First half mistakes cost Madison in playoff loss to West Central

Miscues and missed opportunities have been an unfortunate recurring theme throughout the 2024 Madison Bulldog football season. Despite that, Madison put together a winning record for the first time in three seasons as they entered Thursday’s playoff game at West Central. But, early mistakes cost the Bulldogs in a 14-6 loss to the Trojans. 

Madison looked out of sync on their first drive. They fumbled the ball on their 2nd play, but recovered it for a 4 yard loss. Two plays later they fumbled again. This time it was recovered by West Central in Bulldog territory. 10 plays later Aiden Bartman ran the ball into the endzone for a 7-0 Trojan lead. 

After the teams exchanged punts Madison fumbled again, this time in Trojan Territory. The Madison defense then forced a turnover on downs, getting the ball back early in the 2nd quarter. That set up a bizarre turnover by the Bulldogs. Facing a 4th and 3 from their own 41 yard line, Madison lined up and looked like they would try to draw the Trojans offsides. The ball was then snapped and went past quarterback Cohen Hahn, who ran 20 yards into the backfield to cover it up as Madison turned it over on downs deep in their own territory. That led to another West Central TD, as they took a 14-0 lead to halftime. 

Madison put together a long drive early in the 3rd quarter, and nearly overcame a penalty to score their first touchdown. Shane Veenhof caught a pass on 4th down towards the back of the endzone, but was ruled out of bounds. The Bulldogs did score on their next drive, on a 90 yard touchdown run from Ben Brooks that made the score 14-6. But the Madison offense would never get the ball back again. West Central ran out the final 7 minutes of the game to pick up the playoff win. 

Brooks finished with 140 yards rushing for Madison. Bartman ran the ball 30 times for West Central, picking up 167 yards and a TD. Caleb Petterson had a game high 22 tackles. 

Madison’s season ends with a 6-4 record. West Central will travel to Sioux Falls Christian for next week’s 11A semifinals. 

The other semifinal next Friday will feature Lennox at Dell Rapids. The Quarriers defeated Dakota Valley 17-6, while Lennox shutout Canton 50-0.