Warhawks return favor to Foothillers

2019 EAST COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL

MADISON 34, GROSSMONT 13

 

By Jim Lindgren

Special to EastCountySports.com

 

EL CAJON – Pardon the grammar, but it isn’t often that Grossmont gets out-Grossmont-ed in a football game.

By that, it means the Foothillers got outplayed, outgained and ultimately outscored, 34-13, by Madison on Friday night at Jack Mashin Stadium.

“It’s a combination of them being very good and us shooting ourselves in the foot,” Grossmont coach Tom Karlo said. “Everything they tried worked well. A lot of things we tried backfired.

“That’s high school football sometimes. The ball didn’t bounce our way.”

No. 6-ranked Grossmont (4-1) came into the game averaging 600.3 yards and 48 points per game. No. 14 Madison (3-2) runs a near mirror-image offense of Grossmont and finished with 439 total yards to the Foothillers’ 407.

The difference was turnovers and capitalizing on offensive opportunities. Madison recovered four fumbles – its first three leading to subsequent touchdowns.

Madison senior Ke’ontae Springs, one of the best tailbacks in the section, rushed for 182 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries. He also turned a short pass into an electrifying 34-yard touchdown.

Jaylen Thomas completed 11-of-16 passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns. He also added a 33-yard touchdown run on a busted scramble play.

All that made for a terrific birthday celebration for Warhawks coach Rick Jackson, who turned 45 on Friday.

“That was a special birthday gift, for sure,” Jackson said. “We played really well on both sides of the ball. Our defense was awesome.”

As the No. 11-seed in the Division I playoffs last year, Grossmont upset Madison, 44-42, in epic fashion, going up by 24 points before halftime and then having to rally for a winning touchdown with 35 seconds left.

“They came into our house and beat us last year,” Springs said. “We had to come into their house and do the same thing they did to us last year, get that nasty taste out of our mouth.”

In that playoff game last year, Jaime Odom threw for 230 yards and three TDs and rushed for 211 yards and two TDs. Grossmont survived that game on a failed field-goal attempt on the final play of the game.

On Friday, Odom was 16-of-33 for 143 yards passing and rushed 15 times for 118 yards, including an 11-yard scoring run. Odom came into the game averaging 307 passing yards per game.

Odom now has 1,372 passing yards this season and 5,509 for his career. He is the third Grossmont quarterback in the past 10 years to pass for more than 5,000 career yards. Anthony Lawrence is the record-holder with 9,079 yards, and Hunter Gaines totaled 5,123 in two seasons.

Robert Tucker carried 14 times for 90 yards and caught three passes for 29 yards. He came into the game with 531 rushing and 349 receiving yards, but his touchdown total remained at 10.

Brody Schicker caught five passes for 35 yards and Adam Richmond three for 27 yards.

Grossmont forced a punt on its first defensive stand, then drove 66 yards in 12 plays before having to settle for a 31-yard field goal by Axel Gonzalez for a 3-0 lead.

Cameron Sanderlin blocked a punt on the ensuing possession, and Grossmont took over at the Madison 25-yard line. But on fourth-and-1 from the 6-yard line, Tucker was stopped short on a blast up the middle.

Blake Keeling intercepted a pass on Madison’s next possession, and Grossmont proceeded to march 51 yards only to see a fumble on a fourth-and-goal call from the 1-yard line. Malakai Chappell recovered the fumble for Madison.

Springs broke free for runs of 23 and 40 yards to set up a 15-yard scoring pass from Thomas to Hernan Smith to give the Warhawks a 6-3 lead they would take into halftime.

Grossmont fumbled again on its first play of the second half, and it was recovered by Javhi Blomquist at the 39-yard line. Four plays later, Madison had a 13-3 lead on a 34-yard TD reception and run by Springs.

Midway through the third quarter, Grossmont’s Jalen Jones recovered a fumble that set up the Foothillers’ lone touchdown, a 11-yard keeper by Odom to make it 13-10.

Madison came back with an eight-play, 69-yard scoring drive, capped by Thomas’s brilliant scramble with 0:30 left in the third quarter to make it 19-10.

Grossmont clawed back to 19-13 on a 42-yard field goal by Gonzalez with 9:40 to play, but it was all Madison after that.

Springs capped a nine-play, 60-yard drive with a 4-yard TD burst and added a 2-point conversion run to make it 27-13 with 5:55 left.

Moments later, Madison’s Deen Banks recovered another fumble that led to a 23-yard scoring run by Blomquist to make it 34-13 with 3:58 to play.

A fourth Foothillers’ fumble was recovered by Madison’s Shelton McIntyre, and that pretty much sealed the outcome.

“Our defense really stood up a few times,” Jackson said. “Those fourth-down stops and four turnovers were huge.”

Grossmont set a San Diego Section record with 817 total yards in a 59-26 win over Mater Dei in Week 2. That record stood for a week as Bishop’s put up 834 yards against Mater Dei the following week.

Grossmont opens its Grossmont Hills League schedule next week at much-improved Valhalla (3-2), a 20-12 winner over Kearny. The ’Hillers then face No. 16 Granite Hills (4-1), No. 1 Helix (4-1) and No. 5 Steele Canyon (5-0) in succession.

MADISON 34, GROSSMONT 13

Madison   0 6 13 15 – 34

Grossmont 3 0  7  3 – 13

G – FG Axel Gonzalez 31

M – Hernan Smith 15 pass from Jaylen Thomas (kick failed)

M – Ke’ontae Springs 34 pass from Jaylen Thomas (Ben Montano kick)

G – Jaime Odom 11 run (Axel Gonzalez kick)

M – Jaylen Thomas 33 run (run failed)

G – FG Axel Gonzalez 42

M – Ke’ontae Springs 4 run (Ke’ontae Springs run)

M – Javhi Blomquist 23 run (Ben Montano kick)

 

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