Editor’s Note: This is Part II of a three-part series commemorating the 30th anniversary of the 1992 Madison football team. The Rams went 10-0 in the regular season, won the Ohio Heartland Conference championship, finished fourth in the final Division I AP poll, and reached the playoffs. Part I was published on Sept. 27. Part III will be published on Sept. 29.
MADISON TOWNSHIP — The 1992 Madison football season was a campaign filled with incredible highlights.
The Rams went 10-0 to win the Ohio Heartland Conference championship, finished No. 4 in the state’s Division I poll, and qualified for the playoffs for just the second time in school history.
We asked some of the players and their coach to take a look at that season in retrospect, and here’s what they shared on a game-by-game basis.
Sept. 4: Madison 59, Shelby 7
Senior Rob Whitfield made a crucial position switch, from halfback to split end, and exploded in his first outing at W.W. Skiles Field. The 5-foot-11, 175-pounder caught four passes for 281 yards and three touchdowns. His receptions went for 93, 77, 72 and 39 yards for a 70.3 yards per catch average.
“We wanted to get that type of an athlete outside,” coach Dana Woodring said.
Whitfield also returned a punt 44 yards. On five touches, the Rams’ standout accounted for 320 yards of total offense (64 yards per touch).
“Whitfield is a great football player,” Galion coach Dick Predmore said, looking ahead to his matchup with the Rams the following week. “We’ve been watching him since he was in the eighth grade.
“They really hurt Shelby by finding Whitfield for a couple of long ones. I hope we have better success.”
Quarterback Joe Schag was 7-of-10 passing for 332 yards (47.4 yards per completion) and three TDs, while Nate Whitcomb ran for three touchdowns. Madison rolled up 532 yards of total offense.
Sept. 11: Madison 49, Galion 6
Nate Whitcomb bolted for 113 yards and five touchdowns on just 15 carries, and Rob Whitfield had two catches for 113 yards, including an 81-yard TD.
“It just boils down to one thing: they have a few more horses than we do,” Galion coach Dick Predmore said.
Coach Dana Woodring noted quarterback Joe Schag’s ability to diagnose defenses as crucial to the Rams’ attack.
“We were running 75 percent of our offense at the line,” the coach said. “He has a package from what he’s seen and it depends on what coverage and what front the defense is in.”
Sept. 18: Madison 34, Mount Vernon 12
This game was played in a muddy mess, but quarterback Joe Schag navigated the conditions brilliantly. He ran for scores of 17 and 10 yards, and fired a 44-yard TD pass to Rob Whitfield and a 64-yard touchdown strike to Lee Montgomery.
Nate Whitcomb’s 67-yard touchdown dash was part of a 128-yard rushing day on 14 carries.
“Skill-wise, they are a very good ball team. They’ve got a lot of weapons,” Mount Vernon coach Roger Kirkhart said. “Their speed just got to us in the second half.”
Sept. 25: Madison 57, Cleveland John Adams 6
Junior Brent Billingsley moved into Nate Whitcomb’s spot, while the latter served a one-game suspension for missing practice, but the Rams didn’t miss a beat. Billingsley scored on a 5-yard run and a 49-yard screen pass.
Joe Schag had a 1-yard TD plunge and threw two more touchdown passes to Lee Montgomery (6 yards) and Rob Whitfield (33 yards). Whitfield had five catches for 99 yards. Matt Schambre added a 36-yard fumble return for another score.
“Mansfield Madison is one good football team,” John Adams coach Eugene Young said. “I would say they are even better than the team that beat us here last year. They are a playoff-type team.”
Oct. 2: Madison 64, Chillicothe 19
Madison ran for 415 yards, with Nate Whitcomb gaining 180 yards on 14 carries and scoring four TDs. Fullback Ryan Ohl added 132 yards on 12 carries and a TD.
Quarterback Joe Schag completed 11-of-16 passes for 164 yards. Rob Whitfield caught five passes for 77 yards including a 28-yard score, and Lee Montgomery caught a 28-yard touchdown toss, too.
