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Madill fell to Hilldale on October 27, making their district record 2-4. Summer Bryant
The Madill Wildcats went into Muskogee looking to their third consecutive victory on October 27. The Wildcats were hoping to keep possible playoff hopes alive as they faced the Hilldale Hornets in a league matchup on a rainy and windy late October night.
The first half was relatively quiet on the scoreboard as both teams tried to establish themselves. Hilldale got on the board early with a 49yard screen pass that broke for a touchdown from Talon Shaffer to Brady Scott to get out to a 7-0 lead.
That was all the scoring to be seen in the first half. Madill had a drive led by the arm of Eli Vinson and the legs of HarlemHolmes,butitstalled out and Hilldale forced a field goal attempt. Uziel Flores has been solid all year in the kicking department, but this kick would hit the uprights and bound away leaving Madill scoreless and still trailed 7-0 to the Hornets.
Hilldale hit paydirt early in the second half with a 21yard rumble for a touchdown byGageRowland,whoended up tallying 132 yards on the ground on the night for the Hornets. This score extended the Hilldale lead to 14-0 as the 3rd quarter wound down.
Vinson led the Wildcats to their first points of the night with a two-yard quarterback sneak for the touchdown to cut the Hornets’ lead in half. The Wildcats now only trailed 14-7 after gaining somemomentumearlyinthe final quarter.
Vinson was back at it, this time with his arm. He aired it out to Flores for a 23-yard touchdown. Flores helped his own cause by adding the extra point to tie the game at 14 apiece with 9:38 to play in the game.
Gage Rowland, who had been pounding the ball on the ground all night, had his number called again. He ran a sweep to the left, but pulled up for the halfback pass and found his man in the endzone fora10-yardtouchdown.This brought the score to 21-14 in favor of Hilldale with a little over five minutes to play.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, that is how it ended with the final score of 21-14 to bring Madill’s record to 2-7 overall, 2-4 in district. Hilldale improved to 4-5, 2 in district play. Up next for the Wildcats is a home matchup with Sallisaw on Friday, November 3.