Sacramento, CA – The first of five CIF State Bowl Games at Sacramento State this weekend started a little slow. However, once the speed and athleticism of Madison-San Diego began to assert itself the result was the Warhawks held off a no-quit Valley Christian in a 21-17 Friday night victory in the 2-AA Bowl Game championship at Hornets Stadium on the campus of Sacramento State.
“We did it. We did it baby. We’re coming home to the 619 (Area Code) with that ring,” shouted Madison running back Erick Buchanan in the victory celebration. “It was a total team effort. Our defense held them when we got down, and that allowed us to come back – and then the defense closed it out.”
Buchanan, a 5-9, 185-pound senior running back had 26 carries for 159 yards and two touchdowns, including an 8-yard run with 41 seconds left in the third quarter that closed out the scoring.
Madison (13-2) got 195 yards and one touchdown passing from 6-1, 160-pound senior quarterback Terrell Carter. His 37-yard pass to Brandon Lewis with 9:36 left in the third quarter gave the Warhawks a 14-10 lead.
Valley Christian (13-2) came right back and when quarterback Miles Kendrick found Anthony Flores for an 8-yard TD pass the Warriors re-took the lead at 17-14 with 3:41 left in the third quarter. Unfortunately for the Valley Christian faithful that would be the last time their boys found paydirt.
After Madison took the lead for good on the Buchanan second touchdown, the game was far from over.
Valley Christian could not get anything going in two drives to start the fourth quarter but their defense was up to the task and held Madison on two long drives, including stopping the CIF San Diego Section Division I and Southern Regional 2-AA bowl Game champions on fourth down their own 12 yard line with 30 seconds left and no timeouts.
From there quarterback Miles Kendrick hit Anthony Flores for 25 and 11 yard pass completions, and then Cory Taylor pulled in a 10-yard pass from Kendrick to get the ball to the Madison 42-yard line with 2 seconds left. The only thing left was a Hail Mary and it looked for a moment it might get through a bunch of arms and into the arms of D’Angelo McKenzie, but Madison quarterback Carter was in at defensive back and got a hand up to bat it away and the Warhawks began their celebration.
The first half was a series of penalties and miscues, and not only by the players on both teams, but the back judge was in the running lane and when Kendrick ran into him it wiped out what would have been a first down and could have been a touchdown, and forced a 40-yard field goal that was no good.
All in all Valley Christian was inside the 25-yard line four times and could only come away with a touchdown and a field goal. Still the CIFCCS Open 3 Division and Northern Regional 2-AA Bowl Game champions led 10-7 after two quarters, but the missed opportunities and penalties would come bake to bite them
Madison lost two fumbles in their own territory and had two touchdowns called back on penalties, but Valley Christian was unable to take advantage of the Warhawks mistakes that created opportunities just like the Warhawks inability to cash in on the Warriors gaffes, and when the teams went to the locker room Valley Christian had a 10-7 lead.
“We’re a big play, big strike team and when we scored three touchdowns and only one counted the kids kind of relaxed,” said 13-year Madison Coach Rick Jackson. “We missed a lot of opportunities in the first half but at halftime we got them re-focused.”
Madison may have had missed opportunities but the offense came through when it needed to and the defense pitched a shutout for the last 15 minutes and 41 seconds to close out the victory.
“We kind of shot ourselves in the foot,” Valley Christian Coach Mike Machado said. “In games like this you can’t make mistakes, but at the end our kids showed they deserved to be here. We played a 15-game season and lost two games but not by much. I’m prouder of these boys than you can imagine.”
Madison is now 2-1 in Bowl Game championships. In 2012 the Warhawks overcame a 21-0 deficit to beat Marin Catholic-Kentfield 38-35 in the Division III Bowl Game championship, while in 2010 they lost the D3 Bowl Game 30-14 to Escalon.
