The Arrival: Madison freshmen lead Rams past Clear Fork on Friday Night Futbol

BELLVILLE − Madison freshman Randy Jamieson admitted he had butterflies in his stomach during the bus ride to Clear Fork for the 2022 high school soccer season opener on Friday.

He must have left The Valley feeling lighter on Cloud 9 after the youngster scored a pair of goals in the Rams' 4-2 victory over Clear Fork during Friday Night Futbol.

Fellow freshman Joey Walker was feeling the same after scoring the go-ahead goal in the second half.

It took about 30 minutes of game time for the young Rams (1-0) to get a feel for the high school game. Once they finally did, they found themselves trailing 2-0 thanks to a goal by Clear Fork's Connor Hauger with 33:45 left in the first half and another by Bryson Shaffer just 15 minutes later.

Madison coach Tim Lord saw his team simply get outworked through the first 30 minutes of the game. But after Jamieson scored his first goal at the 9:27 point of the first half and a change in defensive strategy to marking Hauger, the Rams flipped things around in the second half.

"At halftime I told them that no one should beat us to the ball," Lord said. "My staple as a coach is we should never get outworked, and we were there in the first half. Give Clear Fork credit — they have some players that hurt us. When we gave them space, they took advantage. In the second half, we marked (Hauger) and that hurt their offense a bit. Our guys came out and wanted it."

Jamieson tied the score with 35:02 left with his second goal and Walker put the finishing touches on the comeback when he cleaned up a scrum at the front of the net with 28:17 left in the match to give the Rams a 3-2 lead. Senior Kaleb Prosser left no doubt when he scored as time expired to make it 4-2.

Lord was thrilled with the way his young guys arrived on the high school soccer stage.

"The first three (goals) were by freshmen, and we have a very skilled freshmen class coming up all around," Lord said. "Those two are going to get a lot of time, and it was nice to see them come out and have a nice performance. It is going to be nice to have four years with these guys."

Still, after being down 2-0, Lord was a bit surprised by the way his young team responded and completed the comeback.

"A little bit," he said. "We made some big mistakes that allowed those two goals. I felt like we were controlling play throughout, but you make mistakes and soccer is a game where you make a mistake and games can be decided by one goal. You get down two, and you start thinking it can be a long game. But our guys came back, got one before halftime and finished out the match fired up."

Jamieson's debut was sensational with two goals, and Walker scored the essential game-winner. Not bad for a couple of freshmen.

"Oh, yeah, on the bus ride I had butterflies," Jamieson said. "I just put my headphone in and kept thinking that if I can just put a couple in the net, it will all be all right.

"I still haven't processed what I just did. It was crazy. We definitely expected to come in and make an impact because we have been working all summer. We were coming in as underdogs, but we have been playing two years up all our lives and we knew once we get one they would keep coming."

That is the confidence level difference between winning and losing the first game of the year. With a loss, teams are sent scrambling to the drawing board the following week at practice, searching for answers before the next game arrives. With a win, it is all about cleaning up small things and taking that confidence into the next match with hopes of building unstoppable momentum.

"With a win, you feel like you have a good team and the confidence is already up, and after a loss you feel like you are behind the 8-ball," Lord said. "You go into practice with completely different approaches, and for us to be down and come back was huge. It is so encouraging going into our next game on Tuesday. We will go in with a ready-to-play mentality."

The Colts (0-1) were already shorthanded coming into the match and with it being game one and players playing a lot of minutes, cramps started to become an issue.

"The problem really showed itself, (and) I was worried about us getting gassed," Clear Fork coach Nate Gailey said. "We came in already down three starters, and without them available we were short already and then guys were coming out of the game unable to get back in. We were really trying to keep fresh legs on the outside, but we just got gassed.

"We knew what Madison had and what they were coming at us with and knew they would be ready to play. We asked our guys to give everything they had, and when they were coming out with cramps that is usually a sign that they did."

Still, the Colts held a 2-0 lead in the first half and showed what they are capable of when they get back to full strength and in better shape. Once that happens, teams won't be able to focus on stopping Hauger, who also finished with an assist.

"I heard their guys they were man-marking him the rest of the way," Gailey said. "It didn't take them long to figure out how good he is. He gave us our best chance. He works hard and is up here every day before and after practice and on the weekends. Everything he does is because he works hard. He is impressive."

While the Colts lost on Friday night, the message to the team was simple — it was just one game, the first one of the season to boot, and it changes nothing in terms of team goals for the season.

"The message after the game was they played hard, they played well and we saw some great things and the only thing we have to do next week at practice is knit-pick," Gailey said. "If that is the situation we are in, that means we are doing some things well. This was not a conference game. We played a great team right out of the gate and this loss does nothing to the things we want to do. There are still 16 more games left. This was just game one."

Clear Fork hosts Norwalk on Aug. 20 while Madison hosts Vermilion on Tuesday as the 2022 season ramps up.

jfurr@gannett.com

740-244-9934

Twitter: @JakeFurr11

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Randy Jamieson, Joey Walker lead Madison past Clear Fork in boys soccer