Madrid hands Lisbon its first loss, returns to the Class A football semifinals

LISBON — If Preston Wicker has his say, the Madrid Tigers won’t fall into the happy-to-be-there trap again.

“Last year, we got to the (UNI-)Dome for the first time since, I think, 2011,” he said. “I don’t know if we were satisfied with that, but we got beat bad (by West Hancock in the semifinals).

“Just because we won tonight, that doesn’t mean everything’s good. We still have two games to win.”

Wicker rushed 215 yards and three touchdowns, threw for another score and led 10th-ranked Madrid to a 27-14 victory over No. 4 Lisbon in a Class A football quarterfinal Friday night at Walmer Field.

“We used to run the wishbone here, and I was the fullback,” Wicker said. “Then they put me at quarterback and stuck with it.”

Madrid (9-2) returns to the Dome next week, and lo and behold, the Tigers will face West Hancock (11-0 and No. 1) again in the semifinals.

Kickoff is 10 a.m. Thursday.

Lisbon closed a memorable season at 10-1.

“The heart of these kids, the fight of these kids, it left an imprint on this program,” Lisbon Coach Dylan Hastings said.

“At times tonight, we just couldn’t get out of our own way, and we knew coming in that (Wicker) was a heck of an athlete, a heck of a quarterback, a heck of a runner.”

Wicker carried the ball 30 times Friday, and pushed his season yardage total to 1,753.

Madrid led 13-7 at halftime despite three turnovers.

Both teams scored on their opening drive. Madrid faced fourth-and-1 from its own 29, went for it and converted.

“If we don’t get that, it might have been a different game,” Wicker said. “That was big for momentum.”

The Tigers also converted fourth-and-11 from the Lisbon 20, and scored on Wicker’s 1-yard run.

Lisbon answered quickly. Tiernan Boots’ 34-yard run highlighted a seven-play, 67-yard march, which ended with Dakota Clark’s 3-yard TD.

Madrid drove again, with Wicker getting loose for 66 yards on the first play. His 5-yard score made it 13-7.

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The first two drives of the second half were key.

A 17-yard run by Gage Holub on a fake punt got the Lions into a red zone with a possibility of scoring the go-ahead touchdown.

Instead, they fumbled it away, and Madrid drove for a score (18 yards, Wicker to Jevyn Severson) that made it 20-7.

“We were hoping the fake punt would be a momentum shifter,” Hastings said.

Boots rushed for 126 yards, but the Lions turned it over three times.

Madrid 27, Lisbon 14

Class A Quarterfinal, at Lisbon

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs: MAD 17, LIS 11

Rushes-yards: MAD 49-273, LIS 26-152

Passing yards: MAD 98, LIS 93

Passing: MAD 6-11-1, LIS 9-18-2

Total yards: MAD 371, LIS 245

Fumbles-lost: MAD 3-2, LIS 1-1

Punts-average: MAD 2-35.5, LIS 3-32.3

Penalties-yards: MAD 3-15, LIS 6-42

SCORING SUMMARY

Madrid 13 0 7 7 — 27

Lisbon 7 0 0 7 — 14

MAD — Preston Wicker 1 run (Emerson Bridgewater kick)

LIS — Dakota Clark 3 run (Gage Holub kick)

MAD — Wicker 5 run (kick failed)

MAD — Jevyn Severson 18 pass from Wicker (Bridgewater kick)

MAD — Wicker 12 run (Bridgewater kick)

LIS — Quinn Coleman 15 pass from Dakota Clark (Holub kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

Madrid — Preston Wicker 30-215, Easton Halverson 12-55, Will Atkinson 4-5, Team 3-(minus 2). Lisbon — Tiernan Boots 22-126, Gage Holub 1-17, Dakota Clark 3-9.

Passing

Madrid — Wicker 6-11-1-98. Lisbon — Clark 9-18-2-93.

Receiving

Madrid — Emerson Bridgewater 3-61, Toryn Severson 2-19, Javyn Severson 1-18. Lisbon — Quinn Coleman 4-38, Grayson Wollum 1-21, Boots 1-16, Chase McFarlane 1-11, Holub 1-7, Daylin Schaefer 1-0.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com