Madison County Red Raiders

Reprinted from the Madison County Journal August 10, 2006, edition Raiders start practice this past week, move to full-pads this week
BY BEN MUNRO The Raiders have now put on the armor in practice but it’s going to take a lot more pad-popping before Madison County head coach Randell Owens gets a good gauge on this year’s Raiders. Madison County – and the rest of the state — started practice last Wednesday and moved to full-pad workouts this past Monday. “Right now, it’s a cloudy picture,” Owens said. “Individuals have shown some signs of good things but we’ve got a lot to work on.” The team’s first practice in full pads Monday was cut short due to rain, allowing the Raiders to get in just an hour-and-a-half worth of practice time. Practices haven’t been “full-tilt” yet either with the team working out at seven-eighths speed Owens explained. “We really haven’t had an opportunity to evaluate where we are right now,” Owens said. As far as technique, Owens said skill position players are ahead of the linemen right now due to the work those groups got in during the summer passing league. The guys in the trenches are starting from ground-zero according to the coach. “We haven’t gelled yet as a team,” Owens said. A big part of that reason is that Madison County and the rest of the teams in the state haven’t had time. The start of summer practice coinciding with the start of school wiped out the traditional two-a-day sessions that coaches used to start the preseason. For the rest of this story, see this week's edition of The Madison County Journal.

Reprinted from the Madison County Journal August 3, 2006, edition

BY BEN MUNRO
Practice fields are cooking this week with temperatures reaching the mid-to-upper 90s and with the recent death of a Rockdale County football player due to heat, athlete safety is again at the forefront of discussion. “With us, its always a primary- one concern,” Raider head football coach Randell Owens said. “Obviously, it makes you even more sensitive to it regarding the publicity around it.” On Monday, Rockdale County football player Tyler Davis, 15, collapsed after voluntary workouts and later died, the apparent cause of death being heat stroke. However, Owens said increased media attention won’t affect how he and coaches handle practice because its something that’s constantly on their mind to begin with. “Whether it happened or not, we’d be just as concerned about it,” Owens said. The third-year Raider coach said there’s a detailed plan in place to deal with the heat, one he’s confident puts the players’ safety in the highest regard. When Owens arrived in Danielsville, he started an athletic trainers’ program which sends MCHS students to the University of Georgia to train them to recognize heat illness. At football practice, Owens puts these trainers at each player station with water to hydrate players as they go. Between that and mandatory water breaks every 30 minutes, players are constantly receiving fluids. Owens also said the key is to watch constantly and check for signs of heat exhaustion. He said he’s always prepared to call an impromptu water break. “You make a plan and then adjust according to the conditions,” Owens explained. The Raider football team isn’t the only one dealing with summer heat. Madison County’s softball team is currently practicing now in the sweltering temperatures and coach Doug Kesler said it’s a major concern. “We’ve got girls out there and we’re trying to enforce the importance of not just waiting until you get there to take in fluids,” Kesler said. Again, plenty of hydration is a must. Kesler said water and Gatorade are plentiful at practice. “We take a lot more water breaks than we would on an 80-degree day,” Kesler said. He added that the players are stressed to notify the coaches of the first sign that anything might be wrong. “It’s nothing to fool around with,” Kesler said of the heat. Both Owens and Kesler (once a football coach) have been around hot practice fields in over two decades of coaching. Owens said experience is one of the best weapons in fighting heat problems. “You have to be aware of what constitutes dangerous and hazardous conditions,” Owens said. Kesler noted that some younger coaches might not realize the dangers at times, remembering a time when he said he was “gung-go” a coach at early season practices. “They’re out there pushing it a little harder than they maybe should be,” Kesler said. Keeping players safe and yet having an efficient practice is all about finding a happy medium Owens said. “You have to get as much as you can in without crossing the line and jeopardizing their health,” Owens said.

Reprinted from the Madison County Journal July 27, 2006, edition

Raider coach says he’s not a fan of 8-AAAA’s new system
BY BEN MUNRO
Sure, Madison County’s 2006 schedule has a number of alterations — three new foes, one less region game and sub-region play. But it’s game 10 — 8-AAAA’s new region playoff week — that causes a double-take.

