Paint the town blue!
Sunday, December 6, 2009
By RALPH COX- The Herald Star
Madonna won the 2009 West Virginia Class A state championship Saturday night scoring the first 27 points to roll over second-seeded Man, 27-7, at Wheeling Island Stadium.
The Blue Dons established a school record for wins topping the 13 that the 1987 Madonna team won while winning the school's only other state football title.
It was Madonna's second straight trip to the championship game. The Blue Dons had a couple of key injuries to quarterbacks last year wound up losing to Williamstown 23-7. Madonna also got to the championship game in 2004 only to lose to Wheeling Central 34-7.
Madonna let it be known early that this trip to Wheeling Island Stadium was going to be different. A 70-yard punt return for a touchdown by Connor Arlia the first time the Blue Dons had possession of the ball put the Blue Dons ahead for good.
"That was huge," said Madonna coach Bob Kramer, who won his first championship in three trips to the big game in the 12 years he has been at the helm. "It was great to put points on the board early so we could get Man out of their running game. We wanted to force them to pass, which is not what they want to do."
After squandering a golden opportunity to score with a fumble late in the first quarter, the Blue Dons came right back to score twice in the second period, which all but put the game away. Madonna took a 20-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.
"It is an overwhelming feeling to win a state championship," Kramer said. "When I took this job 12 years ago, winning a state title was the furthest thing from my mind. I couldn't even dream this would happen."
The Blue Dons won the game just like they did in the other 13 victories this season, with a staunch defense and by being opportunistic with big plays on offense.
The Hillbillies, which got to Wheeling Island by running the football, were held to a net of 70 yards on the ground. The bulk of Man's 197 yards of total offense came with nine pass completions for 127 yards.
Meanwhile, the Blue Dons posted 307 yards of offense with an even mixture of 151 on the ground and 156 through the air.
Senior Max Nogay, who has been the key to the Blue Don offense all year, threw two touchdown passes and ran for another to lead the way. He accounted for a total of 164 yards in the game.
"This is such a great group of kids," Kramer remarked. "I can remember when one of our seniors was a freshman he told me that when this group became seniors they would win the state championship. I'm just pleased to be their coach. When you have a bunch of hardworking kids that spend hours on the practice field, in the weight room and studying film, it makes coaching easy."
Man's Corey Earnest boomed a 60-yard punt from his own 31 all the way to the Blue Don 9. Madonna worked the ball to the 35-yard line where A. J. Klein, who returned to contact action last week after sitting out six weeks with a broken collar bone, took a pitch and raced 62 yards to the Man 3.
On the first play from there, Nogay appeared to be going in for a touchdown with a blast over right guard, but the ball popped loose before he reached the goal line and a Man defender recovered the fumble in the end zone for a touchback.
"We squandered a couple of scoring opportunities in the game with turnovers and that was a big one," said Kramer.
Madonna lost two other fumbles and Nogay was intercepted once, but the Blue Don defense countered that with three takeaways, two interceptions and a fumble recovery.
The Blue Don defense held Man to three-and-out forcing another Earnest punt. This time he shanked it off the side of his foot covering just 14 yards before going out of bounds. That set up Madonna's second touchdown early in the second quarter.
They worked the ball to the Hillbilly 28. Faced with a fourth down and 14 situation, Nogay dropped back to pass and found senior Jimmy Deter prancing wide open down the middle of the field. Deter caught the ball in the end zone and then kicked the extra point giving the Blue Dons a 14-0 lead.
Another Earnest bad punt just before halftime set up a third Madonna score. The kick went out of bounds at midfield and Nogay quickly spotted Deter open again down the middle with a 31-yard pass and run operation to the Man 14. Arlia caught a pass for three yards to the 11 on first down. With time running out, Nogay took the ball up the middle picking his way through Man defenders and refusing to be denied till he reached paydirt. Deter's kick missed, but the Blue Dons went ahead 20-0.
The Hillbillies played the Blue Dons even in the second half with both teams scoring a touchdown.
"A couple of the kids had slight injuries in the first half, but I urged them during the break to suck it up and give me 24 more minutes," Kramer explained. "Our defense has a lot of pride so they were disappointed when Man scored, but all I wanted to do was keep the clock running. We probably could have passed more in the second half and maybe got into the end zone a time or two, but I wanted to use up as much clock as possible."
The Hillbillies scored on a first down pass from senior quarterback, Ryan Crum, who uncharacteristically threw the ball 27 times in the game. Evan Riggins went high in the air to pick off the pass over Deter in the end zone.
It was just the 45th point scored against the Blue Dons in 14 games.
Before that score, though, the Blue Dons had put the game away with a pretty 30-yard pass to Arlia. Arlia took the pass in full stride in the back of the end zone. Deter added the extra point.
"I'm just happy for the Madonna family, the administration, students, faculty and supporters," Kramer said. "I don't want to forget about the parents of the players, either because it takes a whole community to be successful and I appreciate all the support they give us.
"I hope that this win gives hope to the schools with smaller enrollments."
Madonna 27, Man 7
Man 0 0 0 7 7
Madonna 7 13 0 7 27
Mad: Arlia 70 punt return (Deter kick), 10:19
Mad: Deter 28 pass from M. Nogay (Deter kick), 8:55
Mad: Nogay 10 run (kick failed), :21
Mad: Arlia 30 pass from Nogay (Deter kick), 11:46
Man: Riggins 13 pass from Crum (Earnest kick), 5:31
Rushing: Man, 29-70, Andrew Hale 9-26, Brandon Plymale 6-26, Ryan Crum 8-11, Cody Owens 1-6, Michael Lomax 5-1. Madonna, 41-151, Louis Comis 10-59, A. J. Klein 9-57, Connor Arlia 6-17, Jimmy Deter 7-10, Max Nogay 9-8.
Passing: Man 9-27-2 (all by Crum); Madonna 10-14-1 (all by Nogay)
Receiving: Man, Evan Riggins 4-50, Owens 2-51, Jeremy Hatfield 2-24, Derrick Earnest 1-2; Madonna, Arlia 5-65, Deter 2-59, Christ Perna 1-16, Eddie Nogay 1-12, Comis 1-4.
Fumbles-lost: Man, 2-1; Madonna 3-3
First downs: Man, 7; Madonna, 10
