Austin Davis ran out of gas before he reached the end zone Friday night, but the Galion defensive end had enough in the tank to propel his Tigers to victory.
Davis returned a fumble 93 yards to short-circuit a fourth-quarter Madison drive and Galion held on for a 21-10 win over the visiting Rams at Unckrich Stadium.
Trailing 21-10 midway through the fourth quarter, Madison (1-1) used an 11-play drive to march deep into Galion territory. That is when Davis and the Tigers (2-0) pounced.
Galion linebacker Nick Flowers forced a Madison fumble and Davis, a 5-foot-10, 175-pound senior, scooped up the loose ball at his own 2 yard line and raced down the near sideline before getting dragged down from behind at the Madison 5.
“I had contain and … I saw that the ball was loose,” Davis said. “I scooped it up and saw daylight and I just took off. I thought I was going to score.”
The Tigers failed to punch the ball into the end zone after the Davis return, but they had dodged what might have been a game-changing bullet.
“That was the play of the game,” Galion quarterback Dareian Watkins said. “If Madison scores there, who knows what happens. That was a game-changer.”
So was Watkins. The Northwestern recruit erased Galion’s 10-7 halftime deficit on the first play of the second half, taking a shotgun snap and racing 67 yards untouched for what proved to be the game-winning touchdown.
“At halftime I brought everyone together in the locker room and told them our season depends on what we do in the second half,” Watkins said. “I told our linemen, it starts with them. We came out fighting on that first drive and we were fortunate it worked out the way it did.”
Watkins went back to work later in the third quarter after junior linebacker Drake Barnett recovered a Madison fumble at the Rams’ 43 yard line. On the first play of Galion’s ensuing drive, Watkins hooked up with senior receiver Alex Armistad on a 43-yard scoring strike to give the Tigers a 21-10 lead.
“We were able to take advantage of a couple of mistakes they made,” Watkins said. “Our coaches preached all week about the importance of winning the turnover battle.”
The Tigers forced four Madison turnovers Friday after losing the turnover battle in last week’s season-opening win over Fairbanks.
“I don’t want to take anything away from the job Galion did,” Madison coach Sean Conway said. “If we played bad, it’s because they made us look bad. Turnovers hurt, but at the same time missed tackles hurt and coaching mistakes hurt. It’s a team effort and as a team, we’ve got to improve.”
The Rams dominated much of the first half behind the hard-nosed running of Kalvin Gordon. The senior piled up 84 of his 142 yards in the opening half and scored the Rams lone touchdown on a 4-yard run in the second quarter. Adam Day tacked on a 36 yard field goal in the closing seconds of the half to give the Rams a 10-7 lead.
“They pushed us around in that second quarter,” Galion coach Chris Hawkins said. “We had three plays in the second quarter.
“They just hit a field goal as time expired to take a 10-7 lead and they dominated the second quarter. They had to be feeling pretty good.”
Those feelings were short-lived, however, as Watkins took over in the second half. He rushed for 108 of his 142 yards after halftime.
“In close games, those first couple of possessions on both offense and defense can dictate the momentum of the second half,” Hawkins said. “We go in at half down 10-7 and on the first play of the second half we’re up 14-10. That was huge.”
Madison host Mount Vernon next week.
“You have got to be one unit whether you win or you lose,” Conway said. “Tonight wasn’t our night, so we have to figure out how to respond and get back on the winning track.”
Follow Curt Conrad on Twitter @curtjconrad
Mansfield Senior 59, Lima Senior 42
