Good things come to those who wait (and prepare well).
But Ricky Gehres and Christian County don’t want to wait too much longer.
Friday night at the Stadium of Champions, the Colonels got a tough dose of “the process” from Madisonville-North Hopkins — which romped for 30 second-half points on its way to a loud 44-14 win.
“They took advantage of our mistakes,” Gehres said. “And that’s what can’t happen. We just made too many mistakes. We’re young, and we’re learning from it. Our best football has not been played yet, and we’re going to play it. And we’re going to get there, I promise you.”
The Maroons’ modus operandi — run, run and run some more — pushed them to a 14-0 first half lead. Lejuan McAdoo capped the opening 10-play, 4-minute and 58-second drive with an 8-yard touchdown, in what was the first of two touchdowns. Short field position at the start of the second quarter eventually led to a 5-yard rushing score from Chris Price.
Following Price’s score, Christian County quarterback Jordan Miles threw a beautiful pass to JaSean Riley along the right sideline — only to see it carom and land in the hands of the Maroons defense. The Colonels forced back-to-back three-and-outs, and an electric 50-yard punt return by Riley set up a 25-yard touchdown pass from Miles to Riley with 30 seconds left in the half.
Riley was double-covered on the possession, but made a leaping grab near the goal-line for six points.
It was the third quarter that changed the tone and complexion. Christian County’s first two possessions of the second half each opened with turnovers on first plays. A botched handoff eventually led to a 22-yard field goal from Nojah Jiminez to make it 17-6 with 6:25 left in the third frame, and an interception by Latrell Parker on a blown-up screen turned into a 1-yard keeper from Wyatt Coleman to make it 23-6 just 90 seconds later.
The game’s first true big play came courtesy of McAdoo, who — with 31 seconds left in the third quarter — romped for a 42-yard score. He made a cut left, cut immediately right and pumped the accelerator right up the middle for paydirt, and a 29-6 advantage.
Even when the execution proved stellar for the Colonels, Madisonville prevailed. Early in the fourth quarter, Riley had perfect position on Maroons receiver Quintin Rodgers near the left pylon. Riley deflected a pass from developing backup quarterback James Davis, only to fall hard to the ground and see Rodgers come down with a 26-yard score, and a 36-6 lead.
Riley was sincerely shaken up on the play, and later was sent to the hospital as a precaution for a potential concussion.
Miles and Xzavier Quarles were both dinged up soon after Riley, and Madisonville notched a running clock in the middle of the fourth quarter — when Coleman buried a pass to a streaking Javion Martin down the right sideline for a 57-yard touchdown.
Christian County had another play in its bank, however, when on the ensuing drive, Miles rolled out to his left and hit KJ Vaughn in one-on-one coverage. Vaughn shook his tackle and scored from 49 yards out, then caught a 2-point conversion from Miles for the final score.
In a lot of ways for the Colonels, it was just great to be back on the field. More than 15 kids were in COVID-19 quarantine last week, forcing a forfeit loss to Henderson County. Miles was also nursing an injury sustained against Logan County.
But this clearly isn’t the roster Gehres had following a strong 24-3 win against Caldwell County to open the 2021 campaign. As always with football, and with the coronavirus, health and practice consistency is a concern.
Still, Gehres didn’t have excuses. Nor did he want them.
“This is not how you want to play a football game,” he said. “That’s for sure. We’ve got to take accountability for the mistakes that we made, and there were a lot of mental mistakes. And we can blame a lot of things – COVID quarantine, pandemic, ‘we’re young’ – but to be honest, I’m just tired of making those excuses.
“I’ve seen these guys play good football. I see it on a daily basis. So for me, there’s no excuse for the performance we put out on the field today. And it’s not just my kids. It’s us as coaches. It’s us as a team. We have to take responsibility for that, and that’s what I’m proud of. They understood that when I brought that to the forefront (after the game). They didn’t make excuses about it. They understood that we’re better than this, and that we have to own this and get better from it.”
MADISONVILLE-NORTH HOPKINS 44, CHRISTIAN COUNTY 14
Maroons (2-2) 7 7 16 14 – 44
Colonels (1-3) 0 6 0 8 – 14
SCORING
MNH: Lajuan McAdoo 8 rush (Nojah Jiminez PAT), 7:02 1Q, 7-0
MNH: Chris Price 5 rush (Nojah Jiminez PAT), 9:33 2Q, 14-0
CC: JaSean Riley 25 pass from Jordan Miles (PAT blocked), 0:31 2Q, 14-6
MNH: Nojah Jiminez 22 FG, 6:25 3Q, 17-6
MNH: Wyatt Coleman 1 rush (PAT missed), 4:58 3Q, 23-6
MNH: Lajuan McAdoo 42 rush (Nojah Jiminez PAT), 0:21 3Q, 30-6
MNH: Quintin Rodgers 26 pass from James Davis (Nojah Jiminez PAT), 10:21 4Q, 37-6
MNH: Javion Martin 57 pass from Wyatt Coleman (Nojah Jiminez PAT), 6:18 4Q, 44-6
CC: KJ Vaughn 49 pass from Jordan Miles (2 pt. Pass to Vaughn), 3:07 4Q, 44-14
