Big plays in the passing game and a solid defensive performance fueled the Madill Wildcats to a 35-3 blasting of Marietta last week and their initial gridiron victory of the season.
Coach John Heavner’s unit will look to make it a winning streak to close the non-district schedule this week when they travel to Dickson for a 7 p.m. kickoff Friday.
Baylor Bond had a strong performance in throwing for 293 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Madill offensive charge. That effort helped propel the Wildcats to a whopping 427-140 advantage in total yardage.
“It was great to pick up the win and I’m really happy for the kids,” Heavner said. “It really helped give us good energy to get us going in the right direction. We felt going in that we would have some chances to connect downfield in the passing game and we took advantage of a couple. We made some mistakes though with a few drops and had a turnover in the red zone or it could have been a lot more.
“Our defense played really well though. Outside of Marietta’s first drive we really did a good job of containing their option attack. I’m proud of the way the kids focused on playing their assignments, which is what you have to do against offenses like that. We had three plays where we nearly had scoop and score touchdowns off turnovers. The huge thing though was that we got to play everybody and get some kids some experience.”
Marietta took the initial lead in the game with a 31yard field goal with 2:40 left in the opening stanza. That lead proved to be short lived however.
TheWildcatsimmediately countered with a 70-yard scoring toss from Bond to Talon Reames to begin the run of 35 unanswered points for Madill.
Bond added a 31-yard touchdown pass to Uziel Flores to cap the next drive and Flores contributed a one-yard scoring burst on the ground before the end of the period for a 21-3 halftime edge.
Madill came out gunning on the first series of the third quarter with Bond connecting with Flores again for a 69yardtouchdownlessthantwo minutes after intermission.
Landon Clutter tossed in a 14-yard touchdown run with 9:33 remaining in the final period to cap the scoring.
Charles Thomas paced the Wildcat ground game with 84 yards on 13 rushing attempts. Clutter carried six times for 33 yards.
Flores was the leading receiver in the contest with six grabs for a whopping 195 yards with Reames snagging two for 83 and Gilberto Grimaldo adding one catch for 15 yards.
The Wildcat focus now shifts to Dickson and their nearby rival while looking to continue the momentum and avenge a 20-7 loss to the Comets a year ago.
“Dickson is really big up front and strong,” Heavner commented. “We are going to have to play physically. They will give us some challenges, but we are confident. The team that controls the line of scrimmage will be key as well as taking care of the football. We put the ball on the ground twice last week and can’t have that.