By Jacob Bembry
Greene Publishing, Inc.
   He didn't win a state title while he played for the Madison County High School Cowboys, but Kyle Fox will have a chance to play for the Division II National College Football Championship on Saturday, December 13, in Florence, Ala.
   Fox, who plays right tackle for the Valdosta State Blazers, will line up against Northwest Missouri in the national title tilt.
Northwest Missouri ended Grand Valley's amazing championship run, ending the Lakers 40 consecutive game win streak with a 34-16 victory to reach the Championship Game in Florence, Alabama.
In the earlier game, Valdosta State played from behind most of the day, finally taking the lead with just over three minutes left to play to defeat California-Pennsylvania, 28-24.
   Kickoff for Saturday's Championship Game is set for 11 a.m. at Braly Municipal Stadium.  The game will be televised nationally by ESPN2.

School Board Puts In Safety Net

By Michael Curtis
Greene Publishing, Inc.
   The Madison County School Board meeting of December 4 opened with a powerful song presentation by students from the Excel School.  Guidance Counselor, Valerie Thomas, led the students in a creative arrangement of “Celebrate a New World Christmas.”  Due to a tape malfunction, the group sang the last minute a cappella, but since nobody knew it wasn’t intentional, they applauded that much more for the harmonious finale.
   Most agenda items were routine, although two items were particularly significant.  The first was a vote to launch an accreditation review of the whole county school system.  The other was a vote to open a line of credit in response to the State Board of Administration, a state created investment manager, current crisis and fund freeze.
   Shirley Joseph asked the board to pursue district accreditation.  “Although the schools around the county are individually graded and measured, it’s important to do that for the whole system as well.  The process takes about fifteen to eighteen months to complete, but when we’re done we’ll be that much stronger and other groups looking at us, or working with us, will know we’re doing everything possible to be the best school system possible,” Joseph explained.   The board unanimously agreed.
   The next order of business was a brief discussion about the near-term effects of the freeze on the School Board’s account with the State Board of Administration (SBA).  The SBA’s 180 billion dollar fund ran into problems because of the losses associated with its holdings in the sub-prime mortgage market, triggering a “run on the bank” by several large county managers, including Dade and Orange.  In response, Gov. Crist and several senior state officials intervened and temporarily froze the activities of the fund to stabilize information.
   Better to be safe than unprepared, Andy Barnes, Director of Finance for the School Board, spoke to representatives at Wachovia, the board’s local banker, to establish a line of credit if needed.  Wachovia management agreed to immediately provide an overdraft protection feature to the account to cover all demands while the board reviews alternatives.

Cowboys Win State Championship
Cowboys Dominate Tampa Catholic To Clinch State Football Title

