Published October 11, 2008 04:08 am - MADISON TOWNSHIP — Last year, Jordan Sandidge, then the starting Lakeside running back, suffered with his Dragon teammates when Madison beat them, 35-7.
A Chris Larick column: Sandidge has seen both sides
CHRIS LARICK
Star Beacon
MADISON TOWNSHIP — Last year, Jordan Sandidge, then the starting Lakeside running back, suffered with his Dragon teammates when Madison beat them, 35-7.
Friday night, Sandidge looked across the line of scrimmage at his Lakeside opponents in Madison’s even more impressive, 55-22, victory.
The difference in circumstances wasn’t lost on Sandidge, who ran the ball for 156 yards on 22 carries and three touchdowns.
“It means a lot to me beating them, but I could have been with them,” Sandidge, a 5-foot-11, 190-pound senior, said. “I love all those guys.”
Sandidge emphasized that he didn’t transfer from Lakeside to Madison for his senior year out of bitterness or spite.
“I just felt like I needed a change. This year, I moved in with my father. It was a good move. Today proved it.”
Despite his performance, which followed a four-touchdown, 100-yard-plus night against Chardon last week, Sandidge didn’t think he had done all that much.
“It felt pretty good, but I didn’t do anything extraordinary,” he said. “I just did what I could and tried to help my teammates.”
In a sense, Sandidge had a point. Though he is the focal point of the Blue Streak running game, backup tailback Steven Isabella added 113 yards and a touchdown on just four carries and quarterback Mitch Krotz contributed 114 on 13 tries, though 47 of Krotz’s yards came on a fake punt good for a touchdown. Lakeside proved as vulnerable to Madison’s running game as it did to South’s aerial show last week, allowing more than 400 yards on the ground.
But one of Sandidge’s runs was exceptional. After finding huge holes for earlier scoring sprints of 26 and 19 yards, the senior tailback appeared to be bottled up at the Dragons’ 32 on the first play from scrimmage after the Blue Streaks recovered a Lakeside fumble at that point.
Somehow, he’s not sure quite how, Sandidge stepped out of the tackle, squirted through a tiny hole and turned on the burners. Lickety-split he was in the end zone, building the Madison lead to 41-7. It was his last carry of the night.
Sandidge also was part of a defensive backfield that held the Dragons without a completion, though he credits the line and linebackers with a huge contribution in that regard.
“Our front line gives us 100 percent ... 150 percent on every play,” he said. “Our front line is the key. I do a lot, but I can’t do too much. (Defense) is what we were focusing on this week. We knew they could pass the ball pretty well.”
Madison coach Tim Willis said Sandidge had more than defense to focus on, playing his old teammates.
“He transferred from Lakeside,” Willis said. “We knew they’d be coming after him. We told him, ‘Don’t focus on them, focus on what we’re going to do. Don’t get overexcited; just play the game.’”