Going into Thursday nights contest with Smithson Valley few outside the Maverick communities gave the Mavs a fighting chance. The Rangers came in as the number one team in the area and number 4 in the State AP pole. The rangers left with a victory but also with a lot of respect for the 2006 Madison Mavericks.
Coach Hill and the Rangers have always been a second half team, they have always been able to make the adjustments at halftime to win contest. And Thursday was no different. Madison came out of the locker room on fire in the first Quarter. Starting on their own 20 it only took 1 play and 80 yards on the legs of Devin Thomas for the Mavs to start the scoring.
The first quarter would continue to look good as the Mavs would pick off a pass on Smithson Valley’s first play from scrimmage as Madison Jr. Linebacker Jason McLean would haul in the poorly thrown ball. Madison could not capitalize on the INT and SV would tie up the contest at 7 going into the 2nd Quarter.
Devin Thomas would add a couple more TDs for the Mavs before the break while SV could only must a couple of FGs to match. Going into half the defense looked good, the offence was clicking and short of a missed PAT the Mavs seemed to be heading for a victory.
The second half SV came out looking like…well…SV! Smithson Valley would start running the clock and grinding out yards behind their feature back Trent Rios. By the time the teams changed up ends to start the 4th quarter the game was all square at 27. The 8000+ on hand had to this point seen a great contest and both sides felt they could win the contest.
Unfortunatly for the Mavs as time ran out and a Ranger FG split the uprights it would be Smithson Valley celebrating the victory. While the scoreboard did not go the way of the Mavericks and Madison’s starting QB Matt Towne sat out the whole second half, there were a few positives that came for this game. The 271 yards rushing that the Mavs racked up is far and away the best performance on the ground by any team this year vs. Smithson Valley. The Passing game finally returned to it’s week one form, and Devin Thomas proved that he can run the ball against the best defense in the area.
The most impressive thing that came from Thursday is the overwhelming community support. Thursday games are a hard sell with work and school the next day but filling up the home stands and forcing NEISD athletic department to use the end zone overflow was nice to see. Madison has the greatest fans in South Texas and it showed Thursday night at the Mavs Home opener.
The Mavs will have to put this game behind them, but learn from their mistakes as they have Homecoming week and the Reagan Rattlers on tap this week. Reagan has had an up and down season and is coming off a come from behind win vs. Roosevelt on Saturday night.
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