Box Score
May 17th, 2003 Salt Lake Stallions vs. Madison Lionz

MADISON 54 SALT LAKE 0

SUGAR CITY - Hidden deeply in the scoring summary of this game, following a Zach Murray touchdown reception from Madison's star quarterback Troy Dougherty is the usual notation for the coversion, in this instance, it reads "Dougherty run"... it might as well read, "Madison championship march in jeopardy". On the play, Dougherty dove across the line in an aggressive move to score the 2 points, however, landed awkwardly on his shoulder fracturing a bone. Healing time: 6-8 weeks. Madison's first playoff game: 4 weeks... championship game (if they get that far) 5 weeks. You can do the math.

In an otherwise positive story for the Lionz, as they continued their number 1 ranking with a comfortable 54-0 drilling of the road-weary Salt Lake Stallions, the news was all good, except of course the injury to their star quarterback. Back-up quarterback, Jeff Quinton, performed well in his stead, throwing for over 100 yards and a couple of touchdown passes. Quinton is a solid quarterback, he's just not Troy Dougherty. Other Lionz came to play as well, particularly, Madison tailback, Tony Jenks. Jenks rushed for 65 yards on 9 carries and 3 touchdowns in limited play as the Lionz unloaded their bench in the second half. Star receivers Buck Mouser and Dave Allen were "held" in check, more by Madison's lack of need of the passing game and perhaps the loss of Dougherty as much as for any other reason.

Credit, however, should also be awarded to a scrappy Salt Lake squad. The Stallions came to play as they do week in and week out. This time, perhaps against the number one team in the west. The Stallions made big plays, stuffed runs, sacked quarterbacks, knocked down passes... competed. They even mustered some first downs against Madison's top ranked defense. Billy Davis, Mike Sagapolutellle and Ryan Bird all had fine days on offense and defense. The Stallions big offensive lineman, James Whitehead even had the biggest offensive play of the day, a 24-yard catch and run from Stallions quarterback, Jeff Brown.

The Lionz defense pulled another shutout, as Spencer French lead the way with 5-1/2 tackles (including a sack). Adam Hornung (5 tackles, 1 sack), Andrew Ulberg (4.5 tackles) and Josh Huntsman (3 tackles, 2 fumble recoveries, 1 interception) also had big games for a Madison defense that forced 8 turnovers of the Stallions on the day. The biggest turnover was a second quarter Matt Landon interception of Russ Brown which he electrified the home crowd by running it back 47 yards for a touchdown to put the Lionz up 33-0 at that time.

Salt Lake

Madison

Scoring Summary:

First Quarter:

Madison: Jenks 8-yard run (run failed) 12:13
Madison: Murray 1-yard pass from Dougherty (Dougherty run) 8:54
Madison: Jenks 5-yard run (kick failed) 2:07

Second Quarter:

Madison: Allen 12-yard pass from Quinton (run failed) 12:30
Madison: M.Landon 47-yard interception return (Mouser kick) 10:45
Madison: Jenks 5-yard run (Mouser kick) 1:43

Third Quarter:

Madison: Johnson 2-yard run (Mouser kick) 4:03

Fourth Quarter:

Madison: Buffington 41-yard pass from Quinton (Mouser kick) 10:35

	Salt Lake	Madison
First Downs	10	3
Rushes, Yards	29-73	47-165
Passes	3-13-4	10-18-0
Passing Yards	23	160
Sacked-Yds Lost	2-12	3-11
Total Net Yards	84	314
Punts, Average	5-26.4	1-31.0
Penalties, Yards	3-15	3-25
Fumbles, Lost	5-4	3-1

Individual Statistics:

Rushing: Salt Lake - Sagapolutelle 16-34, B.Davis 9-33, Bird 3-16, Hatchett 1-(-10). Madison - Jenks 9-65, K.Smith 3-34, Black 5-32, Buffington 1-18, Thayne 3-12, Allen 1-5, Johnson 1-2, Briggs 1-(-1), Quinton 3-(-3).

Passing: Salt Lake - J.Brown 3-11-3-23-0, R.Brown 0-2-1-0-0. Madison - Quinton 6-12-0-118-2, Dougherty 4-6-0-42-1.

Receiving: Salt Lake - Whitehead 1-24, B.Davis 2-(-1). Madison - Buffington 1-41, Thayne 1-36, Mouser 2-23, Black 1-17, Murray 2-16, ALlen 2-14, Wood 1-13.

Tackles: Salt Lake - to be posted later. Madison - French 5.5 ( (1 sack), Hornung 5 (1 sack), Ulberg 4.5, Thayne 4, Martinez 3.5, B.Landon 3.5, Peach 3.5, Rammell 3, Huntsman 3, Huml 3, M.Landon 2.5, Jenkins 2.5, Givens 2, Beckett 1, C.Harris 1, J.Lewis 1, Mouser 1, Bell 1/2, Murray 1/2, Gardner 1/2.

Interceptions: Salt Lake - none. Madison - Williams, M.Landon, Huntsman, Thayne.

Missed Field Goals: None.