When you’ve won five straight weeks by the mercy rule and you’re undefeated, it’s kind of tough to nitpick.
But leading up to Friday’s game against Lebo, Madison coaches told their offensive line that they wanted to be more physical up front.
Duly noted.
The MHS offensive line sprung its backs for 306 yards and eight touchdowns on only 15 carries in Madison’s 62-12 mercy-rule victory.
“Yeah, I think they probably did achieve that with some of those stats,” Madison coach Fred McClain said of his offensive line.
Not only have the Bulldogs won by the mercy rule for six straight weeks, but they’ve only needed two quarters in their last two games.
Michael Luthi led Madison’s ground attack that averaged 20.4 yards per gain. Luthi ran for 162 yards and three touchdowns on only five carries. The end zone was the only thing stopping Luthi from running for more yards. Caleb Hamilton ran for 61 yards and three touchdowns and quarterback Henry Ott ran twice for 55 yards and a touchdown.
“Our offensive line played really well and the backs are back there doing a nice job finding holes,” McClain said.
Madison improved to 8-0, while Lebo fell to 3-5. The Wolves were led by Trevor White who ran for 66 yards and a touchdown. Lebo played without five starters, including four on defense. Leading rusher Adam Laflin also sat out with a shoulder injury.
“Offensively, I thought we did some nice things,” Lebo coach Butch Jones said. “I know we didn’t score as many points as we would have liked to have. We were able to score and get some first downs. ... We didn’t play very tough defensively. We didn’t hit very hard and we didn’t tackle very well when we got there. It’s just pretty tough right now.”
Lebo finishes its season next week against Crest and Madison will play its final game of district play before the playoffs at Marmaton Valley.
Friday at Madison
Lebo 6 6 — 12
Madison 32 28 — 60
First quarter
MHS — Hamilton 16 run (Luthi run)
MHS — Ott 40 run (Hamilton run)
MHS — Luthi 24 run (Ott run)
MHS — Luthi 52 run (Hamilton run)
Lebo — Trevor White 35 run (conversion failed)
Second quarter
MHS — Hamilton 10 run (Hamilton run)
MHS — Hamilton 5 run (conversion failed)
MHS — Luthi 42 run (Hamilton run)
MHS — Zach Fox 5 run (conversion failed)
Lebo — Devon Johnston 58 run (conversion failed)
GAME STATISTICS
Lebo MHS
First downs 6 5
Rushes-yards 27-163 15-306
Att.-Comp.-Int. 6-12-0 0-0-0
Passing yards 78 0
Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-0
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — Lebo: Perry 10-33, White 11-66, Johnston 6-64; MHS: Luthi 5-162, Hamilton 4-61, Henry Ott 2-55 Qb, Nowell 1-5, Fox 3-19, Bybee 1-2, Mark Ott 1-2.
Passing — Lebo: White 6-12-0 78.
Receiving — Lebo: Weiss 2-42, Perry 2-6, Johnston 1-17, Gold 1-6.
Olpe 49, Yates Center 0
Last week Olpe’s opponent decided it would rather stay at home than play the undefeated Eagles. On Friday night Yates Center showed, but the Wildcats might have also wished they had stayed at home.
The Eagles showed little rust from their two-week layoff. Yates Center did have success on its opening drive of the game, moving the ball to midfield and picking up three first downs, forcing Olpe coach Chris Schmidt to call a timeout.
“That first series we were just kind of flat and going through the motions,” Schmidt said, “but I thought they responded once we woke up.”
Schmidt’s time out must have been quite the wake up call, as the Eagles scored 27 points in the first quarter despite the Wildcats eating up the first three minutes off the clock.
The Eagles were led by Josh Lambert’s 74 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Leading rusher Cole Krueger ran for 72 yards and two touchdowns, and Schmidt was able to rest Krueger and most of his starters in the second half, giving nine players a chance to rush the ball.
Olpe has yet to be tested this season, but Schmidt said he expects to get that test next week against Humboldt.
“Next week it will be a different story and we need to be challenged,” Schmidt said. “We need to see where we’re at. I think next week will definitely be a stiff challenge for us and we’re going to have to step up and play for four quarters for sure.”
Friday at Olpe
Yates Center 0 0 0 0 — 0
Olpe 27 22 0 0 — 49
First quarter
Olpe — Lambert12 run (Krueger kick)
Olpe — Argabright 12 pass from Redeker (Krueger kick)
Olpe — Krueger 10 run (kick failed)
Olpe — Lambert 52 (Krueger kick)
Second quarter
Olpe — Redeker 11 run (Krueger kick)
Olpe — Team safety
Olpe —Krueger 4 run (Krueger kick)
Olpe —Kehres 6 run (Vaughn kick failed)
GAME STATISTICS
YC Olpe
First downs 7 9
Rushing 37-59 37-268
Comp.-Att.-Int. 6-25-2 2-3-0 Passing yards 76 39
Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0
Penalties-yards 5-35 7-55
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — Olpe: Lambert 4-74, Krueger 7-52, Jacob Kehres 10-45, Tyson Pettijohn 5-34, Wade Schmidt 2-21, Matt Redeker 1-11, Jake Brinkman 5-4, Derek Vaughn 1-4, Ricky Murray 2-23.
Passing — Olpe: Redeker 2-2 39, Brinkman 0-1-0 0
Receiving — Olpe: Ardabright 2-31.
Marmaton Valley 32, Hartford 28
Marmaton Valley had won in blowouts in its last two district wins and Hartford was 0-3 in district play.
So Friday’s matchup didn’t look like it would be a close game on paper, but Hartford — out of the playoff race — wanted to play spoiler.
The Tigers built a 32-14 lead and fought off a late comeback by the Jaguars to hold on for the win.
Colten Barrett threw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to give the Jaguars a chance. Barrett’s first touchdown was a 72-yard strike to Adam Ewy, who caught six passes for 92 yards in addition to his 113 rushing yards.
Hartford leaned almost exclusively on Ewy and Barrett, as the two combined for all of the team’s 146 rushing yards and 132 passing yards.
Tom Stinnett ran for 99 yards and two touchdowns to help the Tigers improve to 6-2. Hartford dropped to 3-5.
Friday at Hartford
Marmaton Valley 16 8 0 8 — 32
Hartford 8 6 0 14 — 28
First quarter
HAR — Ewy 3 run (Smith pass from Barrett)
MV — Stinnett 55 run (Ericson run)
MV — Stinnett 4 run (Maley run)
Second quarter
HAR — Barrett 5 run (conversion failed)
MV — Briggs 5 run (Maley run)
Fourth quarter
MV — Houk 24 pass from Ericson (Maley run)
HAR — Ewy 70 pass from Barrett (Barrett run)
HAR — Logan 15 pass from Barrett (conversion failed)
GAME STATISTICS
MV HAR
First downs 13 10
Rushing yards 222 146
Comp.-Att.-Int. 9-15-2 11-30-3
Passing yards 144 132
Total plays-yards 56-366 55-278
Fumbles-lost 2-2 4-1
Penalties-yards 3-35 5-40
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — MV: Stinnett 12-99, Maley 16-83, Ericson 9-28, Briggs 4-12; HAR: Ewy 11-113, Barrett 12-33, Cardner 1-0, Wilson 1-0.
Passing — MV: Ericson 9-15-2 144; HAR: Barrett 10-28-3 114, Ewy 1-2-0 18.
Receiving — MV: Houk 3-85, Briggs 2-33, Stinnett 2-12, Maley 1-10, Kuns 1-4; HAR: Ewy 6-92, Smith 2-3, Barrett 1-18, Grieder 1-15, Payton 1-4.