A dominant performance on both sides of the ball allowed Ardmore to pick up a “complete team win” over Madison County, 23-0, on Friday night.
“I’m still trying to dry out a little bit — it looks like everything I own is soaking wet after that game — but it’s worth it,” Ardmore coach Jonathan Snider said. “Considering all of the elements and then everything that was going on with homecoming week, hats off to our kids. I just can’t say enough about them not allowing anything to distract them from the game. We pretty much dominated from the first whistle to the last whistle.”
Ardmore certainly looked focused from the opening kickoff, forcing a turnover on the third play of the game to put its offense in a favorable scoring position.
Sophomore running back Zavion Hawthorne punched in the first score of the game on a 6-yard touchdown run to give his team a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.
The second quarter saw Ardmore’s defense get in on the scoring action as the Tigers picked up a safety early in the period. That seemed to reignite Ardmore’s offense as sophomore quarterback Alex King connected with senior wide receiver Devlin Jarrett on a 24-yard touchdown pass later on for a 16-0 advantage.
Ardmore picked up where it left off following halftime, continuing to smother the visiting team while chewing up the clock.
“The mindset of our kids was simple — we were not going to let the weather affect us,” Snider said. “We took advantage of the short fields and it was one of those things where once we got a lead we just wanted to grind the clock out. Fortunately, we were able to do that, but we probably left even more points on the board.”
Sophomore running back Javean Riddle ran in the final score of the game from 8 yards out.
Snider also praised his defense’s performance.
“Defensively, I thought our kids adjusted well to everything thrown at them,” he said. “They were able to really pin their ears back and attack the ball. I think we gave up one or two first downs all night.”
Ardmore (4-2) is off next week.