MADISON — Madison lit up the scoreboard Friday night, outgunning South in a 48-29 shootout that rekindled their old Western Reserve Conference rivalry — and offered a preview of battles to come in the Chagrin Valley Conference.
The Blue Streaks stormed to a 27-9 halftime lead and never let up, trading punches with the Rebels through an explosive second half.
“I challenged the guys on Monday because if we’re going to have a chance against South, we have to be more physical,” said Madison head coach Mike Gilligan. “We had a mindset coming in that we were going to win that battle, and we couldn’t let any passes over the top of us like we did against Perry. We did both of those things tonight, and we got the ball in our playmakers’ hands, and they made plays.”
Madison’s offense wasted no time.
On the opening drive, James Poe racked up 64 yards rushing and receiving before finishing the drive with a four-yard touchdown run for a 7-0 lead.
Senior quarterback Will Randall followed with two touchdown passes — a 10-yarder to Tyler Alley and a 41-yard strike to Payton Birman — to extend the lead to 20-0.
South answered with an 18-yard touchdown run by Jayden Hardy and a 33-yard field goal from Nick Barrus, cutting the deficit to 20-9.
Randall struck again late in the first half, connecting with Patrick Clark on a 26-yard touchdown with 16 seconds left to give Madison a 27-9 halftime advantage.
South opened the third quarter with momentum.
After forcing a punt, Luke Jensen found his brother Josh Jensen for a 15-yard touchdown on fourth-and-11, trimming the deficit to 27-15.
Randall responded by mixing the run and pass, with help from Clark, Birman, and Poe, before Alley caught a 14-yard touchdown pass to put Madison ahead 34-16.
The Jensen brothers connected again in the fourth on a three-yard touchdown to pull South within 34-23.
Madison answered immediately. On the first play of the next drive, Randall hit Birman on a screen pass that went 47 yards to the end zone, stretching the lead to 41-23. The Rebels struck back one more time with Luke finding Josh for their third touchdown of the night but still trailed 41-29.
Birman sealed the win with a 10-yard touchdown run, his third score of the night, capping Madison’s 48-29 victory.
Gilligan praised his team for showing major growth from week one to week two.
“You can tell how good a team is going to be if they make that big jump from week one to week two,” Gilligan said. “That should be the most improvement you see all year long, and I thought our kids came in on Monday and responded really well. That’s all you can ask of them, and their attitude was there, and they were ready to get after it.”
The Blue Streaks’ response showed on the scoreboard.
“Coach preaches respond with attitude,” Randall said. “That’s what we were about tonight.”
Randall completed 14-of-20 passes for 253 yards and five touchdowns. Birman collected 241 total yards on 22 touches with three scores. Poe added 104 yards on 16 touches with three touchdowns, while Clark and Alley combined for six receptions, 81 yards, and two scores.
South (1-1) battled throughout the night despite the loss.
“I give the kids a lot of credit for playing hard,” said South head coach Matt Duffy. “A lot of the first half, we had some self-inflicted wounds, and we have to clean that up against a team like this.”
The Jensen brothers powered the Rebels’ passing game.
“We’ve been throwing the ball together since we were kids,” Luke said. “It just showed tonight. We had one last week that got called back, so it was good to get a couple tonight.”
Josh added, “We used to throw the ball around in the living room, we got the chemistry. It was nice to get some touchdowns. I’m sure our mom is happy.”
Luke Jensen went 15-of-24 for 153 yards with three touchdowns, all to Josh, who caught eight passes for 84 yards. Hardy added 107 rushing yards on 18 carries with one touchdown and also caught three passes for 32 yards.
Madison (1-1) visits North next Friday, while South travels to Brush.
