Ohio Football

Thursday, January 12, 2012

2011 Rewind: Trotwood-Madison

By Greg Shoemaker | Featured Analyst

The 2011 season started as one of unfinished business for Trotwood-Madison as they fell in the state championship less than nine months earlier. The Rams took that motivation and turned it into the most epic campaign in school history by going undefeated and winning the Division II state title.

Thirty years earlier head coach Maurice Douglass was a member of Trotwood-Madison’s first squads that was 14-0 before falling in the finale. It took 29 years for the program to get back to these heights then another 365 days for the Rams to bring home the title.

The wait and ride were well worth the perseverance that the coaches, players, students and fans so patiently endured on the way to the pinnacle.

Let’s take a game-by-game look at Trotwood-Madison’s 2011 season:

GAME #1 – TROTWOOD-MADISON 35, THURGOOD MARSHALL 21: It was a test right out of the gate for Trotwood-Madison. The Rams were tied at 13-13 with Thurgood Marshall at halftime. After intermission Trotwood-Madison scored 22 unanswered, third-quarter points to pull away from the Cougars. Israel Green ran for 137 yards on 10 carries with two touchdowns, including a spectacular 96-yard run for the victors. Quarterback Michael Simpson threw for 208 yards and two touchdowns in his Rams debut. Dalin Byrd had six receptions for 93 yards and a touchdown. Mike McCray caught the other touchdown pass from Simpson. Thurgood Marshall was able to rush for 293 yards. The Cougars could not figure how to stop Darion Heath, who recovered three fumbles had a sack and was in on seven total tackles for a Rams’ defense that registered four takeaways.

GAME #2 – TROTWOOD-MADISON 41, DUNBAR 8: The defense set the tone for Trotwood-Madison as they held Dunbar to 119 yards of total offense and had four takeaways, including three interceptions. Kieran Winn had an interception return for a touchdown and a fumble recovery. Winn’s pick six came just nine seconds after a second-quarter touchdown run by Green and it made the score 21-0 just 15 minutes into the game. Bam Bradley and Verondtae Wilkinson also had picks for the winners. That effort from the defense saw their offense take advantage of those opportunities. Green ran for 134 yards and two touchdowns. Ashton Jackson found the end zone for the second straight week on a 62-yard run. Simpson hit McCray and Kendrick Mallory for scores.

GAME #3 – TROTWOOD-MADISON 47, BEAVERCREEK 24: The Rams steadily built a 33-10 lead midway through the third quarter. Simpson threw for three touchdowns in that span. McCray led Trotwood-Madison with four receptions for 76 yards and two scores. Green also caught a 40-yard touchdown pass and racked up 192 yards rushing while crossing the goal line twice via the run. Jackson also rushed for two touchdowns. The defense came up with three more takeaways, giving them 11 turnovers through three tilts. It was alarming that they allowed Beavercreek to rush for 301 yards, a trend that would need to be addressed.

GAME #4 – TROTWOOD-MADISON 47, WAYNE 27: Through four games Trotwood-Madison displayed that they can get out in front of teams early and built leads in explosive fashion. Wayne proved to be the Rams’ latest victim as they jumped out to a 34-7 lead after three quarters. Another trait of this T-Mad squad is their ability to come up with turnovers and the offense’s knack for driving the nail into the coffin of the opponent. Simpson threw for 254 yards and two touchdowns. Jackson ran for a career high 134 yards and three touchdowns, including scoring jaunts of 45 and 50 yards in the final stanza. Green scampered for another 91 yards and two touchdowns. Trai Mobley led the team with six receptions for 96 yards and a score. Cameron Burrows caught the other touchdown toss and had first interception of the year.

GAME #5 – TROTWOOD-MADISON 37, SPRINGFIELD 13: Jackson continued his emergence as he ran for a new career-high 239 yards on 13 carries with two touchdowns. By halftime the sophomore had made a statement about his explosiveness running for well over 200 yards with touchdown runs 55, 45, 41 and 34 yards in his last three quarters of action. He wasn’t the only one strutting his stuff. Green ran for 140 yards and a score. It was the junior’s fourth game of 134 or more yards on the ground. Simpson had his fifth straight two-touchdown passing game. Mobley was on the receiving of both of those scoring tosses as he ended up with 118 yards on seven catches. The Rams put up 37 points despite four turnovers.

GAME #6 – TROTWOOD-MADISON 26, PIQUA 23: You could see it coming. Trotwood-Madison was headed for a letdown game and Piqua was just the nuisance to administer such a challenge. Simpson hit McCray with 0:14 left in the game to give the Rams a thrilling come-from-behind victory in their GWOC North opener. Trotwood-Madison relinquished a nine-point lead late in the third quarter before struggling back for the victory. Simpson threw for 242 yards and two touchdowns to McCray, who had five receptions for 100 yards. Green ran for 145 yards and two scores. Junior James Winchester led T-Mad with 11 tackles.

