WASHINGTON — League games between good teams are easy to bill as rivalries in any sport, at any level. Madison High School and South Lakes High School aren’t necessarily traditional rivals, but with both teams entering Friday night’s DMV Game of the Week at 6-0, there’s added weight to this year’s game. And no matter what happens, you can bet both coaches will be talking about the result come Sunday.
That’s because Madison head coach Lenny Schultz and South Lakes head coach Trey Taylor are longtime friends and members of the same church, Fairfax Circle Baptist Church. They’ve held camps together over the years and know each other well, both on and off the gridiron. That helps explain why each has nothing but effusive praise for the other’s team going into Friday night’s showdown, at South Lakes at 7 p.m.
“Those kids can flat-out fly when they get the ball,” said Schultz of South Lakes’ explosive offense, which has scored 56 or more points each of the last three weeks.
“From my point of view, I don’t think Madison’s defense gets nearly the respect it deserves,” said Taylor of Madison’s defense, which has allowed fewer than 10 points per game, including a pair of shutouts.
That appears to be the matchup to watch Friday night. Last year, South Lakes was rolling at 5-1 when the Seahawks came into Vienna and ran into a brick wall — a 38-6 rout. They wouldn’t lose again until the 6A quarterfinals, but the Madison game stood out as one they’d like to have back.
“We feel like when we went out there last year, they handled us pretty easily,” said Taylor. “I don’t think anybody here felt like we gave it our best effort. Not to take anything away from them, but we didn’t play the way we wanted to play.”
With the home-field advantage this year, Taylor is hoping to turn the tide Friday.
“We’ve got a neat little stadium here that holds in noise,” he said. “But the biggest advantage is that we’re not in Vienna.”
For Schultz, Friday represents the next step in the continued growth of his program, one in which he’s hammered home the focus of taking everything one day, one practice, at a time.
“We’re winning because we’re playing good team football,” he said. “Our program just keeps getting better and better, stronger and stronger.”
WTOP will be on-site at South Lakes high School with live updates, photos, videos and more on our DMV Game of the Week Live Blog.
