Imperfect game caps off perfect 14-0 season
Sunday, December 6, 2009
By MIKE MATHISON- The Herald Star
An imperfect game capped the perfect season.
The Madonna football team turned the ball over a season-high four times Saturday night at Wheeling Island Stadium, but its defense overwhelmed Man's running game and the Blue Dons capped a 14-0 season with the West Virginia Class A state championship, 27-7.
"We just came out here to get the 'W' and that was the ultimate goal," said Madonna senior Eddie Nogay. "I'll take 27-7 any day. It's the state championship. I'm proud of our team. I can't thank the coaches and my teammates enough.
"This started in fourth-grade, fifth-grade, six-grade. We've been working our whole careers for this - whether it's lifting weights, working hard in the off-season, excelling in other sports.
"I'm just so happy for everyone. I would like to thank God, my family and teammates."
"The turnovers don't matter right now," said senior Grant Weaver. "Nothing matters right now except that it says 27-7 on the scoreboard and we're state champs.
"As long as we win, as long as we're up on the board, it doesn't matter."
"It doesn't matter at all," said senior Nick Nero. "You can whatever you want about that game, but the scoreboard is still going to say 27-7 Madonna Blue Dons.
"We've been focused on them all week. We're just playing Madonna football like we always have."
Madonna's defense held the Hillbillies to a three-and-out on their first possession.
Connor Arlia grabbed the punt at the 30-yard line, juked a defender and was gone down the right sideline for a 70-yard punt return and a 7-0 lead less than two minutes into the game.
"We felt we needed to points on the board early because they have an exceptionally good defense," said Kramer. "To get off to that kind of start sort of set the tone for the night.
"There are ups and downs in every game and that just pumped us up more."
"That really got it going," Nero said of the punt return. "Every team will always look for an opening in momentum and that's what we had with the punt return.
"This is amazing. I'm proud of everything this team has accomplished and I love them."
"Turnovers or not, a win is a win and 27-7 says we are the 2009 single A state champions," said senior Michael Kranak. "We are the only team in the state to go undefeated this year. That is awesome."
"It was a little sloppy out there," said senior Christian McGaughey. "But, those turnovers do not matter."
"We turned the ball over a lot and you can't do that," said senior Lou Comis. "But, fortunately our defense is tough. We shut them out through three-quarters of this game
"Even though we did turn it over more than we should, we are still the state champions."
Madonna quarterback Max Nogay was looking to score from the 3 late in the first quarter, but coughed up the ball and the Hillbillies jumped on it in the end zone for a touchback.
"That just sparked a fire under me," said Nogay, who was named Madonna's Player of the Game. "For the rest of the game I was determined to get back in the red zone and in the end zone. I was made the whole game about that mistake.
"As long as we have more points than them at the end of the game - that's all that matters."
The Blue Dons scored with 8:55 left in the first half when Nogay found Jimmy Deter on a 28-yard scoring pass on a fourth-and-14.
"Connor's punt return definitely gave us a lot of momentum," said Deter. "We weren't doing too well offensively at times and that punt return was big. It's like cheating. We had a 7-0 lead and we haven't given up more than eight (points) all year. If we can score 10 points, odds are we're going to win the game."
"It (the punt return) was big," Arlia admitted. "I was getting some great blocks. It was a great feeling out there.
"Our defense had stepped up all year and this was no different.
"I just want to thank God for the season. Without him we wouldn't be where we are."
"We knew no one could run on us," said senior Seth Gianessi. "They had a good game plan, but nothing they had or did surprised us."