GAME #7 – TROTWOOD-MADISON 48, XENIA 20: A balanced attack led to 423 yards of total offense (204 passing, 214 rushing) as Trotwood-Madison pulled away from Xenia. Simpson tossed four touchdown passes, two to Mobley and two to McCray. He also had a rushing touchdown. Green posted the first 200-yard game on the ground with a 207-yard and two-touchdown night. Green took his team leading touchdown total to 14 scores. McCray raised his team-leading receiving TD total to eight.

GAME #8 – TROTWOOD-MADISON 33, TROY 13: For the fifth time in six weeks Trotwood-Madison defeated a Division I squad by at least 20 points. The Rams also ran their record to 3-0 in the GWOC North as they beat Troy for the sixth straight time. It was 27 unanswered points in an eight-minute span during the second quarter that put the Trojans away. Simpson threw for three touchdowns, giving him 20 on the year. Bradley was on the receiving end of two of those scores. Mobley hauled in his sixth touchdown reception and ended up with five catches for a game-high 112 yards. Green led T-Mad with 129 yards and a touchdown rushing. It was the seventh time in eight outings that he rushed for at least that many yards. McCray was a terror on defense with two interceptions, including a 70-yard pick six right before halftime. Reon Dawson nabbed his third interception of the year.

GAME #9 – TROTWOOD-MADISON 48, SIDNEY 6: Everyone had a big night as Trotwood-Madison built a 48-0 lead 20 seconds into the fourth quarter. The Rams racked up 518 yards of total offense (232 passing, 286 rushing). The defense picked off three passes and recovered a fumble. Jackson led T-Mad with 90 yards rushing with two of the team’s six scores on the ground. Heath found the end zone twice. Junior Ne’Arrick Pooler and freshman Harrison Johnson scored their first varsity touchdowns. Harrison also had an interception. Mallory was the Rams’ top receiver with six receptions. Mobley had 92 yards receiving and a touchdowns catch.

GAME #10 – TROTWOOD-MADISON 56, BUTLER 15: The Rams posted a 56-spot in the season finale for the second straight year versus Butler, only this time it capped off an undefeated campaign. The win also gave the Rams 17 consecutive GWOC North wins. Once again Trotwood-Madison ambushed an opponent with a first-half scoring fury. The Rams scored their sixth touchdown of the game two minutes before intermission in building a 42-9 of the Aviators. The T-Mad offense amassed 537 yards of total offense (337 passing, 200 rushing). Simpson threw for 305 of those yards with two touchdown passes. Dalin Byrd led the team with five receptions for a career-high 128 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore Demarcus Wilson caught the first touchdown of his career and had a 32-yard pass completion to freshman Ryon Lucas. Bradley was the star of the Trotwood-Madison returning the first of his two interceptions for a touchdown giving his team a 21-0 lead less than nine minutes into the contest.

GAME #11 – TROTWOOD-MADISON 53, ROSS 7: Trotwood-Madison has seen its offense start to peak as they jumped out to a 27-0 first-quarter lead and never looked back, knocking off Ross in the first round of the Region 8 playoffs, 53-7. Over the past three weeks, T-Mad have posted 157 points (51.2 avg.). Jackson ran for a pair of scores and Simpson threw for two more for the victors. Marc Raye Redmond ran for a game-high 88 yards and his first touchdown of the season. The last time that Trotwood-Madison walked off a football field as a loser was after blowing the lead and losing last year’s 2010 Ohio Division II state championship game. That bitter taste has driven Douglass’ team all season as they turned in the school’s first undefeated season in three decades.

GAME #12 – TROTWOOD-MADISON 27, WAPAKONETA 6: McCray returned his second interception of the second half 75 yards for a touchdown to give Trotwood-Madison the cushion they needed to hold off Wapakoneta, 27-6. McCray set the tone on defense as he was not going to let the Rams be denied a third consecutive trip to the Division II, Region 8 finals. It was the sixth straight November victory for Douglass and his program. Green led the Trotwood-Madison offense with 150 yards rushing and a touchdown. The junior now has 1,502 yards on the ground while finding the end zone 19 times this fall. Jackson scored his 15th and 16th rushing touchdowns of the year. Simpson threw for 212 yards, but did not throw a touchdown pass for the first time this fall.