Madison reached No. 9 in the Division I state poll after this game and climbed to third in the Division I, Region 3 computer rankings.
Oct. 9: Madison 48, Orrville 14
Quarterback Joe Schag broke the single-season passing record in this Week 6 clash, reaching 1,103 yards by hitting 7-of-13 passes for 127 yards and two scores. Schag tossed TD passes of 44 yards to Lee Montgomery and 32 yards to Rob Whitfield. Whitfield also returned an interception 64 yards for a touchdown.
Nate Whitcomb tacked on 175 yards rushing and three touchdowns.
“They were every bit as good as we thought they were,” Orrville coach Bill McMillan said. “They could go a long way. I hope they do, that might make me feel a little better, not much, but maybe a little … They are a great football team.”
Orrville provided the only blemish on Madison’s 1990 regular-season resume. Those Rams were the first in school history to reach the playoffs.
“We didn’t want them to come into our house and knock us around like they did two years ago,” coach Dana Woodring said.
Madison moved to 7th in the Division I AP poll after this game.
Oct. 16: Madison 29 Lexington 3
Lexington jumped to a 3-0 first-quarter lead, the first time Madison trailed all season. But the Rams shook off the challenge.
“I figured (the players) would respond pretty seriously,” coach Dana Woodring said. “That was probably good for us. We settled down after that.”
On the first snap after the Lex field goal, quarterback Joe Schag tossed a 62-yard TD pass to Rob Whitfield. On the next series, the two connected again for a 56-yard score.
“They have such a good all-around football team, I really don’t know what you do to stop them,” Lexington coach Butch McCormick said.
Schag hit Lee Montgomery with a 37-yard scoring strike and Nate Whitcomb peeled off a 48-yard touchdown sprint, part of a 133-yard effort for him.
Oct. 23: Madison 42, Marion Harding 0
This might have been Madison’s best all-around performance of the season.
Joe Schag was 6-of-10 passing for 163 yards and two touchdowns. Rob Whitfield caught four passes for 153 yards, including a 58-yard touchdown, and then there was running back Nate Whitcomb. The Rams’ brilliant back ripped off 202 yards on 20 carries and scored four touchdowns on runs of 58, 22, 1 and 1.
“I think Whitcomb is the best back I’ve seen,” Marion Harding coach Dick Hill said flatly. “If he plays like that all the time, well … You take away all our mistakes and we still lose because they have Whitcomb.”
Madison’s defense produced three goal-line stands, turning the Presidents away each time inside the 10, something the Rams showed a knack for all season long.
“Those aren’t the first goal-line stands we’ve had this year,” coach Dana Woodring said.
They wouldn’t be the last, either.
Madison moved up to sixth in the Division I AP poll.
Oct. 30: Madison 24, Mansfield Sr. 14
This is the one they still talk about on Esley Lane, and for good reason. It was certainly the biggest game ever played at Ram Field, and remains so to this day.
It’s difficult to convey the intensity that percolated around this contest. A law enforcement presence of more than 30 officers was dispatched to ring the stadium as the city boiled to a fever pitch.
This game marked the zenith of the crosstown rivalry, and bubbled with Division I playoff and Ohio Heartland Conference championship implications.
The sellout crowd was estimated at somewhere between 6,000 and 7,000 people — largely a best guess because Madison simply stopped selling tickets for safety reasons. Many didn’t have a seat, and the bleachers on both sides were filled more than 30 minutes before the game. People stood 4- and 5-deep in some spots around the chain-link fence circling the field.
Had this encounter been played at Arlin Field, I have no doubt more than 10,000 tickets could’ve been sold.
After a week of heavy buildup, the game finally kicked off with the Mansfield Senior defense deployed to stop running back Nate Whitcomb. So, Madison turned to the air on its opening possession. Quarterback Joe Schag smartly led the Rams 69 yards and finished it with a 10-yard TD strike to Lee Montgomery. It was the first passing touchdown the Tygers had surrendered all year.
