Mountaineers stay perfect

FALLS CHURCH — After Madison County’s 35-14 win over George Mason, senior A.J. Butler was lugging a big blue sledgehammer around the field.

“That’s — for practice and games combined — whoever works the hardest,” said Madison coach Stuart Dean. “That’s voted on by the coaches.”

Midway through the second quarter Butler and the Mountaineers’ defense brought down the hammer on George Mason, not allowing the home team to score the rest of the night.

“I just carry [the sledgehammer] so everybody can look that working hard gets you where you need to go,” Butler said. “We need to do it as a team. I hope everybody on this team gets to carry it one day.”

Butler was in the Mustangs’ backfield all night, tallying 10 tackles and two sacks, including a forced fumble on one sack to set up a Madison (7-0, 1-0 Bull Run) scoring drive.

“He had another great night,” Dean said. “He’s worked hard the last two games worked hard in practice and it pays off for him on Friday night.”

The senior defensive end made the move from playing offense and defense to full-time defense early in the season.

“After about the third or fourth game, [the coaches] said they wanted me to rest up for defense,” Butler said. “So I didn’t have problem with that. I like to play defense to hit people so I just use all my energy on defense.”

Madison’s balanced offensive attack from its victory over Stonewall Jackson continued against the Mustangs (5-3, 0-2). Logan Terrell rushed for 79 yards and two touchdowns, while Devon Boone had six carries for 87 yards. Jerod Williams and Ralph Yates each ran for a score.

Madison quarterback Dustin Kirby finished 10 for 15 for 134 yards and a 25-yard touchdown to Terrell.

“I thought we had great balance,” Dean said. “We were mixing some things up in the first half and the second half, throwing it and running it.”

It took one quarter for the Mountaineers to shake the rust off from the bye week and get used to the Mustangs’ unique motion offense. Mason’s Ben Taylor scored from five and 58 yards out to keep the score tied at 14 going into the locker room.

“We told the defense we had to get back and play Madison defense,” Butler said. “I think that’s what we did the second half.”

The Mountaineers play host to Strasburg in another Bull Run District matchup on Friday.

“It feels great — we just have to keep our heads on,” Butler said. “Were not better than anyone else — right now, we’re just 1-0 in the district.”