In Week 8 of Louisiana high school football, the Madison Prep Chargers went up against the class 4a Warren Easton Fighting Eagles. The Chargers went down to New Orleans to play at Joe W. Brown Park. Going into the game with a 5-2 record on the season, Madison is coming off a thrilling comeback win against U-High 40-37. Warren Easton also entered the contest with a 5-2 record, after their shutout win against Fredrick A. Douglas 56-0.
The Chargers won the coin toss and elected to defer until the second half, giving Warren Easton the ball to start the game. The ground game was the key for the Fighting Eagles as junior running back Frederick Robertson was a problem for the Chargers’ defense. Warren Easton had some penalty troubles on their first drive, causing them to punt the ball to Madison. The Chargers started off the drive from their own 3 yard line. Back-to-back first down runs by quarterback Tylan Johnson and running back Tony Lewis brought the Chargers’ to midfield. Johnson’s first pass attempt was then intercepted intended for receiver Semaj Pierre. The fighting Eagles were quick to strike on the Chargers’ mistake as Fredrick Robertson exploded for a huge 74 yard rushing touchdown. The Charges’ offense were looking to bounce back after the interception on their last drive, but the Fighting Eagles secondary were able to find the ball again with back-to-back interceptions.
In the second quarter, the momentum would change after David Jones tied the game with a 93 yard punt return touchdown. With the score tied up 7-7, the Fighting Eagles were looking to take the lead back and they did. After a couple first down gains by Robertson, quarterback Keddrick Connelly found Robertson for a 29 yard passing touchdown. This would be Robertson’s second touchdown of the game to make the score 14-7. Both offenses would try to get things going before the half ended, but neither were able to capitalize.
Entering the third quarter, the Chargers’ offense were looking for anything positive to get them in a rhythm. Johnson would find receivers David Jones and Semaj Pierre on back-to-back first downs. Following a couple runs by Tony Lewis, the Warren Easton defensive line stepped up when they needed to. They were able to get back-to-back sacks on second and third down, forcing the Chargers to punt the ball back to them. The Eagles were not able to get anything going on their first drive of the second half, but were able to find some rhythm on their second drive. After a couple of runs by Robertson, the Eagles turned to freshman running back Terrell Surtain. Surtain was able to break free on a big 36 yard run, putting them in Charger territory. The Eagles would end up finding the endzone again with a rushing touchdown from Fredrick Robertson, which was his third touchdown of the game.
The Chargers were not able to get anything going on offense until late in the fourth quarter. Following a couple penalties on the Eagles, quarterback Tylan Johnson would find his running back Tony Lewis for a 40 yard touchdown score with minutes left in the game. The Chargers’ defense came up big with forcing the Eagles to 3 and out, and the special teams showed up to. As the Eagles return man muffed the punt, Chargers’ Jeremiah Anderson picked up the loose ball with 3 minutes left in the fourth quarter. As the chargers first play was penalized, Warren Easton’s defensive line came up big with a sack on first down, pushing the Chargers back 5 yards and facing a long 2nd and 24. As the both passes by Johnson would be incomplete, The Chargers’ were forced to punt again in their own territory with less than 3 minutes left on the clock.
The defensive line for Madison Prep stepped up as they forced Robertson 10 yards back behind the line of scrimmage. That big play on first down would cause the Eagles to punt the ball back to the Chargers with very little time on the clock. The Chargers’ two minute drill would be put to the test as they had a little less than a minute to drive over 60 yards downfield. As the Eagles forced another sack on Johnson, the Chargers would turn the ball over on downs. Warren Easton would kneel the game out and take the victory over Madison 20-14 on their senior night.
Madison fall to 5-3 on the season as they prepare for their matchup against Glen Oaks next Thursday, October 27th at 7pm
Warren Easton move to 6-2 on the season as they will go up against the Sci Academy Commodores next Saturday, October, 28th at 2:30
Click here to the Chargers’ remaining schedule
