Ryan Baker, Journalist

The Madison Radicals will return to the playoffs for the first time since their championship run back in 2018!

They finish the season on a three-game win streak and end the 2024 season at 8-4, the most wins they’ve had in a season since 2018. The hard work finally has paid off and showed in a dominating win over the Indianapolis AlleyCats this past Friday night.

“It felt so good. I was a little anxious all week. It's been so long. I just really wanted to get there. We have so many young guys on the team who have never had the chance to be a part of the playoffs. So, just to get them there, feels so good right now. I just feel a huge weight off our shoulders,” said head coach Tim DeByl.

Last week, many thought the Radicals gave their best performance of the year against Chicago; however, this one was right up there, with a nine-point victory at 26-15. The game started slow, and Radical fans may have been a bit worried after a first point break was let up. Entering the second quarter, the game was tied at three, but that’s where everything changed.

Four straight breaks to start the second quarter gave Madison a lead that they never gave up. In fact, the Radicals never lead by less than three the rest of the way. Walking into half, they were up 10-7. This is where the true separation started to happen. 

“We started doing a little halftime warm up to get back together. We felt like we were separating a little bit at halftime, doing our own thing. That's always been the style of the Radicals, we'll come back with a minute left and do a speech. We quit doing that. We're going to go out and do some calisthenics, do some running on the field, and stay together. It created some consistency, and I thought that was a really good thing. I feel like that's helped us,” said head coach Tim DeByl.

A Victor Luo to Max Sample 58-yard huck score over multiple AlleyCat defenders got the juices flowing right out of half for the hometown squad. After a bit of back and forth, with just under five minutes left in the third quarter, Madison put up four straight points to extend their lead to eight by the end of quarter.

“It was just guys locking their guys down. Everyone was playing hard and smart. It’s back to what we were doing in 2017 and 2018. It’s an awesome thing to be back in the playoffs. It's good to see all the hard work from all the practices pay off,” said Luo.

The scoring barrage didn’t stop there. Three straight breaks to open up the final quarter gave them a 7-point run and an eleven-point lead. Being up twelve with about five and a half minutes left was where the Radicals saw their playoff berth locked in, and let up a bit on Indy as Indy took five of the last seven points in the game. 

“We've just been through this huge rebuilding era. We turned a corner where the players who've been on the team for the past few years became juniors and not sophomores. They became leaders and not followers. Everyone is just taking a step forward to owning not only their game, but starting to develop other people,” said Kevin Pettit-Scantling.

It was an overall great team performance from Madison. The offense stayed consistent with a 61% hold percentage, while the defense was able to produce 14 breaks on 14 blocks. Individual performances included Kelsen Alexander walking away with four assists, two goals, and one block. 

“I think we put the pressure on and people played really well. It makes it easy to see the spaces and find the right opportunities. It was me today, but it could have been anybody else,” said Alexander.

Rookie Pieran Robert led the team in goals with five, followed by Max Sample and Gabe Vordick with three apiece. Another noteworthy instance was former all-star Pettit-Scantling seeing his workload increase after making his 2024 debut the week previous. In 15 points, KPS produced one goal, one assists, and one block. 

“It's been hard to be myself on the sideline as a coach. It almost feels like I've been building to coming back, in terms of support. As soon as I hit the field and I was playing, I really felt like I was tapping into this really supportive high-energy role that I've always been known for,” said Pettit-Scantling.

Everything clicked for the Radicals in this one. One story surrounding this specific matchup was Andrew Meshnick coining the term of “having a cat barbeque.” This is in reference to Indy’s team name, and being able to cook them in route to a win. 

“Every time we play the AlleyCats, we kind of joke we're going to have a cat barbecue. Tonight was a good barbecue. Everybody pitched in,” said Meshnick.

Now, Madison will look for their sixth straight win at Breese Stevens Field as they will host the Chicago Union on July 28 in the first round of the playoffs. The winner of that game will travel to Minnesota to take on the Wind Chill to see who will represent the Central Division at championship weekend.

“It's kind of been a grind the last few years. We've had some teams that didn't quite have enough talent to compete with the top of the division, but this year felt different. Really grateful to be back in the playoffs. We don't take that for granted. We're happy that we are in another game and we're looking to take it to Chicago next weekend,” said Meshnick.

Get Tickets to the playoff game Sunday July 28th at 5:00 pm!