Madison County Wins Back To Back 1A State Championships


Marcus Benjamin @_BenjaminReport

Orlando, FL – The do-it-all senior Travis Jay did everything on a beautiful afternoon at Camping World Stadium.  The Florida State commit scored on two touchdown runs of 69 and 67 yards to lead Madison County to their second straight state title.  Jay finished with 167 yards rushing on 7 carries and had 71 yards passing.

Senior Travis Jay

“It ain’t plays it’s players, said Head Coach Mike Coe.  “Get the ball in your player’s hands and that’s what we tried to do.”

Madison County wins their second straight championship and is officially the powerhouse of 1A in Florida.  Jay and Vinsonta Allen led a devastating running game that could not be stopped. Allen matched Jay’s rushing total with 167 yards on the ground as the team rushed for 358 yards on just 26 carries (13.7 per rush).

Junior Vinsonta Allen

The Under Armour All-American Jay started the scoring for the Cowboys on a 69-yard run at the 8:06 mark in the 1st quarter.  Baker countered when senior Junior McLaughlin rushed for a 15-yard touchdown early in the second quarter (Extra point blocked). The Cowboys corralled the 2,000-yard rusher for most of the game limiting him to 97 yards on 24 carries (2.5 per rush).  

“We knew we had to stop 2, we tried to slow 2 down. We wanted to make him pitter-patter and let our speed take over.  Our kids executed the plan great.”

Junior running back Vinsonta Allen broke loose for a 55-yard touchdown run in the second quarter to extend the Madison lead.  Baker attempted to score before the half as the drive was set up at the Madison 13 yard-line by an interception by John Mateleska, but poor clock management caused the drive to stall at the seven-yard line.  

Halftime: Madison – 14 Baker – 6

The Cowboys came out firing after the half as they would score on their first drive.  Allen would streak down the field for a 61-yard touchdown to make the score 21-6. Jay would add his second touchdown which was eerily similar to his first touchdown run where he got the edge and used his speed to outrun defenders.

“They were bringing everybody on the line of scrimmage.  They both made four really good cuts and got to the house.”

A fourth down stop by Madison at the 11:45 mark in the fourth quarter halted any threat of a comeback by Baker.  Jay was on the tackle.

“It’s no pressure,” said Jay about playing many positions.  “Coaches just told me to just play my game how I’ve been playing the whole season so I just did that.”

After a 37-yard run by Allen, senior Patrick Hampton punched it in to make it a 37-6 game with 11:07 left in the game.  Terray Jones added a blocked punt to add to a great all around game for Madison.

Senior Terray Jones

Sophomore Robert Hiers added another rushing touchdown with 3:47 left.  The Cowboys finished with seven rushing touchdowns.

Final: 48-6

“Its real hard because of the pressure and our town expects it,” Coach Coe said about winning back to back championships.  “These kids understand it is part of it next year we’ll go back to work and do it again.”

Click Here for Photos of the Game


Marcus Benjamin works as the senior writer and editor for FootballHotbed.com. He attended Florida A&M and Florida Memorial University completing a bachelors degree in communications in 2010. He's covered high school football in the South Florida area since 2010 for the Miami Herald, Miami Sports Tribune and ShawSports.net. He is married and lives in Fort, Lauderdale, FL.

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