South Lakes Falls To Madison After Dominant Second Half By Warhawks Defense

By BRIAN McNICOLL

South Lakes High football coach Jason Hescock has talked for weeks about the importance of “managing the moments” – keeping one adverse moment from spiraling into many. Friday night at Madison, the Seahawks learned they still have work to do in this department.

The Seahawks seemed to have an offensive gameplan that could produce points and a defense ready for bend-but-don’t-break football against an explosive Warhawk offense. But two errant punt snaps led to quick Madison scores, and it was the Warhawks who responded to early adversity and went to a resounding 49-16 victory.

“We have been talking about meeting the moment,” said senior two-way lineman Chris Kishimoto after the game. “But we didn’t. We let the moment get to us.”

The loss leaves South Lakes at 5-3 overall, 2-1 in the Concorde District. Madison, which lost in the state championship game last year, won its first Concorde District game in three tries and is now 4-4 overall.

It took both snaps to break the Seahawks’ will. South Lakes scored on its first two possessions – a long drive to a 26-yard Nick Bertoni field goal and an even longer drive to a 17-yard touchdown pass from Christian Wyatt to sophomore Josh Dagby, who had seven catches for 129 yards and two touchdowns.

In between those drives was a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Madison’s Will Smoot set up by a fake reverse. There are no good times to allow a kickoff return for a touchdown, but this was among the least bad possible. It came early in the game and allowed South Lakes to set an offensive tone while Madison’s offense didn’t get to run a play for the first eight minutes of the game.

So it was 10-7 South Lakes, and the Seahawks were clicking when the first errant punt snap occurred. This one gave Madison the ball at the South Lakes 29. A defensive pass interference penalty took it to the Seahawk 21, and it still took Madison six plays to score on a 4-yard run by Matthew Weiler, who would finish with three touchdowns and 106 yards on just 14 carries.

The Seahawks responded with their best drive of the night – a six-play march capped by a 33-yard scoring pass from Wyatt to Dagby on a skinny post. The run featured gains of 15 and 19 yards by Wyatt, who became the first Seahawk other than Dalton Blakeney to lead the team in rushing in a game with 57 yards on 13 carries.

South Lakes tried to go for two and failed, but they were in front 16-14. “We were spreading them out and getting the numbers on coverage that we wanted,” Hescock said. “We were moving the ball. We were using the run to set up the pass. We were in good shape.”

Madison did drive down and score on its next possession. Weiler, the rare 6-3 running back, proved a challenge for the Seahawks all night. He had two 10-yard gains on the drive, which ended with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Madison quarterback Andrew Rowan to William Helvey that made it 21-16.

But the Seahawks were still very much in the ballgame. “We’re a mistake or two from having a lead there, and we were a play away from getting back into it,” Hescock said.

And then came the bombshell. South Lakes tried to get a first down and run out the first half, but an incomplete pass forced the Seahawks to punt with 15 seconds left. Another errant snap. Another 21-yard loss. And Madison had first down on the Seahawk 17 and time for only one play.

That was all the Warhawks needed. Madison’s Andrew Voinis ran a perfect out-route on the left side, and Rowan hit him a step from the boundary for a touchdown as time expired in the half. The score gave Madison a 28-16 lead and left the Seahawks stunned as they trudged off the field.

What happened after that “can never happen again,” Hescock told his team after the game.

South Lakes kicked off to start the second half, and Madison ran just three plays before South Lakes’s Carmen Soto intercepted a Rowan pass at the Seahawks 31. South Lakes went backwards nine yards on that possession, punted into Madison territory, Madison gained 23 yards back into Seahawk territory after that, and the ball never crossed midfield again.

South Lakes gained one first down after halftime, The Seahawks had -21 yards rushing and 14 passing. Wyatt completed five of eight passes after halftime, but the longest was a 7-yard catch by Blakeney in the final minute, and two resulted in losses. Blakeney ran the ball just three times, and two went for losses. Wyatt had 76 yards at halftime but lost 19 in the final half.The biggest play from scrimmage was an 8-yard gain by Nick Picarelli on a reverse.

Madison threw just two passes after halftime because it’s running game was dominant.The Warhawks scored on three straight possessions in the second half as Weiler and others ran behind big holes.

“We got punched in the mouth, and we went into a shell,” Hescock said. “That’s what we can’t let happen. Not just for football but for life. You get punched in the mouth in life. You have to respond. We didn’t respond tonight.”

The good news is South Lakes can still make the playoffs. The bad news is the last two games are against teams that beat Madison – at Centreville on Thursday and home against Westfield the following Friday.

“We have to be the ones to come out with more power after halftime,” Blakeney said after the game. “They did a better job of coming out strong than we did. We can’t let that happen again.”

South Lakes 10 6 0 0 – 16
Madison 7 21 7 14 – 49

SL-Nick Bertoni, FG 26
M-Will Smoot, 90 kickoff return (Alex Marshall kick)
SL-Josh Dagby, 17 pass from Christian Wyatt (Bertoni kick)
M-Matthew Weiler, 4 run (Marshall kick)
SL-Dagby, 33 pass from Wyatt (pass failed)
M-William Helvey, 20 pass from Andrew Rowan (Marshall kick)
M-Anthony Voinis, 17 pass from Rowan (Marshall kick)
M-Weiler, 12 run (Marshall kick)
M-Weiler, 32 run (Marshall kick)
M-Helvey, 21 run (Marshall kick)

SL M
First Downs 9 10
Rushes-Yards 27-42 34-193
Passing yards 147 149
Passes (A-C-I0 26-17-0 12-9-1
Punts-Avg. 3-36.3 1-23
Fum-Loss 0 1-0
Penalties-Yds 6-50 6-42

Rushing – SL: Wyatt 13-57, Dalton Blakeney 11-19, Nick Picarelli 1-9, Team 2-minus42. M: Weiler 14-106, Helvey 1-21, Rowen 3-minus 7, Jack Ricciardello 6-24, Smoot 3-17, Helvey 1-21, Jonah Barba 7-32.
Passing – SL” Wyatt 26-17-0, 147 yards, 2 TDs. M: Rowan 12-9-1, 149 yards, 2 TDs.
Receiving – SL: Dagby 7-129, 2 TDs; Picarelli 7-12, Nate Zschunke 2-17, Blakeney 1-7. M: Weiler 2-26, Kellen Counts 1-19, Smoot 1-1, Voinis 2-43, TD; Helvey 2-10, TD.