Stallions fall to Warriors
Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune Madera South quarterback Jonah Johnson hands off to Maurice McClain while Jacob Kirkpatrick (22) runs a fake. Johnson and McClain combined to score all three Stallions touchdowns.
After taking an early 6-3 lead against the Fresno Warriors, the Madera South Stallions football team allowed four straight touchdowns in a 40-20 loss at McLane Stadium in Fresno.
“We had a couple of three-and-outs on defense,” head coach Dane Cook said. “They have a really big defensive line, good team speed. One of the best team speed we’ve seen in a while. We did some good things, we made a lot of mistakes.”
Lee Major torched the Stallions for 203 yards rushing on 14 carries and scored three touchdowns. Khory Day added 114 yards rushing and scored two more touchdowns.
“He (Major) and the quarterback are really good athletes,” Cook said. “They are really athletic kids.” Maurice McClain scored two long touchdowns, one on a pass from Jonah Johnson and another on a 70-yard run. Johnson hit Mathew Manoz for a 52-yard touchdown.
“We were doing all right,” Cook said. “We played well at times. They fumbled early. We fumbled early and held them to a field goal. Our first three series went really well. Then, they went to Khory running the football and he made our kids miss in space. We didn’t tackle well.”
McClain had eight carries for 106 yards and also had 95 yards on five receptions for 201 total yards. Johnson threw for 280 yards.
The Stallions enter the bye week with a 2-3 record and have some work to do and also have to get healthy.
“We have to get fundamentally sound. We have to read our keys,” Cook said. “We have to be more aggressive, defensively. On both sides of the ball, we have guys doing things well, but we have one or two that don’t do something well and it breaks down the whole play.
“We’ve had some key injuries. We’re just thin and when one guy goes down, it creates a chain reaction.”
The Stallions will play at San Joaquin Memorial-Fresno after the bye week on Oct. 7.
