Season Opener a Blast as Madison Rips Hackettstown

used a terrific ground attack to rout the Tigers of Hackettstown, 60-21, in the football season opener at Ted Monica Stadium. Junior running back Justin Goodwin led the way with 224 rushing yards and four touchdowns for the Dodgers, who won their 14th consecutive game dating back to the 2009 season.

For video highlights of the game, click here.

IN SHORT
Goodwin would have had over 300 yards rushing, but had a number of runs called back due to penalties, including a 70-yard TD scamper. Goodwin would do it all, adding 40 return yards and 14 receiving yards.

The running game racked up 558 yards, including 154 yards and a touchdown from Shone Register. Quarterback Carson Lassiter also ran for 76 yards and Noah Gertler had a 47-yard touchdown run.

The defense allowed 315 yards of total offense, however, almost half of those yards came on two touchdown passes of 92 yards and 60 yards. The Madison defense added a pair of scores on an interception return for a touchdown and a blocked punt that was returned for a score.

DODGER OF THE GAME
Nick Evangelista, Receiver/Defensive Back—Evangelista got it done on both sides of the ball, hauling in a 38-yard touchdown pass and returning an interception 25 yards for a TD.

TOP DODGER OFFENSIVE PERFORMANCES
PASSING: Lassiter (5 of 6 for 61 yards; one touchdown)
RUSHING: Goodwin (11 carries for 224 yards; four touchdowns)
RECEIVING: Evangelista (two catches for 47 yards; one touchdown)

TOP DODGER DEFENSIVE PERFORMANCES
Nick Haboj, blocked punt
Michael Finelli, returned punt for a touchdown

TOUGH OPPONENT
Carl VonGlahn (Hackettstown quarterback): Threw for more than 180 yards and two touchdowns.

THEY SAID IT
"(The defense) just came to play. We've been waiting to play for a long, long time; opening a week late and watching everyone play it was very frustrating for us. It was kind of nice to get after someone a little bit. Those guys have been working hard, they really have. That was the one thing I was hoping we would have -- a better defensive team. We were good last year but we gave up a lot of yards. These guys rose to the challenge today.."–Madison head coach Chris Kubik

"Our line blocked hard. We had some senior linemen leave but a lot of them stepped up and did really well and blocked hard to open up some holes. When (the line) does their job, I do my job. We just came out and worked hard."–Justin Goodwin

Up Next—Parsippany next Friday at Parsippany High School, 7 p.m.