Friday Night Writes: Madison Central @ Olive Branch- North State Championship

A rematch. That's what will take place this Friday night in Olive Branch, MS.  The Jags of Madison Central High School will play the role of underdog when they take on the Conquistadors of Olive Branch High School at 7 p.m. The first time these teams played, it took a two-minute drill for the Conquistadors to beat the Jags. So expect a very close game. The winner of this game will head to Jackson to play the winner of the Meridian- Petal in the 6A State Title game.

Madison Central is led by Drew Rowell and Hugh Warren. They have combined for over 2,200 yards of rushing this season. Running back Brandon Moore will not play the rest of the season due to a wrist injury. The running back duties will fall on Brandon Collins. Collins is averaging nearly 6 yards per carry this year. The Jags also boast a defense that held the run-heavy South Panola Tigers to 14 points. The Jag's front seven were EXTREMELY impressive last Friday night. The secondary has played well beyond my expectations recently, forcing two interceptions in the past two games.

Olive Branch is led by stud Senior QB Todd Mays. Mays has over 3,000(!!!) total yards. Mays is enough to deal with by himself. However, OB also boasts one of the nations top WR's. D'Arthur Cowan, a Arkansas commit, has over 1,100 yards with ONLY 56 catches. The Olive Brach Conquistadors also boast these.

As a Madison Central student, I think I speak for all my fellow Jags. Bobby Hall, Sign us up for these jerseys!

KEYS TO THE GAME

• Madison Central's defense must work as a unit. The D-Line must get to Todd Mays and then force a bad pass. The secondary must keep the talented OB WR's contained. Speaking of contained, you must keep Todd Mays contained as well. Sounds like a lot? It is. The key to this key is TACKELING. I remember one specific play from the August match up with these teams. Todd Mays made 9 tacklers miss. 9!!! Tackle, tackle, tackle!
• Olive Branch's defense has one simple task. Stop MC's run game. If they do that, this game will not even be close. MC has proved time and time again that they simply just cannot pass the football.
• MC's offense must be able to score at the same pace as OB or this game will get out of hand very fast. Very few punts for the Jags will allow the Jags to put more points on the board and more importantly, keep the ball out of Todd Mays hands.
• Olive Branch must torch the Jags through the air. Todd Mays threw for over 250 yards the past time these two teams played.
• The Jags must keep the ball out of the Todd Mays' hands in the final 4 minutes. This offense is SERIOUS GOOD. Stop him or leave yourself time to score the winning score.
• If the Jags win the turnover battle, MC WILL win.

Prediction: Rod Walker of the Clarion Ledger picked MC to lose to Northwest Rankin and South Panola. The Jags won both of those games. Walker has picked OB in this game as well. Most all Jag fans think that Rod Walker picking the opposite team is a good sign. I agree. Thanks Rod. MC-38, OB-35