Madison Prep wins in a electric game against U-High 40-37

Tonight’s Friday night matchup, the Madison Prep Chargers faced off against the University Laboratory School Cubs. Madison entered the game with a 3 game win streak including back-to-back shutouts against Mentorship Academy and Port Allen. The Cubs came into the game with a 4-2 record on the season, after their 42-0 shutout win last week against Tylertown (MS). 

The Cubs won the coin toss and deferred until the second half, giving Madison the ball to open up the game. Madison got out to a quick 16-0 run in the first quarter. The second play of the game was a huge 80 yard touchdown pass from Tylan Johnson to his favorite target, David Jones. Tylan also found his receiver Treylan James on a 40 yard touchdown pass. The Chargers’ next drive would lead to a 34 yard field goal made by kicker Calvin Spears.

After going up 16-0 in the first quarter, the U-High Cubs were ready to start cracking into their early deficit. U-High was able to gain a couple first downs and that would lead to a 2 yard rushing touchdown by Notre Dame commit Jaiden Ausberry. U-High’s defense came up big with a quick 3 and out and got the ball right back in their offense’s hands. After a couple plays, the Cubs were able to tack on another touchdown. With both teams turning over the ball to each other in the final minutes of the first half, the Cubs were able to take advantage of their turnover. The Cubs interception would lead to 39 field goal right before the half to tie the game at 16-16

What was an electric first half for both offenses would be a preview of what would happen in the second half. After climbing back from a 16-0 run, the Cubs offense came out of the locker room with a sense of urgency. The second half started off with a great kick return for the Cubs. U-High quarterback Blake Abney leading the offense was able to find the endzone again for his second touchdown pass of the night to go up 23-16. The Cubs’ defense would force Madison to another punt and it led to a huge 35 yard return which put them at the Chargers’ 10 yard line. This would then lead to Ausberry’s second rushing touchdown of the night. After going down 16 points in the first quarter, the Cubs would find themselves up 30-16 in the third quarter. 

While the Chargers’ defense gave up 30 unanswered points, Chargers’ running back Tony Lewis had a huge drive for the offense with back-to-back first down runs. After Johnson found receiver Hezekiah Dantzler for a quick connection, Tony Lewis was able to find the endzone with a 13 yard rushing touchdown.

With the Madison defense forcing the Cubs to punt, the special teams unit would come up with a big fumble recovery by Treylan James after the Cubs’ punt was muffed. This would then lead to another touchdown pass from Johnson to David Jones for their second connection of the game. Chargers’ PAT on the last drive was no good so they were forced to go for two. Jones would lineup in the wildcat quarterback position and punched it for the two-point conversion. That touchdown and two-point conversion would cut the deficit and tied the game at 30-30.

Going into the fourth, the Cubs looked for their Norte Dame commit again with a 2 yard rushing touchdown at the goal line. This touchdown would be Ausberry’s third rushing touchdown of the game. With 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Madison had plenty of time to drive down field and tie the game up. After a holding and facemask penalty on the Cubs, the U-High defense was able to come up with a huge sack on Johnson and was forced to sit for one play due to his helmet coming off. Backup quarterback Lawrence Robertson entered the game for Johnson. Instead of handing the ball off to the running back, Robertson threw a deep ball up to David Jones and the Chargers’ big time play-maker made an incredible catch over the defender for his third touchdown of the game. Robertson’s touchdown pass would tie the game up after the PAT attempt was made by Calvin Spears. 

With the game being tied, the Cubs were faced with a fourth down in their own territory after senior linebacker Markeis Batiste made a huge tackle for the Chargers. After deciding to go for it with 3:58 remaining in the 4th quarter, Chargers’ Taron Cage and Ahmaad Lewis were there to make the fourth down stop. The U-High defense were able to force Madison to a fourth down and returned the favor. With under 2 minutes left in the game, both defense’s were able to come up with big fourth down stops. Abney would lead the Cubs to a couple first downs, putting themselves in Charger territory. After a holding penalty would push the Cubs back to a 3rd and 21, Abney was able to find his receiver Seth Gale for a massive first down. Abney’s pass to Gale would put the Cubs in field goal position. The Charger’s defense were able to come up again as the Cubs’ fumbled the ball and was recovered by Madison linebacker, Christian Walker at their own 1 yard line. 

With less than a minute left in the game and 99 yards to go, the Chargers’ 2 minute drill was put to the test. After finding receiver Hezekiah Danztler for a big first down, Johnson found his play-maker, David Jones for a huge completion downfield to put themselves in Charger territory. Johnson tried to find receiver Treylan James in the endzone but he was unable to make the grab due to a holding penalty on the Cubs. This penalty would put the Chargers in field goal territory and it was up to kicker Calvin Spears with only 7 seconds left in the game. Spears would go on to nail the game winning field goal for the Chargers with less than 5 seconds remaining in the game.

In one of the most electric games of the season, Madison Prep comeback after allowing 30 unanswered points and win 40-37 against their district opponents. Extending their win streak to four games, the Chargers will travel down to New Orleans to go up against Warren Easton on Thursday, Oct. 20. U-High goes to 4-3 on the season as they look to bounce back against Glen Oaks away on Friday, Oct. 21. 

Click here to see the Chargers’ remaining schedule.