MADISON TOWNSHIP — Brent Besancon and Andrew Saris will meet near midfield Friday, just as high school football coaches have done for generations, but the customary pregame handshake they will share hardly seems like a grand enough gesture.

Nothing either man could say or do would fully express the admiration they feel for one another.

A football lifer and Madison’s first-year head coach, Besancon has known Saris since before the latter was old enough to walk. He helped mentor Saris during the 1990s and early-2000s and has followed his career ever since.

“There’s not too much that goes on in our lives that the other doesn’t know about. Heck, I still see his dad at church,” Besancon said. “I am very proud of Andrew.”

Before Saris became a high school head coach, first of the track program at Madison and most recently the football program at Lexington, he was an All-Ohio defensive back at Smithville High School in nearby Wayne County.

Besancon, who graduated from Smithville in the late-1980s, was an assistant on Wayne County coaching legend Keith Schrock’s staff at the time.

Smithville was a small-school juggernaut during that era. Saris was a sophomore on the 2002 Division V state runner-up team and a first-team All-Ohioan two years later, when the Smithies reached the state semifinals.

“He coached me in the secondary,” said Saris, now in his second season in charge at Lex. “If you were to ask me who my favorite coach was, the answer is ‘Coach B.’ ”

Considering the other members of Schrock’s coaching staff at the time, that is high praise. Saris’ father, Chuck, was a Smithville assistant for more than 30 years.

“My dad was a great coach, but he coached tight ends and outside linebackers and I didn’t play either of those positions,” Saris said. “I was coached by other great men on that staff — guys who were loyal to the program and loyal to the kids.

“Those are men I admire to this day.”

Saris has borrowed several pages from Besancon’s coaching playbook. 

“I can’t remember who we were playing, but it was a playoff game and ‘Coach B’ could tell that we were all nervous,” Saris said. “He told us a joke that isn’t fit for print and it put us all at ease and we ended up winning the game. To this day, if I see our kids are nervous, I’ll tell them the same joke.

“That was ‘Coach B’ knowing his players and knowing what we needed in the moment.”

The Smithies qualified for the playoffs during all four years Saris was in high school. Those years have shaped Saris as he pursued a coaching career of his own.

“I was spoiled in high school. Instead of the 40 games you’re guaranteed, I played an extra 10 (postseason) games from my sophomore to my senior year,” Saris said. “I was fortunate enough to take part in two Thanksgiving Day practices. I was talking to our guys this week about how great that experience was.

It’s pretty special and it took me a while to realize, it’s not like this for everyone who plays the game.”

It’s no secret the Madison football program has fallen on hard times of late. Besancon, who owns and operates a dairy farm near Smithville, is the Rams’ third coach in as many years.

Saris, who was an assistant football coach at Madison in addition to his responsibilities to the track program, is sure the school picked the right man to revive the once-proud program.

Madison picked up its first win of the season last week, shutting out Mount Vernon 38-0 on the road. The Rams haven’t won two games in a row since Week 2 and Week 3 of the 2016 season.

“He’s doing a great job with those kids,” Saris said. “We know we’re playing a good football team that is coming off of a confidence-building win.”

Confidence was in short supply earlier in the year. The Rams were outscored 80-0 in back-to-back losses to River Valley and Ontario in Week 2 and Week 3.

Madison has been competitive in all but one of its Ohio Cardinal Conference games.

“I thought the second half of the Wooster game was a turning point for us,” Besancon said of the 27-14 loss to the Generals in Week 4. “We’ve gone in the right direction since then, save the Ashland game.

“We were up late in some of those games and gave up a score. It was disappointing, but the kids felt that they were getting better. That is what’s important for me and the staff, to see the kids keep getting better.”

Lexington, meanwhile, has dropped three in a row. The Minutemen (3-5, 2-3) would likely need to win their final two games to reach the Division III, Region 10 playoffs.

Regardless of what happens Friday at Madison, Saris said it’s going to be an emotional night.

“This is going to be the first time I’ve gone back to STARTEK Stadium since I left. I spent a lot of time there and Madison was extremely good to me,” Saris said. “I still have a lot of friends over there who were great role models for me.”

As for the pregame conversation with his former mentor, Saris can’t wait.

“I know Friday night when we shake hands at the 50 it’s going to be like I’m 17 years old again,” Saris said. “I’m excited. It’s going to be cool.”