Madison Central falls in defensive battle
Madison Central fell in a rainy battle of rivals and championship contenders on Friday night, losing 21-7 to Brandon on the road in a defensive slugfest.
While the Jaguars put together a good performance on the defensive side of the ball, they could not overcome a rough offensive performance and mistakes on special teams.
“We did a lot of things that were uncharacteristic for our football team,” Madison Central Head Coach Toby Collums said. “We couldn’t get anything going offensively and then the botched punt and the turnover is just a killer.”
Brandon got the scoring going early with a short rushing touchdown from Tyson Robinson midway through the first quarter. Robinson scored all three touchdowns for the Bulldogs, but the star running back for Brandon was held to 63 yards on the night by a tough Madison Central defense.
“We really tried to give them some unorthodox looks and some things they haven’t seen on film (defensively),” Collums said. “I think our defense played well enough to win the football game, but there is three phases to the game and we only played good in one of those.”
A botched snap that went over the punter’s head in the second quarter setup Brandon with prime field position, which they capitalized on with another rushing touchdown from Robinson to take a 14-0 lead into halftime.
Brandon was the first on the board in the second half as well, with Robinson scoring his third touchdown on the night, extending the lead to 21-0.
Madison Central was finally able to answer and get on the board in the fourth quarter, with star running back Glen Singleton finding the endzone on the ground, bringing it to the 21-7 final score.
This game was a battle between two teams that are expected to make deep playoff runs in MHSAA 7A, with many tough matchups ahead. It is the kind of matchup that battle tests teams and gets them ready for those situations where playoff seedings or even their season is on the line.
While Madison Central falls to 1-1 overall on the season, they will have a chance to bounce back in their home opener next week against another tough opponent in Gulfport.