But Senior High responded with a 59-yard drive of its own, capped by Jason Mack’s 6-yard scoring scamper to tie it at 7-7 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second period, the Rams mounted another march, this one encompassed 73 yards, and concluded on fullback Ryan Ohl’s 1-yard TD plunge. Yet again Mansfield Senior knotted the affair thanks to Mack’s 11-yard run off a LeAunti Jefferson option pitch.
Coach Dana Woodring’s squad took the halftime lead on Josh Hrivnak’s 22-yard field goal to make it 17-14, and Senior High saw its chance at 3 go by the boards when Schag blocked a field goal attempt.
That capped a spectacular, action-packed first half that lived up to all the pregame billing.
The second half belonged to Whitcomb and the Madison defense, which turned in three brilliant stands inside its own 10.
Early in the third quarter, the Rams turned it over at their own 13 when a punt attempt went awry. But a couple of plays later Rob Whitfield intercepted a pass in the end zone to thwart a golden opportunity for Mansfield Senior.
“I knew from film what play they were running,” Whitfield said. “I peeled off my guy and stepped into the space. They threw it right to me.”
On its next possession, which began at Madison’s 26, the Tygers suffered another turnover when Schag’s crunching hit forced a fumble that sophomore Billy Bays pounced on at the 10.
That play set up an epic scenario that clinched the contest.
Beginning at its own 10, Madison turned Whitcomb loose, and Senior High simply couldn’t stop the 5-foot-10, 200-pound powerhouse. Whitcomb ran for 5 yards, then 10 to push the ball to the 25. One play later, he cut loose for a 45-yard scamper to the Tygers’ 25. Working predominantly over right tackle, Whitcomb ran for 13 and 10 more yards. He finally finished it with a 2-yard plunge.
Whitcomb accounted for 83 of 90 yards on six carries in this seven-play series, and finished with 155 yards on 24 attempts, including the clinching touchdown.
“That’s what makes this so sweet,” coach Dana Woodring said. “We had to drive it. They had to stop it, and we ran power football right at them to win it.”
Mansfield Senior again fought its way inside the Madison 10 in the fourth quarter, but the Rams held on downs at their own 5 to turn away the final threat.
“Obviously this was a real big game for us,” Woodring said. “To be honest, this is The Game. This is our Ohio State-Michigan and we were ready for it.”
The Rams’ defense controlled the second half, allowing just 27 yards rushing on 16 carries and only four first downs. For the game, Madison won the statistical battle across the board in total yardage (322-223), first downs (19-12), rushing yards (165-151) and passing yards (157-72). The Rams were also +2 in the turnover battle.
“We wanted to play Ram ball in our house,” Whitcomb said. “They came to our backyard and we kicked them out.”
Madison remained at No. 6 in the AP poll and was at No. 4 in the Region 3 computer ratings. Only the top four teams in each region reached the playoffs at this time.
Nov. 6: Madison 28, Ashland 7
Fear of a letdown was real after the mammoth Mansfield Senior win, and Ashland was undefeated in the OHC standings — good enough to take advantage if Madison slipped at Community Stadium.
Playing for the outright conference crown before another huge crowd in Ashland, the Arrows hung tough in a scoreless tie deep into the second quarter. But quarterback Joe Schag broke through with a 22-yard keeper around right end for a 7-0 halftime edge.
The Rams made it 14-0 on their opening march of the second half, going 68 yards in 12 plays with Schag finding Rob Whitfield for a 21-yard TD pass.
Ashland countered with its only score of the game to make it 14-7, but tailback Nate Whitcomb dominated the fourth quarter. Whitcomb’s 1-yard dive pushed the advantage to 21-7 in the final period, and he put the contest away with a spectacular 87-yard touchdown dash. That gave him 198 yards for the game and the single-season Madison rushing record at 1,359 yards in nine games.
“Every year before the season starts our seniors meet at my house and talk about what our goals will be and what we think we can do,” coach Dana Woodring said. “The consensus was we wanted to go undefeated, win our fourth OHC and get into the playoffs.”
Mission accomplished.
Madison finished just the second perfect season in school history with a 10-0 mark and the OHC championship. The 1971 squad was the first 11-man team to go undefeated at 10-0.