GAME #13 – TROTWOOD-MADISON 35, KINGS 20: Penalties and turnovers led to a nightmarish first half for Trotwood-Madison as Kings took a 20-0 lead at half. Simpson, the Division II Southwest District Offensive Player of the Year was intercepted twice. Throw in a fumble and a blocked punt by the Knights and the bad dream was getting worse. The veteran Kings' defense was playing the part of a championship unit heading into intermission. The Rams headed to the locker room stunned and looking for inspiration from a higher ground. As bad as things were for Trotwood-Madison in the first half they were even worse for Kings after the break. The Knights got the ball out to their own 43-yard line on the opening drive of the half. Burrows recovered a fumble for the Rams. Green found the end zone 3:16 later and the T-Mad ground game was starting to get on track. The snowball had just been tipped over the edge and the avalanche was gaining speed and heading downhill on top of the Knights. When the dust had finally settled T-Mad scored 35 unanswered points in the second half, 28 of them in a 9:19 second stretch of the fourth quarter. Green would end up with two touchdowns and a game-high 129 yards rushing. Bradley came up with an interception and had two receptions for 13 yards and his third touchdown catch of the year on offense. McCray intercepted a pass and raced untouched 39-yards down the sideline for a Trotwood-Madison touchdown to put an exclamation point on those 35 unanswered points. It was a fitting end for the junior linebacker, who was in on 14 tackles. The Rams won their second straight Region 8 title as they continued their dominance with their fifth post-season win in a over a team from the now defunct FAVC.

GAME #14 – TROTWOOD-MADISON 47, MARION-FRANKLIN 44: It was a tale of two halves for second straight week for Trotwood-Madison. The Rams were paced by four first-half touchdown passes from Simpson and five turnovers by Marion-Franklin as they put up a 40-spot in the first half of the Division II state semi-finals. T-Mad went into halftime having scored 68 points in their last three quarters of football. Things got wild and wooly after that. Everything was coming up roses for the Rams in the game’s first 24 minutes. Simpson threw for 174 of his 199 yards before the break, including scoring tosses of 64 and 45 yards to Mobley. For Mobley it was a pleasant return to the lineup after missing last week’s game against Kings. As good as things were for Trotwood-Madison before intermission it went south for the Rams in the second half against a very good Red Devils squad. Marion-Franklin quarterback Corry Benson, the Central District’s Offensive Player of the Year, went to work dissecting the T-Mad defense. The junior ran for one and threw three touchdown passes in the final 24 minutes. The Red Devils would rack up 611 yards of total offense, 428 of that through the air. Jaron Dukes was on the receiving end of two of those scoring passes. Joe Alverson found the end zone twice, once on a 12 yard run and a 28-yard reception. It was Marion-Franklin’s sixth and final turnover that sealed their fate when Burrows intercepted a Red Devils flea-flicker and turned it into an 80-yard pick six with 4:17 left in the contest. That gave Trotwood-Madison a nine-point cushion. Four minutes into the game Bradley returned an errant Benson pass 62-yards for a touchdown. For Bradley, it was his fifth interception of the season and second that has found its way over the goal line.

GAME #15 – TROTWOOD-MADISON 42, AVON 28: This time it was Green’s turn to be the star and he did it in the grandest of fashions as the Rams won their first state championship to cap a perfect 15-0 year. Things could not have started worse for Trotwood-Madison on their second straight quest for a state championship. Two turnovers on the team's first two possessions saw the Rams dig themselves a hole. Green would put the team on his shoulders as he would rewrite the record books with a performance for the ages. When the smoke had cleared Green carried the ball 35 times for 326 yards (the second most in a state championship game) and six touchdowns rushing. He finished his season with 2,086 yards and 27 touchdowns on the ground and 29 overall. Simpson was intercepted on a batted ball that Ralph Smith of Avon returned 68 yards for a pick six score on the game’s opening drive. The Eagles were up 7-0. The second drive of the game was not any better for Trotwood-Madison as Green fumbled the ball giving it back to the Eagles on their own 38 yard line. Avon marched the ball all the way to the Rams five on their first possession. On the verge of going up 14-0 they fumbled on the Rams' 5-yard line. That set the stage for Green. The junior would rip off a 54-yard run down to the Avon 1-yard line. He would score his first of six touchdowns on the next play. Trotwood-Madison was not out of the woods yet as freshman Eric Cospy would miss his 19th extra point of the year leaving the Rams trailing, 7-6 with 4:23 left in the opening stanza. As Trotwood-Madison started cranking up their run game Avon did themselves no favors punting for a third straight time on a drive that lasted only 55 seconds. A tired Eagles’ defense could not stop the Rams from going 97 yards and Green finding the end zone for a fourth time. It marked 28 unanswered points as T-Mad took command of the contest with 39 seconds left in the second quarter. A nifty hook-and-ladder play set up a Justin O’Rourke to Jacob Mullins scoring toss. In just 20 seconds the Eagles pulled to within two touchdowns at 28-14 to end the half. They were to get the ball back after intermission. The first half saw the two schools combine for 521 yards of total offense. Avon pulled to within seven at 35-28 with 1:47 left in the third quarter. Shades of a past Trotwood-Madison collapse in the season finale were starting to reemerge. A poor pouch kick by Avon gave Trotwood-Madison great field position on their 46-yard line to end the third quarter. A sustained drive and the Rams’ offensive line took over as Green finished off a 6:35 drive with his sixth touchdown of the game. Simpson did not even have to throw a pass the entire second half. His linemen were having their way controlling the line of scrimmage. Avon had less than six minutes left and moved down the field only to come up short on a fourth and 15. Penalties and unforced errors plagued the Eagles all night at crucial times of the contest. In the end it was too much to overcome.


