Ryan Baker

Despite expecting this game to look very different from the last matchup, Sunday night felt eerily similar.

The Madison Radicals took down the Indianapolis AlleyCats 18-17 in a nail-biter at Breese Stevens Field. In windy conditions that both teams struggled to handle, Madison ground out the win to earn its third victory of the season.

“It seems like it's going to be a barn burner every time we play these guys,” said Head Coach Jacob Spiro. “We stayed resilient and positive, even when we were down. That was what I liked most, other than the win.”

Sterling Knoche was a last-minute scratch, a big hit to the defense, but Max Junga stepped up, got the call, and made crucial throws throughout the game.

Madison started slowly, as has been the pattern lately. An Indy layout block broke the opening drive, and two turnovers by Jeff Maskalunas put them down 0-2. It nearly snowballed when Gabe Vordick dropped the disc in the end zone, but an Indy drop allowed Madison to dirty hold for its first score.

“We've come out a little slow out of the gates the last couple of games,” Spiro stated. “Early in the year, we were coming out pretty hot, so we have to take a look at what we're doing pre-game.”

Even that first score was dicey, as Jack Nelson’s high-release to Max Sample forced a layout for the goal. Madison kept getting blocks and then turning it over on the next throw, and that pattern hit Anthony Gutowsky before an errant Indy huck led to Vordick-to-Pieran Robert's goal to tie it at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter went back and forth, ending with a Junga-to-Gutowsky break to tie the game at 7, but Indy scored right before halftime to take the lead.

The third quarter was a grind for Madison, as they fell by as many as three points. Robert then got a block and a score from Nico Ranabhat on a point that lasted nearly three minutes. Robert kept producing, adding four goals and two blocks, and Madison answered with a 22-throw point finished by a Vordick goal.

“This Indy team is really good,” Vordick said. “They've got great players out there, and I think both of us have grown a lot. Chemistry at our level is the real difference-maker right now. It's the reason why we're winning these games. It's the reason why we're coming out ahead.”

The final quarter was where Madison made its move. A massive block from Luke Marks set up Victor Luo, who was phenomenal with his pulls all night, to assist Donte Buckingham, who also had a huge block earlier in the game.

On the next point, Gutowsky got a quick block while marking his man, giving Spiro the chance to call a timeout, send the offense out, and punch in the break for the lead. After that first lead of the night, the teams traded the next eight points.

During that span, Sample, who had a stellar game with five goals, one block, and an assist, rose over the Indy defender for the sky. Another jaw-dropping moment came when Ranabhat caught his own throw after a tipped pass to Nelson floated in the air, leading to an Eric Sjostrom goal.

“Indy is a tough team,” Sample said. “I've just been working to get in shape for these matchups, and they played me pretty tight. That meant a little more space deep, and I was able to take advantage of that, just run hard and punch it in.”

The final score for Madison came after Indy was called for a delay-of-game penalty and five straight fouls, putting Madison within yards of the end zone. Vordick's fifth assist was caught by Ian McCosky to cap the game.

Looking at the personnel, McCosky, Vordick, Sjostrom, and Ranabhat played superbly without Kainoa Chun-Moy, combining for 1,569 total yards and 163 completions on 168 attempts. When Chun-Moy returns, this offense will have many avenues to work with if it can maintain this momentum.

“A big thing is trust,” Vordick said. “We've been practicing so much these last few weeks, and when I'm out there with Ian [McCosky] and Nico [Ranabhat], I feel like I know exactly what they're doing before they're doing it. I can see it before, and it just makes it so easy playing with these guys.”

Another big storyline was the switch of Gutowsky to D-line and Sam Stark to O-line. The change lets Gutowsky run more freely on defense and impact the deep space more than on offense, where Madison is more handler-driven.

“We wanted a little more speed against this team, and then with Salt Lake coming in, that's the number one and the number three hucking teams in the league, so we just wanted a little more speed on D-line, and Gumby [Anthony Gutowsky] provided that today.”

Gutowsky’s influence was evident on that clutch block in the fourth quarter, but he also had two turnovers that will need to be cleaned up in the back half of the season. Meanwhile, Stark played well in his new role with one assist, one goal, and 161 total yards.

“We're where we want to be,” Sample stated. “We're building, we're nowhere near our potential, but this was a good first step.”

Madison is now in a strong spot heading into an upcoming doubleheader weekend against the Salt Lake Shred and Chicago Union. This was the first of their three games in the toughest stretch of the season, with three games in eight days. Taking this one was big, as they now stand at 3-2 as the second seed in the Central with a good lead on the rest of the division.

The Radical return to Breese Stevens Field on Thursday night to take on the Salt Lake Shred for the first time in team history!