Madison Plows Through Newton to Stay Unbeaten

The undefeated football team continued its winning ways Saturday afternoon by plowing through Newton 38-8 in a game that was cut short due to snow.

With 1:53 left in the third quarter and Madison all but assured of a win with a 30-point lead, Madison’s athletic director Sean Dowling called Newton head coach Jim Rabbitt, Madison head coach Chris Kubik and game officials to the middle of the field to discuss whether to continue with the game or call it because of deteriorating field and travel conditions.

According to Kubik, the conversation came down to doing the right thing for the safety of the teams and fans attending the game in Newton.

“Of course, when we get on the field we want to play to a finish but we had to think about the right thing to do,” he said.

With the win, Madison improves to 7-0 and Newton falls to 1-7. The Dodgers are in the playoffs but are waiting to see if they get the top seed or the No. 2 seed in their bracket.

Next Saturday Madison again travels to Sussex County to take on the Wallkill Valley Rangers in an afternoon game.

“Can’t wait,” Kubik joked.

It took the Dodgers close to three hours to get back to Madison High School from Newton. About 30 die-hard Madison fans were in attendance for the contest. They out-numbered the Newton fans almost 2-to-1.

The Dodgers took control of Saturday’s contest early, jumping out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter with two 30-yard touchdown runs by Justin Goodwin. He added another 15-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and the Dodgers went into halftime leading 22-0.

In the third quarter, Shone Register broke numerous tackles on his way to a 65-yard touchdown run to bring the score to 30-0. Goodwin got his fourth touchdown of the day on a 70-yard run just after Newton scored its lone touchdown of the day.  

Goodwin ran for 275 yards on 17 carries and Register added 90 yards on six carries. The only pass thrown by the Dodgers was a 25-yard completion from Register to Ben Anderson. Madison converted four-of-five two-point conversions.

“I think our backs played well today. They played hard and had some great runs and they did a great job of protecting the ball,” Kubik said. “If ever any weather was going to affect us it would have been today but it didn’t and I’m very pleased. We were confident we would get a win today."

                                          1st         2nd         3rd        4th          Final

Madison (7-0)                   14             8            16           x            38

Newton (1-7)                     0              0              8           x             8