LISBON – The undermanned Madison Bulldogs can stay with most teams on their football schedule. But the Lisbon Greyhounds aren’t one of those teams.
Dressing just 16 players, the Bulldogs withstood the Greyhounds’ power running game for the first half. The second half was a different story.
Lisbon pounded out 354 yards on the ground, including 180 yards by Levi Ervin to capture a 37-8 victory at Glenys Thompson Athletic Field on Saturday.
Of Lisbon’s yardage, 259 came in the second half as the Greyhounds kept blasting away between the tackles.
“Lisbon took (its) best attack with counters up the middle,” said Madison coach Joe Hayden. “In the fourth quarter we were definitely worn down.”
Leading 14-8 at the break, the Greyhounds (3-1) strung together a seven-play, 49-yard drive, with Ervin getting 29 yards on six carries and Joe Stevens picking up a 20-yard burst on a counter play. Ervin’s 2-yard dive culminated the scoring march to put the Greyhounds up 22-8.
One series later, Lisbon was pinned at its own 4 following a 50-yard punt by Josiah Wing.
Fourteen plays and 96 yards later, any hope of a Madison comeback went south as Lisbon slugged its way on another long touchdown drive. A 12-yard pass from Chris Brunick to Stevens picked up one first down.
One play later, Stevens zipped 17 yards on a reverse. Fullback Jesse Moan capped the drive with a 1-yard run.
“In the second half we threw the ball and ran a few counters,” said Lisbon coach Dick Mynahan. “That opened things up for us.”
Ervin’s last carry of the game was his longest, as he broke an off-tackle run for 50 yards to finish the scoring. He finished with 27 carries for 180 yards.
“I think the run’s been really effective for us,” said Ervin, who also ran for touchdown and caught a fourth-down scoring pass in the first half.
“We’re hitting the holes and everyone’s blocking,” he said. “It’s going to win a lot of games for us.”
Whenever he wasn’t getting the ball, he was leading the way for a teammate.
“Levi does a good job for us whenever he’s on the field,” said Mynahan. “He’s our best runner and when we have Levi wing blocking, he’s our best blocker.”
The Bulldogs (1-3) took advantage of an Ervin fumble on his own 4 to go ahead 8-6 early in the second quarter. A quarterback sneak on a quick count by Dan Kalagher on fourth down turned out to be the Bulldogs’ lone score. Woody Noyes accounted for most of the Bulldog yardage, finishing with 99 yards rushing.
“We needed to keep the ball moving,” said Hayden. “We’d get a good run and then we’d fumble.”
In the second half, the Bulldogs were limited to 14 plays and 59 total yards. Most of the yardage came on Noyes’ 46-yard run with Ervin out of the game.
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