#3 SA Madison @ #16 Converse Judson

Madison's front-loaded district schedule continues this week with a trip to Judson.  The Mavs played Smithson Valley and Reagan in back to back weeks leading up to this game.  Judson is the only other team in 26-5A without a loss.  The Rockets are 3-0 and Madison is 4-0.  Madison beat Reagan 42-14 in Week 5 and Judson cruised past Roosevelt 34-7.  Of course, the season ending injury to Devin Thomas changes things for the Mavericks.  

Madison will likely use a combination players at the running back position in Thomas' absence.  Senior Josh Miles is a talented all-purpose player who can take over the backfield role.  Miles can score from anywhere on the field.  Senior QB Bryan Ehrlich has proven to be effective this season, so he is definitely another player who can help pick up the slack.  The Judson defense must be able to guard against both the run and the pass.  Madison doesn't have a problem producing talented skill athletes so the defense must respect who lines up beside Ehrlich.

Judson has played well so far in district play.  The Rockets seem to have solved problems both on offense and defense since the loss to Kerrville Tivy a month ago.  The offense is moving better recently because junior running back Robert Shaw has emerged as number one running back.  Shaw ran for over 200 yards in the win over Roosevelt last week.  At the moment, only Madison's defense has performed better than Judson out of all 26-5A teams.

Madison remains the favorite to win this game, but the advantage obviously isn't as pronounced as it would be with Thomas.  However, Madison does still have a talented football team and need to pull themselves together quickly in order to beat an improving Judson squad.