“You don’t know who you’re going to get. You hope you’re in the top four and competing for a spot in the playoffs,” Raider head coach Randell Owens said. The newly realigned and sub-divided region will use the final week of play to determine its four playoff teams with a series of cross-over games between the sub-regions. Based on sub-region records, the no. 1 seeds will play the no. 4 seeds in the opposite sub-region and the no. 2 seeds square off against the three seeds of the opposite sub-region. The four winners of those games move on to the state playoffs. If needed, a tie-breaker system will determine how they’re ranked.

So is Owens a fan of the new system? “No, not really,” he said. The coach said the glaring flaw in all this is that it puts too much emphasis on a single game. Owens notes that a 9-0, top-seeded team could have a bad night against a four seed and find itself locked out of the state playoffs. “The fact that it could happen, it’s kind of nauseating,” Owens said.

The coach said such an upset isn’t out of the question in 8-AAAA, pointing out that a one-win Jackson County team knocked off talented Heritage last year. “With the parity in our region, it can happen,” Owens said. Not only will the top four teams in each sub-region square off, the remaining five and six seeds will also cross over and play each other in a consolation round of sorts. Since the sub-regions are uneven, the seventh seed from 8A-AAAA, Madison County’s sub-region, moves on to face 8-AAA Hart County for game 10.

Owens said he felt spoiled under the old system because every region team played everybody and the final standings from those games determined the state playoff teams. “Because every game counts,” Owens said. “… Every week, you knew it mattered. It gave you a little bit more to play for.”

Madison County’s new-look schedule starts in traditional enough fashion with the Raiders opening against non-region Franklin County (Sept. 1) for the fifth-straight year. Week two, however, sees Raiders revisiting an old foe, Elbert County. Madison County hasn’t tangled with the 8-AAA Blue Devils since 1997 when it lost 42-14 to the Elberton outfit. The contest will also reacquaint Owens — a former Blue Devil assistant — with Elbert County. Madison County has its first region crossover game Sept. 15 against Eastside, followed by its sub-region opener with 8-AAAA newcomer Dacula on Sept. 22. The Raiders haven’t played the Falcons since 1999 when Auburn standouts David and Kenny Irons starred in the Dacula backfield. “I’m excited because of the challenge with Dacula coming down (to the region) and having played in the Dome last year and being one of the biggest Class AAAA schools in the state,” Owens said.

That game starts a string of seven-straight sub-region dates in which Madison County will also face Clarke Central (Sept. 29), Habersham Central (Oct. 6), Loganville (Oct. 13), Jackson County (Oct. 27) and Winder-Barrow (Nov. 3) which has made the jump back into the region after a two-year stint in 8-AAA. Then comes the new region playoff week. Owens said the new system has at least one thing going for it since region eight teams are still alive for the state playoffs after nine games. “That game 10, it makes it exciting for the fans,” he said. “Your team still has something to play for.”

NOTE An intra-squad weightlifting competition for the Madison County football team starts tonight (Thursday) at 6 p.m. A parent meeting will follow.

Madison County High School
P.O. Box 7
Danielsville GA 30633

Dear Parents & Players,

SUBJECT: FCA TEAM CAMP

The Madison County Red Raiders Football Team will be going to FCA Football Team Camp this summer in Carrollton, Georgia on the campus of the University of West Georgia. This camp will run from July 20-July 22. We would like for all of our players to make every effort to attend this camp.

The cost of the camp is $115. Please fill out the form that you can link to above and return it with a check in the amount of $115 made payable to Madison County Football on or before June 15. Please send the check to the address above or have your player drop it by my office.

Buses will be provided for team transportation to and from this event. See the letter from the camp to provide you with basic information concerning this camp.

I will send out a letter in early July with more detailed information regarding the actual itinerary.

Randell G. Owens Athletic
Director and Head Football Coach
Madison County High School

P.S. Through the link above you can print the forms and complete them manually or you can complete the forms online through Adobe and print them.