By Jacob Bembry
Greene Publishing, Inc.
   "I want to thank the Lord," Frankie Carroll, Madison County High School Cowboys head coach, said following his team's 28-7 thumping of Tampa Catholic. "We prayed for strength and he gave us the strength to get it done."
   The win gave the Cowboys bragging rights for the next year as the Class 2A state football champions.
   At least 3,000 fans made the trek from Madison County to the Citrus Bowl in Orlando for the big game, which began at 7 p.m.
   The Cowboys were not able to generate any offense in the first quarter as both teams remained scoreless. A bad call by the officials in the second quarter gave the Crusaders a 7-0 lead.
   The replay on the scoreboard showed that Joe Joiner -- the receiver who caught the pass from Tampa Catholic quarterback Christian Green -- was clearly out of bounds and did not even have possession of the ball.
   The Tampa Catholic touchdown only seemed to ignite the Cowboys, who marched downfield and scored on a 49-yard run by Chris Thompson.
   The point after touchdown (PAT) by Bladen Gudz was good and the game was tied 7-7.
   "That (the Tampa Catholic touchdown) kind of fired our kids up," Carroll said. "We have thrived on adversity our whole year."
   The Cowboys scored late in the second quarter on a human highlight reel run by Cory Akins, who somersaulted over a Crusader player and landed on his feet and turned on the afterburners. Forty-five yards later, Akins was in the end zone and the Cowboys had a 13-7 lead.
   "I stayed after practice and taught him that play," Carroll joked to reporters later. He told this reporter, tongue-in-cheek, that he and Coach Michael Coe had taught Akins the play by having Coe get down on the ground and run over by Akins.
   Bladen Gudz kicked the PAT, giving the Cowboys a 14-7 lead, which they took into locker room at half time.
   The Cowboys dominated the second half, as the boys from Boot Hill controlled the line of scrimmage and the time clock.
   The Cowboys scored on an amazing 56-yard run by Thompson with 1:30 remaining in the third quarter.
   The PAT by Gudz was good and the score was 21-7.
   The Cowboys controlled the time clock for all but 21 seconds in the fourth quarter. They scored their last touchdown on a five-yard run. Once again, Gudz's extra point was good and the Cowboys had a 28-7 lead.
The ensuing kickoff by Gudz bounced off a Tampa Catholic player and was recovered by the Cowboys who ran the time clock out.
   After the game, Coach Frankie Carroll spoke of his sister, Rhonda, who died in a car wreck in Jefferson County in February.
   "I miss her and I keep this with me," he said, showing a coin inscribed, "Gone but Not Forgotten." "She was our biggest fan."
   Players celebrated the win. Thompson, who was elated yet overcome with exhaustion, fell to the ground where he began crying.
   Thompson's performance, which included 17 rushes for 203 yards, earned him Beef O'Brady Player of the Game honors.
   All tolled, the Cowboys had 56 rushes for 386 yards.
   Akins, Thompson's fellow running back, rushed 25 times for 145 yards.
Reddick rushed four times for 21 yards. Jordan Johnson rushed four times for 12 yards. Blake Sapp rushed three times for 12 yards.
   Jordan Carroll averaged 40 yards on three punts.
   "The biggest key to winning this game was the fans," Frankie Carroll told this reporter. "They are the ones who made it happen. They showed up all year and showed us their support."
   Coach Carroll is looking forward to a great season in 2008 as the team returns 18 of 22 starters, including most of the offensive line, the running back tandem of Thompson and Akins and defensive stalwart Jaccobi McDaniel.
   "The biggest cog that we will be missing is at quarterback," Carroll said.    "He (Blake Sapp) was not only the quarterback, but also a team leader."
Carroll said that the quarterback next year will probably be Kevin Singletary, a sophomore, nicknamed "Tay."
   The offensive line will lose Eli Sprenkle, whose shoes will be filled by Tyree Florence who played for Sprenkle, who was out with an illness, during the early part of the season. Florence played admirably in those games and Carroll looks to him to return stronger than ever.
Coach Carroll's father, Franklin Carroll, made the trip to Orlando for the game despite battling emphysema.
   "How much it means to me - you can't imagine," Franklin Carroll said after the game. "There's been so much that happened to us this year. We lost our daughter in a car wreck, and it really bothered Frankie so bad. He dedicated his season to her.
   "It means the world to me. I've been in the hospital, well, they didn't think I was going to live. I'm still here. I have emphysema real bad. I just thank the Lord I was able to come."
   "This is what he lived for," Frankie Carroll told reporters about his father. "If it wasn't for this, he wouldn't be here.
   "I told them: 'Fellas, I want my dad to see us win one.' When we won the first one he was in the hospital. They've been telling me all week, we're going to win this one for your dad."
   The Cowboys will be honored with a Fan Day on Friday, December 21, beginning at 3 p.m. when the Cowboys will be available to sign autographs.
   Prior to the fan day ceremonies, the Cowboy boosters will be selling sausage dogs and drinks for $3, beginning at noon. Proceeds from the sell of the sausage dogs, as well as the sell of championship t-shirts for $15 each and DVDs of Cowboy highlights throughout the 2007 season for $10 each, will go towards purchasing state championship rings for the players.    Procceds from a silent auction, featuring footballs autographed by Bobby Bowden, Warrick Dunn, Champ Bailey, Tim Tebow and Urban Meyer will also go towards the purchase of state championship rings.
   Greene Publishing, Inc. will publish a special section in next week's Madison Enterprise-Recorder on the Cowboys' championship season.