[10/12/02]MADISON Warren Central survived a special teams meltdown, Dillon Sudduth’s late heroics, and a last-gasp drive to beat Madison Central for the first time in a decade Friday night and improve to 7-0.

Madison (3-4, 0-3 Region 2-5A) trailed 28-0 before scoring two quick touchdowns and setting up a third on special teams to cut it to 28-21. The Jaguars then drove to the WC 15-yard line with under a minute to play, but WC’s Antonio Brown intercepted a wobbly pass by Sudduth in the end zone with 22 seconds left to preserve the win.

It was the first win for the Vikings (7-0, 3-0) against Madison Central since they were moved into the same region in 1995.

“What’s even better about it is we’re 7-0,” WC coach Robert Morgan said of beating Madison. “Beating Madison is big, but you have to beat Madison to be 7-0.”

For three quarters, WC dominated every phase of the game.

The Vikings held Madison to only 91 yards in the first half, scored on two long touchdown drives, sacked Sudduth five times, and converted a fumble early in the third quarter into a 7-yard touchdown by Richmond Fields and a 21-0 lead.

It was the second touchdown of the game for Fields. He also broke free for a 28-yarder in the first quarter and finished with 94 yards on 22 carries.

“We kept breaking down defensively. We blew coverages all over the place,” Madison coach Ted Taylor said.

After Jason Williams returned an interception 44 yards for a score with 7:20 to play in the third, the rout was on. Williams picked off the pass after it went through the hands of another WC defender, then raced up the right sideline and hurdled one last would-be tackler at the 5-yard line to get the touchdown.

“I saw it slip out, and I just knew I had a chance to take it back,” Williams said.

The Vikings forced Madison to punt on its next possession, and things took a big turn in the Jaguars’ favor.

WC returnman Larry King let the ball bounce, but it rolled right to him and he was forced to pick it up with no blockers in front of him. He was swarmed by four Madison defenders and lost the ball. Madison’s Charles Vaughn picked it up and ran 20 yards to put the Jaguars on the board with 3:12 to play in the third quarter.

The Vikings got the ball back, but were forced to punt by a suddenly stubborn Madison defense that had allowed more than 200 yards to that point.

Jack Blackmon gathered in the punt from WC’s Greg Carroll at his own 36, avoided the first wave of tacklers and broke free around midfield. He outran one last WC defender in the last 10 yards to complete the 64-yard touchdown return and cut it to 28-14.

“The bad things we did were not any one person,” Morgan said.

The special teams follies weren’t over, however. WC went three-and-out on its next possession, and Carroll bobbled the snap on the punt. He tried to run with it, but was brought down at the WC 15.

That set up a quick three-play drive for Madison, capped by Kelvin Johnson’s 2-yard TD run with 8:56 to play in the game.

“The offense did fine. We didn’t turn the ball over. We put ourselves in some bad positions,” Morgan said. “(Madison) stood up and started playing.”

The Vikings’ offense bogged down again on their next possession, however. WC gained only one yard in three plays and was forced to punt from its own 35.

This time, Carroll got a clean snap and unleashed a 40-yard bomb that landed around the Madison 25 and bounced to the 18-yard line. Blackmon picked it up before it could roll farther, but he was tackled at the 21.

“Greg got a great punt off that probably won the game for us,” Morgan said. “The other three, after we did that, we forgot about them.”

With the special teams redeemed, it was time for the Vikings’ defense to step up. Eric Hamberlin intercepted a pass at the Madison 39 two plays after the punt, but the Vikings turned the ball over on downs at the 18-yard line with 2:56 to play.

Then Sudduth took over.

He juked and sprinted his way for 45 yards on the second play of the drive, giving the Jaguars a first down at the WC 29. Six more runs including a clutch fourth-down conversion by fullback Lucas Hogan put the ball at the WC 12 with 36 seconds to play.

Sudduth threw into the end zone for Maurice Rose, but backup cornerback Otis Stamps broke up the play with 30 seconds to go. On the next play, Sudduth was rushed and threw a wobbly duck into double coverage in the end zone.

Brown leaped into the air and came down with it, preserving the win.

“It slipped, but I shouldn’t have even tried to throw it,” Sudduth said.

After a couple of kneeldowns melted away the remaining seconds, Morgan was swarmed by his players and given a Gatorade shower.

Williams said the players wanted to beat Madison for Morgan.

“We held them out at the end. That’s what we do. We’re the defense,” Williams said.

“We’ve been talking about it all day. They just said we had to do it for Coach Morgan, and we went out and did it.”