Oct 4, 2014 4 min read

JEFFERSON – With such evenly matched teams as Mapletown and Jefferson-Morgan, games can come down to one mistake or a supreme effort.

Mapletown’s defense turned in another dominating performance and came away with a 21-7 victory over Jefferson-Morgan in a Tri-County South Conference game.

The win puts Mapletown (4-2, 4-2) in a good position to earn one of the conference’s four payoff berths, something that hasn’t happened since 2005.

The Maples allowed only 25 first half yards and one first down.

“I can’t say enough about our defense,” said Mapletown head coach George Messich. “They are just outstanding. We are aggressive to the ball, and I think we are a little bit better defensively than offensively. We didn’t have a great first half offensively. We missed some blocks and dropped some balls, but our defense kept us in the game. I have so much faith in our defense that they can keep us in the game until our offense starts clicking.”

The Maples’ offense did exactly that once the second half began, thanks to their usual strong running attack.

Mapletown rushed for more than 200 yards in the game, but this week they leaned on freshman Dylan Rush, who finished with 120 rushing yards. He found the end zone three times, twice on the ground.

Rush had only nine yards rushing at the half, but exploded in the second. He started with the opening drive of the third quarter, which ultimately was the drive that did in the Rockets (3-3, 3-3).

The freshman got the ball on eight of Mapletown’s first nine plays of the third quarter, and he put the Maples up 14-0 with a one-yard plunge. Rush also made a big play in the first half, when he hauled in a 52-yard touchdown pass from Ben Boone to give the Maples a 7-0 halftime lead.

“We made some adjustments at halftime, and we came out to play,” said Rush. “We started to get on a roll after that first drive of the second half. I think we took a little something out of them there.”

Rush put the game out of reach one drive later, when he scored for the third time, this time on a seven-yard run to make it 21-0.

Offensively, the Maples threw a little wrinkle at JM by using two quarterbacks.

Boone, the usual starter had some success throwing the ball, completing 8 of 17 pass attempts for 158 yards. The 17 attempts is a high number for a Mapletown team that loves running the football.

But Boone took a big hit in the first quarter and had to be replaced by Matt Rush, who was used primarily as a runner. Matt Rush ran for 41 yards on eight attempts.

“Our quarterback situation is like our running back situation,” said Messich. “We are blessed that we can plug a couple of guys in that can do the job. Ben had a nice day throwing the ball. We can throw it. He had a couple of drops or it would have been an even better night.”

The Mapletown defense allowed only four first downs through three quarters. Other than one long pass play, a 22-yard touchdown pass from Austin Clark to Jakob Bissett, the Maples showed that their defense can be effective.

Jefferson-Morgan tried to mount a late comeback, but Dylan Rush made big plays on the defensive side of the ball, intercepting Clark to seal the win.

“We are pretty strong on defense,” said Rush. “Our defensive linemen were real good tonight and we have real good coaches.”

Mapletown will try and make it three wins in a row next Friday, when they host Bentworth, while Jefferson-Morgan will look to get back on the winning track when they play host to Springdale.

“To come in here and beat another good team and leave at 4-2, I’m just really pleased with our football team,” added Messich.