Ryan Baker
2023 has been uncharted territory for the Madison Radicals, and not in a good way.
Earlier in the season, they started 0-3 for the first time in program history. On July 1, when the Radicals traveled to Indianapolis to play the AlleyCats, they moved into another first in the team’s history. With a 23-17 loss, they now sit at seven losses on the season, guaranteeing a sub-.500 record for the first time ever.
It was the second half that set these two teams apart. The first quarter was back and forth with only two turns happening towards the end of the quarter. Both turns on the last point, Jack Kelly was involved with, but it didn’t mean much as Madison scored to keep the game on serve with a tie game at five.
The Radicals came out into the second quarter continuing their clean game as a Sam Stark goal tied up the game almost immediately. That ended up being one of five goals from the rookie Stark. The rookie also added 214 receiving yards in Indy, good enough for second on the team.
The AlleyCats continued to play their own clean game, answering back to tie the game at six. The turning point in the second quarter came after a Henry Goldenberg drop in the end zone. It ended up with Carter Hawkins scoring the first break of the game for Indy.
The very next point, Madison provided worry for fans as Jake Carrico threw a huck that ended up a bit short resulting in a turn. However, Carrico took matters into his own hands by getting the disc back on a layout block. Ultimately, Madison scored that point, tying up the game at eight.
With less than two minutes to go in the first half, Travis Carpenter threw the disc away, giving a chance to Madison to retake the lead. Head coach Tim DeByl called a timeout to put in some offensive weapons, but one of those in rookie Anthony Gutowsky dropped the disc on an undercut. That gave Indy a ticket to put them ahead, a ticket that they punched.
The AlleyCats ended up getting the disc back on the next point, pushing their lead to two at the end of the first half. Coming out the first half, the Radicals took advantage of a Jacob Wham block to give them their first break on the night that ended in the hands of Matt Grinde. Additionally, Madison was able to break Indy for the second time to even up the score at 12-12.
Despite coming out the gate hot, there was more back and forth between the two and an eventual break for Indy giving them their lead back once again. A Cameron Brock goal with less than a minute left in the third quarter, which was his 600th career goal, put his team up 16-14.
That’s where the Radicals began to implode. After a failed huck attempt that gave Indy six seconds to work with, another last second goal against the Radicals put them down three going into the final twelve minutes of the game.
Another three breaks on Madison in the final seven minutes of the game, put them down big. It was too much to overcome. Indy outscored the Radicals six-to-three in the fourth quarter giving them the season sweep on them for the first time ever. The AlleyCats now sit at the top of the division with a 7-2 record.
The worst loss of the year for the Radicals came at the hands of Rick Gross and Cameron Brock who combined for nine goals, alongside Keegan North who had five assists and 320 throwing yards. The efforts from Ted Schewe with 271 receiving yards and Henry Goldenberg with 453 throwing yards just wasn’t enough to overpower the AlleyCats.
Also, there isn’t a formula to win any game when you only get four blocks and turn it over 14 times. Especially when Indy was able to come up with 10 blocks and only turned it over eight times. Those blocks didn’t amount to much for Madison as they were sitting at 11% on break percentage.
The Radicals take on the Wind Chill at Breese Stevens Field on Friday, June 7 at 7 p.m. CDT. Then, they will have to travel to Detroit for a quick turnaround the next day at 2 p.m. CDT.
