BELFAST — The Madison-Belfast playoff rematch wasn’t a shootout like the regular season meeting in late September, but for Belfast the means to the end were pretty much the same. Hand the ball to Steven Davis and let him find the end zone.
Davis, a senior running back, ran for 346 yards on 29 carries and scored all 20 of the Lions points, helping No. 4 Belfast take a 20-12 win over No. 5 Madison in an Eastern Class C quarterfinal game.
“They killed us with counter today. The Davis kid is a hell of a back, but they’ve got weapons. They like to run downhill and did it well today,” Madison coach Scott Franzose said.
Belfast, now 6-3, will play at No. 1 Winslow (8-0) next Saturday. Madison, which made its first playoff appearance in almost 20 years, finished 4-5.
Better defense by both teams and the weather helped prevent this game from becoming a repeat of Belfast’s 82-60 regular season win over the Bulldogs.
“We didn’t get too fancy, just ran the football,” Belfast coach Chris Bartlett said. “Obviously in the second half, it got muddy, and you just had to churn things out.”
Davis carried the ball six times on Belfast’s eight-play opening drive and gave the Lions a 6-0 lead with a 2-yard touchdown run with 7:14 left in the first quarter.
The Bulldogs answered with an eight-play, 72-yard scoring drive, culminating when Chase Malloy dumped off a pass to Nick Morales, who took the ball 32 yards down the left sideline for the tying touchdown.
The Bulldogs had other chances to score in the first half, but a red zone turnover ended one drive and led to a Belfast score, and dropped passes stalled other Madison opportunities.
“I think the biggest thing was execution. Really, we talk about it every week, teams don’t win because they have a name across their jersey. It all comes down to execution. We know we match up well with (Belfast), and they’re a tough team. In the first half, we missed a lot of opportunities,” Franzose said.
In the final minute of the first quarter, Belfast’s Alex Canning recovered a Madison fumble and returned it 70 yards for an apparent touchdown, but a block in the back penalty negated the score and gave the Lions the ball at their own 43. Two plays later, Davis ran 42 yards for a touchdown and a 14-6 lead.
“We like our pass game. We had shots over the top. We ran tough when we needed it, but plain and simple, they played tough and that first half was the difference,” Franzose said. “We’ve got to realize this is playoff football now. You’ve got the six best teams, and we can’t miss those opportunities.”
With 4:51 left in the game, Davis scored on a five-yard run to push Belfast’s lead to 20-6. Madison scored on the final play of the game, a three-yard run by Cody Soucier.
Throughout the game, Belfast’s defense did a nice job containing Madison’s speed and forcing the Bulldogs inside. Madison ran for 110 yards, with Jordan Curtis leading the team with 79 yards.
“With them, they’re quick. They get to the outside. They’re extremely fast and so all week that’s what we prepped on,” Bartlett said. “We felt like if we could shut that down we could do a pretty decent job shutting down their run game.”
Andrew Goguen had two sacks for the Lions, while Davis had an interception.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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