Friday, October 01, 1999
Senior corps fuels Madeira
BY CAREY HOFFMAN
Enquirer contributor
Halfway through the season, it wasn't supposed to be this good for the Madeira football team.
The Mustangs are 5-0 and face Wyoming tonight at 7:30, the only other unbeaten team in the Cincinnati Hills League.
Because of its small size, Madeira traditionally has had difficulty sustaining periods of athletic prosperity, particularly in football. So when an extraordinary class of seniors graduated last June, the school lost a group of athletes that had been at the core of success:
• 7-3 season last year in football, the best record at the school since 1975
• Final Four qualifying team in basketball, the best showing in school history
• A state championship team in baseball, the first state athletic title in school history.
In the preseason, CHL coaches picked Madeira fourth in the eight-team CHL. What they may have overlooked, however, is “that we have 16 seniors that have really stepped it up,” says quarterback- strong safety Tim Dooley. “A lot of those guys were gaining experience last year.”
They were the foundation that surrounded graduated stars Josh Cohen and Nick Groll, and third-year Madeira coach Tim Viox thinks they learned from last year's success.
“They experienced some success at 7-3,” says Viox, “and I think they looked at that and thought they could have been 9-1. They've become a good senior class.”
They also have bought into the idea Madeira can be successful in football. The program has improved from 6-4 in Viox's first year to 7-3 last year and this year's 5-0 start on what Viox sees as a revelation among the players.
“I think at first they maybe didn't believe in themselves in football,” he said. “They didn't know they could push themselves beyond their own limits.”
That had changed noticeably by this summer. In particular, Madeira benefitted from a five-day football camp at the school in July and a four-day trip to football camp at Ohio University in June where they were schooled on the triple-option offense the Mustangs run.
Dooley is the focal point for an offense that doesn't have marquee athletes to put in feature roles. Instead, Madeira wins with diversity and execution, having averaged 32 points per game through the first half of the season.
“The offense we run helps a lot,” says Viox. “You fool people. People who don't do their homework aren't sure how the triple-option and its derivatives we run work. If coaches aren't sure what they're seeing, then their players can't be sure when they're on the field.”
On defense, Viox thinks Madeira may even be better than a year ago. Last week, they beat previously unbeaten CHL foe Deer Park 33-13 and held the city's second-leading rusher, Deer Park's Ryan Brown, to less than 100 yards.
A stronger presence at the line of scrimmage, led by linemen Mike Novakov and John Cardoza, has helped. But Madeira will be severely tested by Wyoming, a team with good line play and dangerous skill players that can move the ball in a lot of different ways.
“We need to be fundamentally sound, know our responsibilities and do what we've been told to do,” says Dooley. “We know this is one of the biggest game we've ever played in football.”
PREP FOOTBALL PAGE
This week's football schedule
OHIO FOOTBALL PREVIEW
Senior corps fuels Madeira
CINCINNATI FOOTBALL PICKS
N.KY. FOOTBALL PREVIEW
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