RUNNING HARD — Madonna’s Chase Littleton shrugs off a Conotton Valley defender during Saturday night’s game at Jimmy Carey Stadium. – Andrew Grimm
WEIRTON — On senior night, it was a couple of seniors that made a big difference for Madonna.
Chase Littleton ran for a pair of touchdowns and accounted for more than 260 yards of offense for the Blue Dons, while Luca Muzzi made a game-sealing interception late in the fourth quarter as Madonna won its third straight, 21-12, over visiting Conotton Valley.
“Our theme of the week was, ‘Do not yield to misfortune,’” first-year Madonna head coach Troy Fetty said. “It was perfect. We’re dressing 15 kids and got a bonus when Luca was able to play. We had kids playing in positions they hadn’t played all year, they took the challenge. They took the challenge all week. We had a great week of practice and the kids played their hearts out. Our coaches coached their butts off. I could not be more proud of these kids.
“These kids sucked it up and played their butts off. We had kids battling injuries, playing through stuff, and they battled.
“What won this game was our kids’ heart.”
Twice the Rockets (6-4) scored and went for a two point conversion to take the lead, and twice the Madonna (5-3) defense came up with a play. The second time kept the Blue Dons on top, 13-12, with 2:44 to go in the game when a pass break up denied the attempt.
“Our philosophy is the next play is the most important play,” Fetty said. “You learn from it and move on to make the next play, because you never know when you’re going to need to make a play.”
That mentality proved to define the win for Madonna. After leading the Blue Dons down into position to add to the lead, Littleton took a hard hit and came out for a couple plays. Before he could return to the field, Matt Geer had plowed into the end zone for a pivotal 4-yard score with 1:38 to go, then connected with KJ Ward in the back of the end zone for a crucial two-point conversion to make it a two-possession lead.
To seal the deal, Muzzi, who has been battling an injury and was limited in his role after being unsure whether or not he could play at all earlier in the day, stepped in front of a pass on the final Conotton Valley drive allowing the Dons to kneel out the remaining clock.
“Luca hasn’t practiced in four weeks other than running around … he made a great interception to seal the deal for us,” Fetty said. “Chase got a little dinged up there at the end, we put Matt Geer in and he ran for a touchdown and threw a two-point conversion. They were called upon and stepped up.
“Noah Kimberland had never played wide receiver until Monday and had two big catches and two big runs, Logan Fedak played a big game offensively and defensively. It’s a great team win. We pretty much played everyone that dressed and needed every one them.”
Fedak also recovered an onside kick attempt when it was 13-12.
After Madonna led 7-0 at halftime, the Rockets scored on the first drive of the second half when Zachary Putnam hit Kamden Wright for a 59-yard pass down to the 3, then ran it in himself. His conversion, pass, though, was broken up to leave the score 7-6 Madonna.
The Dons defense recovered and kept the Rockets at bay until the late fourth quarter score when Putnam hit Brock Bower for a 13-yard score.
“Our kids play hard for 48 minutes, it doesn’t matter what happens,” Fetty said. “They will suck it up and keep playing hard til the end. That’s what you saw at the end. I felt like we wanted it more at the end.
“(Conotton Valley) Coach (Derek) O’Hara has a great team, he does a great job. His team played their butts off. We knew it was going to be a tough game.”
Madonna, which never trailed, got its first two scores from Littleton. After neither team scored in the opening quarter, he capped a long, methodical drive with a 5-yard run on a fourth and goal with just 20 seconds left before halftime.
Early in the fourth quarter, after the Rockets had pulled within a point, Littleton fired a long pass to Geer, then ran for a big gain down to the 1 before powering his way across the goal line to make it 13-6.
Littleton, who had nine touchdowns the previous week, finished with 140 rushing yards on 33 carries and went 6 of 11 passing for another 124 yards.
“Chase is just our man, what can you say,” Fetty said. “He did a great job of leading us.”
After the win, the seniors took a victory lap with the senior cheerleaders to be recognized by the home crowd one last time.
“This senior group made my transition to being the head coach very easy, they show up every day and work hard. It’s great to win a game like this on their senior night.”
According to WVTailgateCentral’s unofficial rankings, the win propelled the Blue Dons to the No. 14 spot in Class A with a pair of road games to go.
UP NEXT
Conotton Valley: Despite the loss, got enough help to hang on to the No. 16 spot in Ohion Division VII, Region 25 and will travel to No. 1 seed Dalton in the opening round of the Ohio playoffs on Friday.
Madonna: Will travel to Wirt County, who is 4-4 and sits in the No.19 spot, for another big game in the Class A playoff race on Friday.
Madonna 21, Conotton Valley 12
Conotton 0-0-6-6 – 12
Madonna 0-7-0-14 – 21
SCORING
FIRST
None
SECOND
M: Littleton 5 run (Ward kick)
THIRD:
CV: Putnam 3 run (pass failed)
FOURTH
M: Littleton 1 run (kick failed)
CV: Bower 13 pass from Putnam (pass failed)
M: Geer 4 run (Geer pass)
RUSHING: Conotton Valley 28-136 (N. Smith 17-109; L. Smith 6-25; Putnam 5-2-TD); Madonna 40-154-2TD (Littleton 33-140-2TD; Geer 5-7-TD; Kimberland 2-7)
PASSING: Conotton Valley 9-16-136-TD-INT (all by Putnam); Madonna 6-11-124 (all by Littleton)
RECEIVING: Conotton Valley 9-136-2TD (Bower 3-43-TD; Wright 6-117); Madonna 6-124 (Fedak 2-35; DoBraska 1-21; Geer 1-33; Kimberland 2-37)