MILESTONES AND MORE
--The team nabbed the program’s first-ever state championship. The Rams 15-0 record was also best in school history as they topped the 1981 squad’s 14-1 mark. It was also the second straight Division II, Region 8 title for T-Mad. The Rams made the playoffs for the third straight year and seventh time overall.

--Simpson was named the Ohio Division II Offensive Player of the Year and GWOC North Co-Athlete of the Year after throwing for 2,682 yards, 30 touchdowns and just 11 interceptions. In two seasons as a starter at Chaminade-Julienne and one at T-Mad he has combined to throw for 5,898 yards with 56 passing touchdown and just 22 interceptions.

--Green nabbed Division II, First-Team All-Ohio and TriStateFootball.com Dayton Offensive Player of the Year honors after finishing the season with 2,086 yards and 27 touchdowns on the ground and 29 scores overall. He heads into his senior season with 2,743 yards rushing, 35 rushing and 37 total touchdowns with 2,976 all-purpose yards.

--Bradley was named Division II, First-Team All-Ohio and Division II Southwest District Defensive Player of the Year after posting 64 total tackles, one forced fumble, two fumble recoveries and had 103 return yards on five interceptions, two of which he took back for touchdowns. Bam did it all. On offense he caught 12 passes for 142 yards and three touchdowns. On special teams he returned a blocked punt 25-yards for a score in the playoff opener against Ross.

--Only a junior, Burrows was named Division II, First Team All-Ohio for his play in the secondary which included a fumble recovery and four interceptions, including one for a touchdown in the state semi-finals against Marion-Franklin. He has eight career interceptions.

--McCray was also pegged with Division II, First-Team All-Ohio honors. The most versatile Ram showed his worth on both sides of the ball. On defense, McCray was in on 88 total tackles, forced two fumbles and returned three of his five interceptions for touchdowns with 217 return yards on those picks. On offense he hauled in 30 balls for 494 yards and nine touchdowns. For his career, McCray has 40 receptions for 629 yards, 12 receiving touchdowns, 224 interception return yards, 136 total tackles, four fumble recoveries, seven interceptions and four of which have gone for scores.

--The monstrous, LJ Mosley cleared large holes along the offensive line for Green and Jackson and pass protected for Simpson as well as anyone in Southwest Ohio. His efforts garnered the junior Division II, Second-Team All-Ohio honors.

--Junior Treyvon Williams-Brown might have gotten overshadowed by his defensive teammates, but make no bones about it he was a major player in this state championship run. The Division II Special Mention All-Ohio, Division II, First-Team All-Southwest District and First-Team All-GWOC performer was in on 62 total tackles with 6.0 sacks.

--Jordan Ashe paved the way for some great runners in his career and his efforts earned him a Division II, Second-Team All-Southwest District selection on the offensive line.

--Mobley quietly had a great senior campaign at wide receiver with 51 receptions for 872 yards and nine receiving touchdowns on his way to earning Division II, Special Mention All-Southwest District and First-Team All-GWOC North honors. Mobley finishes his career with 64 catches for 1,107 yards and 12 receiving touchdowns.

--Heath, a Division II Special Mention All-Southwest District and Second-Team All-GWOC North member, recovered four fumbles as a defensive lineman and found the end zone three times as a fullback. He finishes his career with 427 yards on the ground which is not bad for the lead blocker for Green, Jackson and Antwan Gilbert before them.

--Senior defensive lineman, Duane Hairston was named Second-Team All-GWOC North after recording 29 total tackles, recovering a fumble and 1.0 sack year.

--Senior defensive lineman, Henry Powell garnered Second-Team All-GWOC North after a 34 total tackle and 2.0 sack season.

--Junior defensive back James Winchester was named as a Second-Team All-GWOC North member after getting in on 44 total tackles and recording a sack. He also amassed 421 total return yards to lead the team.

--Jackson wasn’t too shabby playing second fiddle to Green, running for 1,081 yards and 17 touchdowns in a backup role.

Greg is a co-founder of TSF and is now entering his ninth season as a Featured Analyst for the website. The Xavier University grad also serves as the Content Manager for the website and is widely considered one of the top high school football experts in the region. If you are interested in covering your team, please CONTACT US.

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