Big second half lifts Madison Prep past Booker T. Washington in Class 3A playoffs

BATON ROUGE – For one half, the 13th-seeded Booker T. Washington Lions looked capable of pulling off a huge upset over the 4th-seeded Madison Prep Chargers.

Instead, the Chargers reeled off 28 unanswered points in the second half to overcome a 20-10 halftime deficit, win their 11th straight game and advance to the next round of the Class 3A playoffs with a 38-20 victory.

Madison Prep scored two touchdowns is the span of 24 seconds to retake the lead within the first minute of the third quarter.

Joel Williams put the Chargers in great field position by returning the opening kickoff to the Lions’ 38 yard line.

Quarterback Zeon Chriss got his team into the end zone in just three plays. First, he found Major Burns for 14 yards. Then he kept it himself, going on an 18 yard scamper that got Madison Prep down to the six. Finally, he swung a screen pass to the right side that Benjamin Stewart hauled in for the score.

Three incompletions and a false start set up BTW with a fourth and 15 from their own fifteen yard line. The punt attempt was blocked and then recovered by Andre Haynes in the end zone.

In just 57 seconds, Madison Prep has taken a 24-10 lead.

The Lions turned it over on downs on their next possession and the Chargers went right back to work.

Starting at Booker T. Washington’s 46 yard line, Chriss on an eight play drive that culminated in a 24 yard touchdown pass to Tyrell Raby. With 5:18 remaining in the third quarter, Madison Prep had taken complete control of the game.

The Chargers iced the game with a seven play, 68 yard drive that took 5:19 off of the clock and was dominated by the running of Myles Poullard. Due to some penalties on the drive, he was able to pick up 69 yards on six carries, including a 45 yard gain and the touchdown from one yard out to provide the final margin.

Madison Prep’s defense completely shut down the Lions in the second half. On six second half drives, Booker T. Washington picked up two first downs, and one of those was by penalty.

Quarterback Kentrell Harris, who ran for two touchdowns in the first half, had -5 yards on the ground with four second half attempts. It was even worse through the air, as he completed only one of his 12 pass attempts in the last two quarters.

The entire team accumulated five plays that resulted in positive yardage down the stretch.

It was a much different story in the first half.

After Madison Prep took a 10-0 lead following a one yard score by Chriss and a 23 yard field goal by Marquise McKnight, the Lions were both good and opportunistic.

Keenan Boyd’s 56 yard run set up Booker T.’s first score, a three yard touchdown run by Tyreese Johnson to make it 10-7.

Damian Alexander picked off an underthrown ball by Chriss to give the ball back to the Lions.

Harris led his team on an eight play, 70 yard drive that he finished off with an 11-yard TD run around the right side. The extra point was no good, but BTW was ahead 13-10.

On Madison Prep’s next possession, Coryell Pierce intercepted another errant Chriss pass and returned it 29 yards to the Chargers’ one yard line. On the next play, Harris called his own number for the score.

The Lions had one more chance to extend the lead before the half, but Harris’ fourth down pass deep in the red zone was just out of reach for his target.

Instead, Booker T. Washington ends its season 7-4. Madison Prep (11-1) will advance to face Union Parish (Farmerville) next week.