Blue Streaks finish regular season strong with win over Spartans
Oct. 21—MADISON — Madison coach Mike Gilligan was fairly certain that regardless of how his team fared Friday night that it would qualify for the Division III, Region 9 playoffs.
His Blue Streaks took away any doubt, however, as they withstood a late Spartans comback to secure a 27-18 Chagrin Valley Conference Lake Division win at Dick Hamblin Field.
With the win, Madison concluded the regular season with a 8-2 overall, 4-1 for second place in the inaugural season of the CVC Lake Division.
It was the final time the 15 Madison seniors played at home, and the Blue Streaks honored the group in a special ceremony after the game as they helped lead the turn-around season — Madison's first postseason appearance since 2015.
"The last three seasons were pretty rough," Gilligan said as the Blue Streaks collected just four wins in that span. "We were a young team, and have matured as a group. I'm proud of the work these kids and coaches have put in."
It appeared as if Madison would run away with this game, jumping out to a 21-0 lead.
Senior quarterback Carson Alley scored two of those touchdowns with runs of 2 and 24 yards, which was sandwiched around a 42-yard end around pass from junior Dominic Lawrence to a wide-open classmate Knolan Albert on the final play of the first quarter.
Alley's 2-yard run gave the hosts a 7-0 lead on Madison's opening drive.
He led the Madison offense with 103 yards rushing on 18 carries
Alley also passed for another 46 yards, including a 22-yard touchdown to junior Mac Steele to give Madison a 27-6 lead late in the third quarter.
"He is our guy," Gilligan said of his quarterback. "We had a couple of guys out this week, so we told him we were going to rely on him even more this week."
Conneaut, however, made this win far from easy. Senior Wyatt Payne bulled his way into the end zone for a 3-yard TD on the final play of the half to give the Spartans life heading into the locker room.
Payne then answered Steele's third-quarter score wiht a 4-yard touchdown to cut the Madison lead to 27-12.
Conneaut scored again with 1:32 remaining when senior quarterback Max Gleason connected with classmate Bryce Spurlin for a 34-yard touchdown.
The conversion pass failed, however, halting the comeback attempt.
Despite the loss, Conneaut (5-5 overall) still looks like it will qualify for the Division V, Region 17 playoffs for the second year in a row.
The effort coach Rocco Dobran's team showed against Madison pleased the veteran coach as the veteran coach said playing bigger schools like the Blue Streaks can only help prepare his team for the postseason.
"I was very proud of the way they played," he said. "That is a very good Madison team. They are big up front, strong, a very good quarterback, and they are very well-coached.
"We made some mistakes early, but as far as effort they played awesome today."
The official playoff pairings will be announced on Sunday.
