The Red Raiders cage the Lions, winning 41-7
By Seth Manus
This past Friday marked the beginning of the football season for Madison County High School. The Red Raiders kicked off their season in high scoring fashion with a strong defensive showing to match.
The offensive attack was led by senior quarterback Camden Smith who put on a huge performance. Smith started the night off with a 17-yard passing touchdown to sophomore Brayden Clark. He had two rushing touchdowns of 35 yards and two yards respectively. He would also add a 73-yard kickoff return touchdown as well. He finished the night with 14 carries for 124 yards.
Senior running back Zahkari Shiflet also had a great game on the ground with nine carries for 134 yards and one touchdown.
The opening drive started off well for the Red Raiders with physical running by Smith, Shiflet and Bryson Drake, also a senior. It came to a halt after a high snap led to a Franklin County scoop-and-score, putting them up 7-0.
Madison County didn’t let that stop them. The team remained focused and stayed true to Coach Chris Smith’s words of playing their game. The Red Raiders answered with a score of their own through the air, bringing the score to 7-6.
Franklin County’s following drive back down the field was met by a Camden Smith interception. The Red Raider offense would then march down the field and cap off the drive with a 14-yard rushing touchdown from Drake. This would move the score to 12-7.
There were big defensive plays throughout the game with the most notably being from freshman linebacker Garrett Smith, who had an interception in the final seconds of the first half that prevented Franklin County from taking the lead. This was a huge momentum shift for Madison County.
During halftime the band wasn’t the only show the crowd received. The stadium lights went out and the people of Red Raider Stadium got a visit from the SpaceX Starlink satellite train across the night sky while the lights were down. This outage created a light show from the fans that energized the team.
In the second half the Red Raiders quickly set the tone as Shiflet gashed the Franklin County defense with a 50-yard touchdown run, extending the lead to 19-7.
Camden Smith added on a 35 yarder to bring up the score to 26-7. He continued his all-around performance with a kickoff return touchdown and a 51-yard punt return to set up a score.
The defense also tacked on a safety to the score for good measure.
Photo/Seth Manus