After taking 27-21 lead at half, Luray gets outscored 21-0 in second half
By Randy Arrington
MADISON, Oct. 9 — After dropping a 13-12 heartbreaker at Perry Mccluer the week before, the Luray Bulldogs suffered a second-straight, tough road loss at Madison County on Friday night. The Mountaineers generated more than 300 yards of offense, including an arial attack that went 14-for-17 for 251 yards. Madison overcame a six-point deficit at halftime to outscore Luray 21-0 in the second half, en route to a 42-27 Bull Run District win at Eddie Dean Field.
Prior to the game, all of the arrows pointed toward Luray. The Bulldogs entered 3-2, with a quality win over Stuarts Draft. The Mountaineers were 1-4 on the season, with their only win over the struggling program in the Friendly City. When comparing the two teams through a mutual opponent — William Monroe (Greene County) — Luray won their matchup, 55-0; while Madison lost the county-line rivalry, 41-40.
But early season stats and early season records can sometimes be misleading, given varying levels of competition — and this was especially true of the Mountaineers on Friday night. Madison played its best game of the season thanks to the legs and arm of sophomore Kayden Cottom, who threw for 251 yards and ran for another 58, accounting for a total of five Mountaineer touchdowns. In the first half alone, Cottom went 7-for-10 through the air for 153 yards and two touchdowns. He ran for three TDs in the second half, while going 7-for-7 through the air.
Luray’s counterpart to Cottom, senior Ryan Jenkins, had a solid night as well, rushing for 133 yards on 27 carries (4.9 ypc). However, Luray’s passing game was not as efficient. Jenkins went 1-for-9 through the air for only 15 yards. However, that might be expected. The Bulldogs are a rush-first team, and Luray out gained Madison 255 to 83 on the ground. The Bulldogs also held the ball nearly seven minutes longer than the home team, and picked four more first downs. Luray was also plus-one in the turnover margin.
But penalties proved to be another key factor in the game.
The two teams weren’t as far apart in penalties as some Bulldog fans might believe — Madison was penalized six times for 50 yards, while Luray got flagged nine times for nearly 100 yards. The key difference that drew the ire of visiting fans was the timing. Four of the flags came after big gains for the Bulldog offense. During the last two decisive quarters, Luray drew six flags, while Madison had two. Both of Luray’s final two drives were stymied by costly penalties.
“We just gotta make the plays when we can make the plays…we had some penalties called on us…not saying that’s the reason we lost, but it didn’t help,” LHS head coach Lynn “Skip” Hamilton said after Friday night’s district loss. “We had some good gains on some plays and a holding call would come in…or a block in the back or whatever they called…I’m assuming if they saw it, they saw it…so we’ve got to overcome our mistakes and try to get better.”
In the first half, Luray came out looking like the better team. The Bulldogs went 69 yards in 11 plays in their opening 5-minute-plus drive that ended with Jenkins breaking away on a 28-yard touchdown run. The Luray defense then shut down Madison with a three-and-out that ended with a bad snap on the punt attempt, resulting in a negative 22-yard drive.
The Bulldogs got the ball on the Madison 16 and scored four plays later as junior Caleb Cyphert ran it in from four yards out. Luray lead 13-0 with 2:36 remaining in the first quarter.
Madison quickly responded three plays later as Cottom connected with junior Avry Mitchell on a 63-yard touchdown pass. After forcing Luray to punt the ball back to them, the Mountaineers then scored in just four plays. A 28-yard pass to Mitchell set up a two-yard touchdown plunge by junior Langston Lewis. Madison took its first lead at 14-13 with 8:52 left in the second quarter.
Each team traded punts before Luray found the end zone again with 3:08 remaining in the half. Jenkins capped off a five-play, 41-yard drive with a one-yard run across the goal line. A 22-yard gain by Cyphert to start the drive followed by an 11-yard pickup by junior Chester Jeffries set up the touchdown. After a successful two-point pass to Jeffries, Luray retook the lead 21-14.
Once again, Madison answered right back, this time in five plays. Sophomore Liam Frazier caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Cottom to tie the game at 21-21 with 1:30 left before the break.
On its next possession, Luray was unable to move the ball at first, failing to connect on its first two pass attempts. However, Madison fumbled the ensuing punt and gave the Bulldogs the ball on their own 26 yard line. Three plays later Jenkins rumbled in from five yards out to go up 27-21 just before the half.
While the first half was a highly competitive back-and-forth battle, the second half was all Mountaineers. After a three-and-out by Madison that included a big sack by the Luray defense, the Bulldogs fumbled the punt and gave Madison the ball on their 38 yard line. It only took three plays for the home team to score as Cottom went in from one yard out. Madison went up 28-27 just 2:30 into the second half.
Luray then mounted their best — and only real — drive of the second half. The Bulldogs went 62 yards on 12 plays and took five minutes off the clock. However, the long drive was stymied by three penalties and ended at the Madison nine yard line. After a fourth-and-20, senior Ayden Haddock carried the ball to within five yards of a first down. Haddock suffered a lower right leg injury during that play and left the game.
Luray would only pick up one more first down the rest of the night, while Madison went on to score twice more. After stopping Luray’s long 12-play drive at the nine yard line, the Mountaineers marched 91 yards down the field on 10 plays that consumed 4:10 off the clock. Cottom ended the drive on a four-yard touchdown run to go up 35-27.
After turning the ball over on downs, Luray was able to get a hard hit from senior Will Judy that caused a fumble recovered by Jefferies. However, the Bulldogs would turn the ball over again on downs following a crushing penalty on third down. Following that sequence, Madison capped off the scoring in just two plays — two runs by Cottom of 14 and 11 yards, respectively.
On their last drive, Luray seemed to be moving the ball with an apparent reception by junior Cole Hilliard — only to see the pass called incomplete, and then a personal foul called when the visitors questioned the call. The drive was killed, and there was nothing left for Madison to do but get into victory formation.
The Mountaineers put together 334 yards of offense — 83 on the ground and 251 through the air. As mentioned earlier, Madison’s passing game was the difference, as Cottom went 14-of-17 through the air for two TDs, finding at least five different receivers throughout the night. Madison scored on six of 12 possessions, posted 11 first downs, gave up one fumble in each half, and had the ball for more than 20 minutes. On the ground, Cottom had 58 yards on 18 carries (3.2 ypc) and three touchdowns, while Lewis finished with 20 yards on seven carries (2.9 ypc) and one touchdown.
After an 0-4 start, Madison (2-4) has now won two in-a-row and will next travel to Woodstock to take on the Falcons of Central (1-5) at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 16. The Falcons will come into that game after picking up their first win, 42-14, against Clarke County on Friday night.
The Bulldogs finished Friday night’s Bull Run matchup with 270 yards of offense — 255 on the ground with TWO 100-yard-plus rushers. Jenkins finished with 133 yards and Cyphert had 106 (21 carries, 5 ypc). Luray only turned the ball over once — a fumble early in the third quarter — but they put the ball on the ground four times, recovering three. They scored on four of 11 drives (0-4 in the second half), gained 15 first downs, and possessed the ball for almost 27 minutes.
Luray (3-3) will now host the defending VHSL Class 2 state champions from Strasburg (4-2) at 7 p.m Friday, Oct. 16 at Bulldog Field.
“We fought hard,” Coach Hamilton said on Friday. “We got guys that are giving it their all…they fight hard every day. We’ve got to live up to our ‘no quit, just grit’ attitude and get ready for Strasburg ’cause they’re not going to take it easy on us. So, we gotta work hard and get better.”
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