H.S. football: Savage, Bulldogs get by Raiders

Oak Hill’s Samuel Lindsay (14) gets tackled by Madison’s Brad Peters (55) in the first quarter in Madison on Friday. (Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel)

MADISON — Josh Savage got on a hot streak. The kind running backs always hope happen.

Four straight carries turned into four straight touchdowns for the Madison senior. Three of those came in the second half, helping the Bulldogs take a 48-34 win over Oak Hill in a Campbell Conference Class D shootout Friday night.

Madison is now 3-2, while Oak Hill is 2-3.

“The first half felt like we didn’t do as good as we could,” Savage said.

After Oak Hill’s Gavin Rawstron scored on a 9-yard run to give the Raiders a 27-21 lead with 3:48 left in the third quarter, the Bulldogs answered with a 16-yard touchdown run from Savage to tie the game. Savage added a 24-yard touchdown run 53 seconds into the fourth to give Madison the lead for good, and his 15-yard scoring run with 9:20 left made it 41-27.

Savage finished with 109 yards on 11 carries. Quarterback Eric Wescott added 137 yards on 19 carries and scored three touchdowns.

“The line was the key to the second half,” Savage said.

“A lot of back and forth,” Madison coach Scott Franzose said of the game. “We talked about being a consistent team, and we showed some of that consistency tonight.”

The teams alternated scoring drives in the first half, with neither able to consistently slow down the other. Madison opened the game with a 66-yard drive, culminating in Wescott’s 11-yard touchdown run. With 27 seconds left in the first, Sam Lindsay scored on a 65-yard pass from Rawstron, and Liam Rodrigue’s kick gave the Raiders a 7-6 lead.

Oak Hill’s first scoring drive set off a run of five straight drives to find the end zone. Madison answered when Wescott went 37 yards for a touchdown then ran in the conversion for a 14-7 lead. Oak Hill’s next drive found Rawstron score on a 1-yard run, but the kick failed and the Bulldogs led 14-13.

A Savage 2-yard run made it 21-13 Madison with 4:19 left, but Oak Hill responded with another Rawstron to Lindsay connection, this time for 15 yards. The 2-point try failed, and Madison led 21-19 at the half.

Rawstron ran for 119 yards and threw for 267 for the Raiders.

Oak Hill’s Gavin Rawstron (9) tackles Madison’s Thomas Dean (31) in the first quarter in Madison on Friday. (Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel)

Oak Hill’s Samuel Lindsay (14) gets smothered by Masdison defenders in the the first quarter in Madison on Friday. (Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel)