Madison County’s Mountaineers (5-0, 0-0) disarmed Stonewall Jackson’s Generals 26-13 in football action in Quicksburg Friday, though faced some tough skirmishes in the early going.

Madison County senior Kenny Lohr christened the Mountaineers’ newly re-routed home cross country course last week by running the five-kilometer trail in a blazing 17 minutes, 59 seconds – a Madison home course record. Lohr easily fended off challengers from Clarke County, George Mason and Strasburg to surpass all other runners at the four-way Sept. 24 meet – the first using the new “out-and-back” Hoover Ridge route, which replaces an earlier one at the site, which is behind Madison Primary School. (Parts of the previous route were destroyed by ongoing construction work on the county’s sprawling 11-field athletic complex.)

After playing three of their first four games in the friendly confines of Eddie Dean Field at Booster Park, the Madison County Mountaineers football team takes to the road Oct. 3 for gridiron action against the Stonewall Jackson Generals of the Shenandoah District. “This is our second road trip. We have to have a good week of practice and go over (to Stonewall) with the mindset to play tough Mountaineer football,” said Madison Coach Stuart Dean.

The Madison County Mountaineer football team should have no trouble getting fired up for its Sept. 26 match-up against the Page County Panthers. As Mountaineer fans may recall, Page knocked off Madison 33-27 last year. The Panthers scored a touchdown with 1:24 left in the game to steal the victory. “We owe them for last year,” said Madison senior lineman Sharod Kilby. “It gives us a little added incentive.”

BREAKING NEWS
Madison County (3-0, 0-0) captured its third straight victory of the season Sept. 19, penning the Luray Bulldogs 40-7. The Shenandoah District foe falls to 0-3. Madison nearly shut-out Luray, which made its lone touchdown with just over a minute left in the Eddie Dean Field football match-up.

The 2008 Madison County football squad is off to an impressive 2-0 start. After handling a tough Nelson County team 28-8 in the season opener, the Mountaineers throttled Greene County’s William Monroe 28-0. However, as Madison senior Tremell DeBerry said, “There is always room for improvement. We have to keep getting better.” After a bye last week, Madison gets back in action Sept. 19, hosting the Luray Bulldogs of the Shenandoah District.

UPDATE
Madison County’s Mountaineers stormed past Greene County’s William Monroe in Sept. 5 football action, shutting out the Dragons 28-0. Driving rain dampened much of the second half of the match-up at Martin Mooney Field in Stanardsville as the initial outer bands of the remnants of Tropical Storm Hanna blew into the area.

Madison County took what virtually every high school football team in the commonwealth was looking for Aug. 29—a win in the first game of the season. Madison avenged last year’s loss to Nelson County with a huge win over the Governors, 28-8. Madison had luck with the first play of the entire season as A.J. Butler took the kickoff into Nelson territory. The Mountaineers scored a few plays later as Logan Terrell rushed in for a five-yard run with 10:17 to go in the first quarter.

Madison County Coach Gary Honaker’s golf team ended last year’s season by finishing second in both the regular and district tournaments. This is after winning the Bull Run District Tournament the year before that. The team lost three key players to graduation this year —  Joe Canosa, Tyler Coppage and Cory Hall.

“Gentlemen, we can rebuild him … make him better, stronger than before,” began the weekly opening of the hit 70s TV series “Six Million Dollar Man.” This year’s Madison County cross country program conjures up images of the show’s bionic man character, Steve Austin, as Madison’s standout boy runner, senior Kenny Lohr, returns better than ever, despite a bad ankle injury this past spring. And even the Mountaineer runners home course is getting some significant restorative surgery – Hoover Ridge ballfield construction knocked out some segments of it, so it’s being re-routed.

A younger Madison County High School volleyball squad heads to the court this season. With seven now-graduated seniors absent from the 2008 season, the team’s greatest weakness is a lack of varsity experience, according to head coach B.J. Scott.

There is only one place to be on Friday nights in Madison County; most people know that to be under the lights at Eddie Dean Field at Booster Park. It is also a place known as the home of the Madison County Mountaineers. In 2007, Madison was 5-5 with only a 2-3 record in the Bull Run District. This year, fourth-year Head Coach Stuart Dean and his staff hope to have a considerably better year and go for the Bull Run District championship as well as a run at the playoffs.