This edition of the Rams moved to No. 4 in the Division I AP poll, behind only Cleveland St. Ignatius, Cincinnati St. Xavier and Massillon Perry. Ignatius beat Xavier 24-14 in the state finals later that year.
Madison also finished No. 3 in the Division I, Region 3 playoff poll, behind only Perry and Pickerington, and just ahead of Austintown Fitch. Canton McKinley and Lancaster were on the outside of the playoffs looking in from the region.
The Rams were assigned to play seventh-ranked Pickerington (there was only one Pickerington high school at that time) at Dublin High School (there was also only one Dublin high school at that time) in a matchup of unbeaten teams.
Nov. 14: Pickerington 22, Madison 19
Pickerington and Madison had a common foe in the regular season, Mount Vernon. Pickerington edged the Yellow Jackets 17-13, while Madison thumped coach Roger Kirkhart’s squad 34-12.
Kirkhart noted the Rams had the edge in the skill positions, but the Tigers enjoyed a significant size advantage on both lines. That turned out to be the key to the contest.
A lot of heart helped, too. The Ohio Capital Conference championship team showed tremendous mettle in rallying for a dramatic win over Madison in blizzard-like conditions.
Coach Dana Woodring’s squad used its edge in superior skill players to break to a 13-0 halftime lead, punctuated by two more brilliant defensive stands.
The Rams staggered out of the gate, fumbling the opening kickoff. But yet another defensive stop turned back Pickerington without points.
Tailback Nate Whitcomb’s 1-yard run gave Madison a 7-0 first-quarter lead, and his 59-yard burst made it 13-0 late in the second quarter. Just before halftime, the Tigers reached the Rams’ 1, but quarterback Mike Hornberger was stopped just short of the goal line as time expired.
That was the sort of play that usually became a springboard for Madison to finish off a foe. Instead, the Rams couldn’t get out of their own way, turning the ball over three times in the second half, and Pickerington took full advantage.
The Tigers rolled 70 yards on five plays to draw within 13-7 on their initial possession of the second half. They took the lead on a fourth-and-four play on a 6-yard Chris Ramsey sweep. Incredibly, Pickerington was 4-of-4 on fourth down in this tight tilt.
Madison regained the lead at 19-14, when Whitcomb’s two-yard plunge finished an eight-minute, 72-yard drive. But the two-point conversion pass to Rob Whitfield was ruled out of bounds, something the players and coaches hotly dispute to this day.
“If there was a key play in the game, I would say the two-point conversion was it,” Madison coach Dana Woodring said. “That was a big play because we don’t get in and then we couldn’t stop them.”
Pickerington leaned on its massive offensive line during the ensuing 10-play, 77-yard march, keyed by two more fourth-down conversions. Ramsey plowed in from two yards away on a fourth-and-goal situation with 5:09 remaining in the game.
“Size didn’t hurt us during the year, but it sure hurt us tonight,” Woodring said. “Their quarterback hurt us, too. He did an outstanding job of delivering the ball.”
Madison had two more chances, but a pair of interceptions ended each threat, the last one at the Pickerington 5-yard line in the final seconds.
Whitcomb finished with 134 yards, but just 17 in the second half, and scored three TDs.
That concluded a brilliant campaign, one they still talk about 30 years later in Madison Township.
Sept. 4: Madison 59, Shelby 7
Sept. 11: Madison 49, Galion 6
Sept. 18: Madison 34, Mount Vernon 12
Sept. 25: Madison 57, Cleveland John Adams 6
Oct. 2: Madison 64, Chillicothe 19
Oct. 9: Madison 48, Orrville 14
Oct. 16: Madison 29, Lexington 3
Oct. 23: Madison 42, Marion Harding 0
Oct. 30: Madison 24, Mansfield Sr. 14
Nov. 6: Madison 28, Ashland 7
PLAYOFF
Nov. 14: Pickerington 22, Madison 19
Madison finished the regular season 10-0 and won the outright Ohio Heartland Conference championship. The Rams finished No. 4 in the final Division I state poll, according to the Associated Press, and qualified for their second playoff appearance in school history.