to go in the half.
Madisonville had its best drive of the night on the following series. Starting on their own 31-yard line, the Maroons marched off an 11-play, 69-yard drive, that finished with an 18-yard run from Tra Stafford as Madisonville cut the Greenwood lead to 14-7 with 5:44 to go in the half.
In what may have turned out to be the drive of the night, Greenwood came right back with a 6-play drive that covered 75 yards to move their lead back out to 14 points at 21-7. The scoring play was a 26 yard touchdown pass to Maxwell Isenhower on fourth down with 2:32 to go in the half.
The Maroons had an answer of their own, getting down into field goal range inside the final minute of the half, and this time Noah Mays was good from 40 yards to trim the Greenwood lead to 21-10 as the two teams headed off into the locker rooms.
As the second half began, the game began to feel like it was being played on the marshes of England as the fog began to roll in and thicken up as the second half went on.
The Gators took the opening possession of the second half and drove to the Maroons’ 25-yard line, but the drive then bogged down, and Greenwood turned the ball over on downs. The Maroons could get nothing rolling on their first possession of the half after getting the ball back.
The issue was that the two possessions had chewed up half the third quarter, and that pattern would continue through much of the second half, putting the Maroons in a ‘time bind.’
Greenwood started at its own 15 and got to the Madisonville 47 before running out of steam and having to give the ball back.
The Maroons began the next drive at their 20 yard line. An 80-yard drive was capped off by an 11-yard run from Tra Stafford, his second TD of the night, and, with the two-point conversion, the Maroons were within 21-18, but now the clock was down to 10:19 to go in the game.
The Maroons went three and out on the next possession, setting the stage for the nail-biting finish.
For the night, the Maroons finished with 263 total yards, 158 rushing and 105 through the air. Markezz Hightower ended the night with 87 yards on the ground. Alex Richards was 7 of 16 through the air.
The Gators ended up with 317 total yards, 256 rushing and 61 passing.
Madisonville-North Hopkins finishes the season at 8-3.
Greenwood improves to 7-4 and will now head off to Owensboro next weekend to take on the Red Devils in the second round.