The Friday, Aug. 22 Madison County-Orange County football game at Porterfield Park, which was really just a scrimmage in the guise of real game, ended with a 34-6 Orange County win.

Coach Stuart Dean and his varsity staff conducted their sixth annual youth football camp at Eddie Dean Field July 28-30. Hosting around 50 campers, ranging in age from 6 through 13, the camp successfully drew community support to teach the young football hopefuls the fundamental skills of the game.

Madison County High School’s head basketball coach, Timmy Taylor, turned his focus this summer from his current basketball players to his future court stars as he hosted his first annual summer youth basketball camp. “It’s just a way to give back to the community,” said Taylor. “It helps build that Madison Pride that we’ve been talking about, and it will help the future of the basketball program at the high school.”

Four square, tetherball and “capture the flag” are classic summer camp activities. While the Boys and Girls Club of Madison County’s summer program offers most of these things, its opportunities reach beyond what you would expect of a typical day camp.

During the summer of 1999, Syria resident Jean Link and her daughter, Seri, cleared their Saturday morning schedules. In preparation for the Charlottesville Women’s Four Miler, the two were determined to head down to Charlottesville each weekend and be off and running by 7:30 a.m. But the early morning drive to attend the race’s training program proved to be a hassle for the Madison County residents.

Madison County’s 2008 track season finale featured four competitors in the May 31 state championship meet in Radford. Mountaineer Ryan Banks, who had been competitive all season long, ended up as the state runner-up in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:01.88. A week earlier, he qualified for the state match in the Region B tournament at Monticello High School with a time of 2:02.42 and a fourth place finish there. At the time, it was a personal record for him, which he then overwrote at the state match.

It has been awhile since a Madison County softball team has been able to bring home the regular season district and tournament titles. However, this year the Mountaineer girls had their eyes on the prize and never let anything get in the way of success.

CVaSports.com and the BD Basketball Foundation conducted their May 5 inaugural Central Virginia Basketball Honors Banquet to honor those young athletes from the 18 area high schools in Central Virginia who have exemplified character and academic achievement, including some from Madison County. Madison County High School award recipients include Kyle Louk, Erin Warren, Chris Fincham and Caitlyn Ford.

The 2008 Madison County softball team did something last week that hasn’t been done in a couple years – it was able to bring the pride back to Madison by clenching this year’s Bull Run District regular season title. The score was 9-8 and the game proved to be a close one throughout all seven full innings of play.

The Madison County boys track team had two matches last week that both ended in results that the Mountaineers had hoped for. The first match was a district win over George Mason. Madison was able to annihilate the Mustangs, winning by a score of 106-20.

Two-time International Hot Rod Association World Super Rod Drag Racing Champion Bernard Weaver of Madison County has scored his best April ever in national level drag racing. Weaver has been at the sport of drag racing for more than a quarter century and has moved steadily up from local drag racing to winning IHRA World Super Rod in 2001 and 2005.

Eight runs batted in, a grand slam homer and a three run homer. Not a bad game for most high school teams. Madison County designated hitter Dylan Shifflette accomplished those feats himself in Madison’s 12-2 victory over George Mason April 15.

It’s probably the best story D.C.-area sports fans have seen in years. Unfortunately, many won’t notice because it’s not one of the “Big Three” —  football, baseball or basketball. The Washington Capitals were the worst team in the National Hockey League late last November (after finishing last the previous three years) when management decided to make a coaching change.

Madison County’s track team had its third match of the season this year and its first home meet last week. It got a crack April 9 at the state champions to open its Bull Run District matches in the Clarke County Eagles. But the champs were too much to overcome as both the girls and the boys track teams lost 80-47.

Madison County’s softball team played April 4 in a game many thought would be cancelled. However, with this long-running rivalry, the Lady Mountaineers had some revenge for the Lady Panthers. After losing to Page County 8-0 the previous Friday and a whole week of practice to prepare, Coach BJ Scott’s squad was ready to take on Page County, which it defeated 4-1.

Madison County’s girls soccer team played one game last week. That game required extra time to decide a winner. A pair of five-minute overtime periods were added to the game until the Mountaineer girls were declared the winner over Wilson Memorial 4-3.

Although Madison County’s baseball team lost two of last week’s three games, it still showed a propensity to battle back in the face of adversity.
In March 23 action in Greene County, the Mountaineers built a 9-2 lead through four innings against William Monroe.