MadVille D battles fierce ground game

Madisonville’s defense struggled to contain Liberty’s vicious and consistent rushing attack and spent much of the game on the field despite coming away with an early score in Friday’s loss to the Panthers. “(Liberty) simplified

“(Liberty) simplified their game plan and came right us,” said head coach Russell Urbantke. “Any time you face those guys, with a 300-pound tackle and a 250-pound guard, you have over 500 pounds coming at you. We tried to make adjustments to what they were doing to us, but I feel like we didn’t execute it very well in the second half.”

The unit was immediately on their heels at the start of the game after Liberty returned the opening kick into Madisonville territory. They were up against it again on the ensuing possession after a blocked punt set the Panthers up with first and goal from the nine.

The defense did, however, momentarily put the team back into the game after a number of players stood up a Liberty ball carrier, which allowed linebacker Cameron Thrower to strip the ball loose and run it all the way to the end zone, tying the game at 14 at the time.

“(The inside linebackers) are playing hard and learning every week,” said Urbantke. “Every week we have got to grow and get better. We are going to have to address our pad level up front, really on both sides of the ball.”

Liberty essentially put the game away in the third quarter with their third consecutive score to take a 20-point lead after the Mustangs missed their chance of stopping the offense on third-and-short deep inside their own territory. Along with padding their lead, the ground attack was essentially able to play keep away and leave Madisonville’s offense on the sidelines.

“They did a really good job of keeping the ball out of our offense’s hands,” said Urbantke.

Jermal Holland led the Mustangs in tackles in the loss with 11 and was followed by Xzavier Whaley and Jeramiah Burns with 10 apiece. Thrower added nine tackles while Conner Swonke recorded six.

On special teams, Vladimir Morales was two-for-two on extra points and punted three times for an average of 48.3 yards per punt. Two of his punts landed inside the Panther 20-yard line, including a perfectly placed boot to the fouryard line.

The Mustangs will now turn their sites toward Teague as they look to rebound in their first road matchup of the season.

“(Teague) has a lot of the same guys back from their team last year,” said Urbantke. “They have some good size up front and are a run first team. Every now and then they will flip it out there to some of their skilled kids.”

Madisonville’s defensive unit recorded a pair of interceptions during the team’s 24-7 victory over Teague last year at MHS.

“We have got to put some pressure on them,” said Urbantke. “Last year, we did not sit back on our heels, we went after their quarterback.”

Teague is 0-2 to open their 2021 campaign with a 48-0 loss to Mart Aug. 27 and a 28-0 loss to Lago Vista Friday.