The football seemed to be as slippery in the first half as it did in the rain soaked second half for Coach Sean Conway’s Madison Rams as they committed four turnovers in a loss to Coach Kevin Maltarich’s West Holmes Knights at Ram Field on Friday night.
The first quarter seemed to foreshadow a defensive battle as the Rams and Knights would go scoreless. Both teams would force punts on the first drives of the ball game, as Ram’s senior linebacker Kalvin Gordon would rack up two sacks in the first quarter alone. Then the Rams offense would get the turnover bug and get it in the worst way. They would go on to fumble twice and throw one interception in their next three consecutive drives.
The final fumble came on the first play of the second quarter and West Holmes would use two plays to find the end zone for the games first score on an 18-yard run by senior stud halfback Layne Parone to make the game 7-0 in favor of the Knights. That was just the start of a sloppy defensive quarter by the Rams.
West Holmes capitalized on a punt by the Rams and march down the field and add yet another touchdown with a 9-yard run by Parone for his second score of the game to make it 13-0 after a missed extra point attempt. Parone’s score was set up by a 63-yard sprint by junior halfback Luke Ogi.
Madison would respond and respond quickly as Gordon, playing halfback, took the handoff from junior quarterback Austin Finley and take it 73 yards to the house for the score to get the Rams on the board 13-7.
From there, it was all Knights.
West Holmes would score touchdowns on their next three drives of the second quarter making it five consecutive drives leading to touchdowns. Parone would add another seven yard run before his half was over, and junior quarterback Brody Miller would connect on a 25 yard pass to senior wide receiver Brady Arnold for another second quarter touchdown to push the score to 35-7 at the half. That is when the sky opened up.
Halftime would see the Madison marching band performance wiped out by a a down pour of rain. Lightning strikes would delay the start of the second half for about an hour.
The teams would take the rain soaked, muddy field for the second half with stellar defensive play from both teams. West Holmes would force Madison to punt on their only two drives of the third quarter. After a fake punt was executed to perfection, the Knights’ Parone tacked on a 15-yard scamper in the third quarter for his fourth touchdown and to take a 42-7 lead into the fourth quarter.
Madison capitalized on a fumble recovery by senior linebacker Zack Davis by putting the ball in the hands of Gordon. The senior halfback would cruise 50 yards for the touchdown to make the score 42-14. The score be the final as time ran out.
West Holmes’ Parone would end up with 239 yards rushing and four touchdowns with Ogi adding a 150 yard rushing performance of his own.
Madison’s Gordon rushed for over 150 yards and two scores while adding two sacks on defense.
The Madison Rams are 1-3 on the season and will take on Wooster next Friday.
