Dodgers Football Comes Back from Early Deficit to Win Opener

From the opening whistle it didn't look good, but the Madison Dodgers football team overcame a slow start to stop Wallkill Valley, 24-14, in its home opener at Ted Monica Field in Madison.

Leading the Dodgers on Saturday was senior running back and safety Colin McLinden.

McLinden slashed and dashed the Wallkill Valley defense on his way to 140 yards and one touchdown. He also added two tackles and a kick return of 20 yards.

"(McLinden) is a tough kid," Dodgers head coach Chris Kubik said. "He works real hard for us, he's a real good back, and we expected this from him. This doesn't shock us. We think week in and week out, one of the backs can step up. Today was his day."

But after seeing the game's opening kickoff returned 90 yards for a touchdown by Wallkill's Kaje Cowans, then a 65-yard touchdown run by starting running back Kevin Cook (which gave Wallkill Valley a 14-3 lead), the Dodger's knew they had to change the approach to this game.

"Sometimes when you start the season, there are jitters and things like that," Kubik explained. "We had a couple of rookies in there and (Wallkill Valley) popped some good plays. They're a good football team.

"I said earlier in the week, their backs are good. And we saw how good they were. If they have a seam, they hit it. We made some mistakes, but you weather the storm and you finish the game."

Senior linebackers Mike Staneart and Spencer Waresk decided to take the defensive change into their own hands, stifling the Wallkill Valley offense and running back Kevin Cook while combining for 16 tackles, including a sack and one forced fumble (both coming from Staneart).

"We knew that our 'D' had to step up," Staneart said. "They had those two big plays, so our defense just had to hold them, get our offense on the field and give us a chance to score. We woke up and we were ready to go."

"Mike and I have been playing together since first grade," said Waresk, who also ran for 49 yards on eight carries. "We've got a connection. Hopefully, we can continue it all year."

The rest of the defense followed suit, not allowing Wallkill Valley to score a single point for the final three quarters of the game, and only allowing them inside the red zone one time in the second half.

The lone red zone visit resulted in a missed field goal from the 18-yard line.

But with the defense back on track, it was the offense's turn to right the ship.

A three-headed running attack, led by McLinden, Waresk and sophomore running back/linebacker Justin Goodwin, followed the offensive line, pounding the Wallkill Valley defense for 237 yards.

McLinden and Goodwin each scored touchdowns, as did quarterback Matt McHale on a 1-yard quarterback sneak in the third quarter. McHale rushed for 31 yards on five carries and completed four passes to receiver Aaron Fant.

Goodwin also recorded a third-quarter interception.

"We didn't want to start out how we did, but we bounced back. That's the character of our team," said Fant, who also chipped in with four tackles and an interception, which ended the first half.

"We just had to buckle down on offense. We weren't focused enough early, but we really came back strong."

Wallkill Valley looked like a different team than what fans saw early on and Kubik believes that limiting mistakes was the catalyst.

"We stopped making mistakes," Kubik explained. "We made some blocking mistakes (early) and we didn't play good fundamental football. Sometimes it just takes a quarter to get the kinks out."

So what's next for the Madison Dodgers?

"Keep winning," Fant said. "We've got to keep winning if we want to win that state championship."

Madison will look to keep winning on Friday at 3:30 p.m. at Kittatinny.

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