Madison pulls away

FALLS CHURCH—After the Mountaineers’ 35-14 win over George Mason, senior A.J. Butler was lugging a big blue sledgehammer around the field.
“That’s for practice and games combined of whoever works the hardest,” Madison County coach Stuart Dean said. “That’s voted on by the coaches.”
Midway through the second quarter Butler and the Mountaineers’ defense brought down the hammer on George Mason, not allowing the home team to score the rest of the night.
“I just carry (the sledgehammer) so everybody can look that working hard gets you where you need to go,” Butler said. “We need to do it as a team. I hope everybody on this team gets to carry it one day.”
Butler was in the Mustang backfield all night, tallying ten tackles and two sacks, including a forced fumble on one sack to set up a Mountaineer scoring drive.
“He had another great night,” Dean said. “He’s worked hard the last two games worked hard in practice and it pays off for him on Friday night.”
The senior defensive end made the move from playing offense and defense to full-time defense early in the season.
“After about the third or fourth game (the coaches) said they wanted me to rest up for defense,” Butler said. “So I didn’t have problem with that. I like to play defense to hit people so I just use all my energy on defense.”
Madison County’s balanced offensive attack from the Stonewall Jackson-Quicksburg game continued against the Mustangs. Logan Terrell rushed for 79 yards and two touchdowns, while Devon Boone had six carries for 87 yards. Jerod Williams and Ralph Yates each ran for a score.
Quarterback Dustin Kirby finished the night 10-for-15 for 134 yards and a 25-yard touchdown to Terrell.
“I thought we had great balance,” Dean said. “We were mixing some things up in the first half and the second half, throwing it and running it.”
It took one quarter for the Mountaineers to shake the rust off from the bye week and get used to the Mustangs’ unique motion offense. The Mustangs’ Ben Taylor scored from five and 58 yards out to keep the score tied at 14 going into the locker room.
“We told the defense we had to get back and play Madison defense,” Butler said. “I think that’s what we did the second half.”
George Mason moves to 5-3 on the season, while Madison County remains unbeaten at 7-0 and 1-0 in the Bull Run District. The Mountaineers play host to Strasburg Friday.
“It feels great we just have to keep our heads on,” Butler said. “Were not better than anyone else right now were just 1-0 in the district.”

Madison 25,                  George Mason 14
Madison County 7 7 7 14 – 35
George Mason 7 7 0 0 – 14
Scoring Plays
First Quarter
MCHS – Logan Terrell 1 run (Stephen Dixon kick)
GMHS – Ben Taylor 5 run (Henry Darnstadter kick)
Second Quarter
MCHS – Terrell 25 pass from Dustin Kirby (Dixon kick)
GMHS – Taylor 58 run (Darnstadter kick)
Third Quarter
MCHS – Ralph Yates 7 run (Dixon kick)
Fourth Quarter
MCHS – Jerod Williams 14 run (Dixon kick)
MCHS – Terrell 12 run (Dixon kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing – MCHS: Devon Boone 6-87, Logan Terrell 13-79, Jerod Williams 6-48, Ralph Yates 3-25, Dustin Kirby 5-13; GMHS: Ben Taylor 11-135, Matt Palmieri 9-16, Chris Saraus 4-10, Patrick Rhodes 3-11, Yates Jordan 8-(-2), Tyler Duncan 3-(-28). Passing – MCHS: Dustin Kirby 10-for-15 134 yards, Logan Terrell 0-for-2; GMHS: Tyler Duncan 6-for-10 58 yards. Receiving – MCHS: Dylan Shifflette 5-63, Antonio Childress 2-40, Logan Terrell 3-31; GMHS Ben Taylor 1-26, Hans Olson 1-15, George Kalantzis 2-13, Yates Jordan 2-4.