Jaguars rumble over Gators
Published 12:00 am Saturday, October 15, 2011
A big second half by Madison Central quarterback Drew Rowell lifted the Jaguars past Vicksburg 52-21 Friday night at Memorial Stadium.
Rowell, operating Madison Central’s midline option that rushed for 513 yards, directed three third-quarter scoring drives to pace the Jaguars (6-2, 4-0) to a key Region 2-6A win.
Madison Central 52, VHS 21
Records: Vicksburg (3-5, 1-3 Region 4-6A); Madison Central (6-2, 4-0)
The skinny: Madison Central piles up 513
rushing yards and the Gators can’t keep pace
Next: Vicksburg at Murrah
Vicksburg (3-5, 1-3) had the game tied at 14 late in the second quarter, but a fumbled exchange turned the momentum back in Madison Central’s favor. The Jaguars got a 29-yard field goal by Chris Cooper on the final play of the first half. Rowell took over in the second.
“Our fullback ran hard and our offensive line blocked great,” said Rowell, who ran for 192 yards. He scored on touchdown runs of 6, 1, 16, and 8 yards, the last two coming in the third quarter to extend a 17-14 lead to 45-21.
Rowell needed to come up big because his counterpart, Vicksburg’s Cameron Cooksey, had some big moments as well. Cooksey threw for 278 yards to break another Warren County record, the single-season yardage mark (2,513). Cooksey hit on TD passes of 19, 92 and 80 yards.
“We knew they could score quick,” Rowell said. “We just had to keep it away from them.”
Cooksey said the Gators weren’t consistent enough.
“We have to play a steady game and we didn’t,” Cooksey said. “We missed an assignment on the fumble.”
Cooksey hit A.J. Stamps on a 19-yard TD toss in the first quarter to match Rowell’s first score to tie the game at 7. He came back to hit Lamar Anthony on a 92-yard TD pass, Vicksburg’s longest play of the year, to tie the game again with 6:08 left in the second quarter.
Madison Central opened the second half with a 70-yard drive, capped by Rowell’s 1-yard plunge. Vicksburg reached midfield, but turned the ball over on downs when Cooksey’s pass to Anthony resulted in a 2-yard loss.
The Jaguars covered the next 50 yards in seven plays, capped by Rowell’s 16-yard TD run.
Madison added a 51-yard TD run by Doug Ball, an 8-yard TD run by Rowell and a 10-yard by Dillan Lampley.
Cooksey’s 80-yard bomb to Anthony late in the third quarter made it 38-21.