Madison eyes Eastern View

MADISON COUNTY EAGLE
Published: October 10, 2008

The Madison County Mountaineers put their undefeated record (5-0, 0-0) on the line Friday night against the Eastern View Cyclones. The trip up U.S. 29 to Culpeper will be Madison’s second road trip in as many weeks. This football match-up will be the last non-district game before Madison begins Bull Run District play.

So far, the Mountaineers have defeated teams from three different districts — the Dogwood (Nelson County), the Jefferson (Greene County’s William Monroe) and the Shenandoah District (Luray, Page and Stonewall Jackson).

However, Madison’s foray into the Battlefield District will be a “horse of a different color.” Eastern View is a new high school in Culpeper County. But the Cyclones have not fielded the typical first year football team. They currently stand at 3-2 on the season and could very easily be 5-0.

Eastern View lost 15-12 last Friday night to Caroline County, the defending Battlefield Champion. The Cyclones only other defeat came in their season opener against Louisa County, a 27-20 setback.

The Cyclones are led by Head Coach Greg Hatfield. Mountaineer fans may recall Coach Hatfield from his days at Central Woodstock, an old Madison County rival. According to Eastern View Athletic Director Mark Settle, EV has an enrollment of approximately 1,100 students. Madison has a reported enrollment of 651 students.

“We like to play bigger schools,” said Madison defensive end A.J. Butler. “The better competition will help us down the road.”

When asked about the Eastern View offensive philosophy, Madison Head Coach Stuart Dean said, “On offense they run the spread style, similar to Orange, Nelson, and Page. They have a very fast running back that we have to stop.”

Butler agreed with his head coach. “We have to stop No. 3 and keep him inside where we have more help,” Butler said.

The Mounties enter the contest on a roll. After three easy wins to open the season, the Mountaineers withstood a spirited challenge from Page County two week ago. And then last Friday, Big Blue responded in a big way to its first deficit of the year. Stonewall Jackson jumped out to a quick 13-0 lead over the Mountaineers. However, Madison made some adjustments and took over the game, scoring 26 unanswered points to secure the 26-13 victory.

The Mountaineers again demonstrated their offensive balance, passing for more than 160 yards and rushing for more than 150 against the Generals.
“A balanced offense is something that we strive to have from day one of practice,” said Coach Dean. “We want teams to have to defend the entire field.”
That offensive balance could pose problems for the Eastern View four-man defensive front.

“Our offense keeps defenses guessing,”said Madison tight end Dylan Shifflette.

So far this season, the Mountaineer faithful have shown a great deal of support for the football team. A large contingent of Madison fans made the trek to Quicksburg for last Friday’s game against Stonewall. And that support has not been lost on the Mountaineer team.

“Hearing the crowd cheering for us really gets us started and keeps us up,” said Butler. “We don’t want to let them down.”

Eastern View also has a solid fan base. “We have had good community support so far this year,” said Settle. “We have had some really good crowds so far. I know Madison will bring a good crowd Friday night.”