The Friday night lights felt different.
There was more cheering in the stands. More energy. More reaction to every play — good or bad — and even as the final minutes ticked away, the Madison crowd was still cheering.
For Coach Landonn Mackey, the Dragons’ first football game at their new sports complex felt like a home game in a way it hadn’t before.
“It was amazing,” Mackey said. “The environment was great to turn around and just look across, and all the fans that came out and supported the school and the team. Even till the very end, our fans were cheering.”
Madison fell 56-26 to NG/SE, but the scoreboard wasn’t the only thing Mackey noticed Friday night. He saw a young team settle down after a difficult start, begin trusting each other and show some of the progress he believes is happening throughout the program.
He also saw a crowd responding right along with them.
“There was a lot more chatter, a lot more energy and cheering,” Mackey said. “Every positive play we made, they were cheering. And even when we’d make a negative play, they’d react like a crowd would. That was real helpful for us to stay kind of locked in and refocus our energy.”
That energy may have contributed to some early nerves, too.
“I think just being at home and being in the new environment, I think kind of had some of our guys excited, but then also kind of just not shell shocked, but lost in the moment a little bit,” Mackey said. “And that hurt us.”
NG/SE took advantage early, putting Madison in a position Mackey knows isn’t ideal for his team.
“Obviously the first quarter was not even like the first five minutes of the actual game. It wasn’t ideal for us, and we just got behind,” Mackey said. “At halftime it was just like, ‘Guys, just reset. This is going to be a really tough task for us to come back and win, but we can grow and get better and try to get ready for next week with a short week.’ ” Rather than focus on the deficit, Mackey treated the second half as another opportunity for his young team to learn. He moved players into different spots and challenged the Dragons to continue competing.
“I was trying to use that as an opportunity, as an extension of practice and just try some guys in different spots, and they responded really well,” he said.
Madison is relying on players who haven’t had much experience in some of the positions they’re now being asked to play.
“We’re also asking guys that are younger that haven’t had a lot of experience in those positions, trying to make plays in that moment too,” Mackey said. “It’s kind of like, we need to make those plays, but also, well, you’ve never been asked to do that.”
As the Dragons settled down, Mackey saw a difference on both sides of the ball.
Defensively, Madison began trusting assignments and playing more freely after giving up several big plays early.
“You preach to do your own job and worry about yourself, and then the rest will come,” Mackey said. “As we settled down a little bit, we were able to kind of fly around more and just be a little bit more free and play ball.”
Offensively, Mackey was encouraged by what he saw up front. Something had begun clicking for the Dragons’ line during practice
