MADISON — Late in the third quarter, Warren Central’s Jerry Nettle broke through the line and smacked into Madison Central fullback Daniel Goodspeed. The ball popped loose, fell to the turf, and then sat there for what seemed like an eternity.

Much like the game, Warren Central had ample opportunity to snatch it. And, much like the game, the Vikings didn’t.

Madison quarterback Drew Rowell threw a touchdown pass on the next play. Later on, the Jaguars blew open a tight contest with three touchdowns in the last seven minutes to notch a 42-14 victory on Friday night.

“It’s discouraging to see us lose at the end like that,” Warren Central coach Josh Morgan said. “To watch them fight so hard for 3½ quarters, and really having to fight to do what they were doing, and then letting it get away from them, that’s discouraging to see. That’s no indication of how the game was played and how close we were to it.”

Rowell’s 10-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jarred Wade gave Madison Central a 21-7 lead, but it wasn’t what put the dagger in Warren Central (1-6, 1-2 Region 2-6A). That came midway through the fourth quarter, after Aaron Stamps scored his second touchdown of the night to pull the Vikings within one score.

On the ensuing kickoff, Devon Bell booted the ball to the 2-yard line — the only one of his four kickoffs on Friday night that didn’t reach the end zone. Madison’s Xavier Watson tracked it down on the right hash mark, then broke through the middle of the coverage. By the time he hit the 40-yard line, he was gone and so were the Vikings’ upset hopes. Watson took the return all the way for a 98-yard touchdown that put the Jaguars ahead 28-14 with 6:50 remaining.

“The kickoff is what broke our back. They thought Devon was going to kick the ball into the end zone and they were loafing in their coverage. He kicked it to the 5 and we were unprepared. We weren’t full speed on the coverage like we were supposed to be, and that came back to bite us in the tail,” Morgan said. “They sunk our ship with that.”

The kick return opened the floodgates for Madison Central. Jamarion Roberts recovered a WC fumble at the 25-yard line two plays later, and Rowell hit Goodspeed for a 26-yard TD pass with 5:49 to go. Goodspeed capped things off with a 2-yard TD run with 2 minutes to go for a 42-14 lead and an easy win that wasn’t so easy for the Jaguars.

Rowell threw two touchdown passes for Madison Central (5-2, 3-0), and threw for two more scores. Goodspeed, the backup fullback, entered after starter Hugh Warren left with an arm injury and carried the ball 24 times for 169 yards and a TD to go along with his touchdown reception.

Stamps had 140 rushing yards and two touchdowns for Warren Central and became the Vikings’ first 100-yard rusher of the season. Chase Ladd completed 10 of 26 passes for 132 yards.