American Fork’s Madsen leads the way ahead of top-five showdown
AMERICAN FORK, Utah (BVM) – American Fork quarterback Maddux Madsen looks around at the current landscape of high school football and feels fortunate. At least 15 states, including Utah’s neighbors of Nevada and Colorado, have moved the fall season to 2021.
Luckily for the nation’s leader in both passing yards and touchdowns, he and his Cavemen teammates have made it to Week 6 of the high school football season without any interruption.
“It’s just a blessing to still be playing,” Madsen said. “In fact, a lot of people have said ‘you’re going to get through three weeks and that’s about it.’ I’m like ‘five weeks, that’s awesome.’”
The hope is that the state of Utah can see its football season through to the end, especially for an American Fork squad that is currently ranked No. 4 by MaxPreps. Leading the charge for the Cavemen is their junior quarterback who has simply lit up through five weeks.
Madsen gained national recognition in Week 4 when he threw for a mind-blowing 628 yards and nine touchdowns in a 69-49 win over East (Salt Lake City) High School. Five of those scores came on consecutive possessions in the second half of a game that was tied at the break. Madsen came within one touchdown of the state record of 10 touchdown passes set by Cammon Cooper of Lehi in 2017.
“It was just our game,” Madsen said of his near record-breaking performance.
Maddux Madsen already with career highs 507 yards and 6tds !! Moeaki 3 receptions and all are for scores. @af_classy leads East 47-34 live now on KMYU & streamed at https://t.co/jAQeFMlDDt pic.twitter.com/yApURrJM8w
— Dave Fox (@Davefox2) September 5, 2020
The junior’s story isn’t limited to one special week, as Madsen followed up his nine-touchdown masterpiece by throwing seven touchdowns last week to lead American Fork to a 5-0 record. Madsen has thrown for 1,883 yards and 27 touchdowns through five games, leading the nation in both categories.
Friday night will be Madsen’s and the Cavemen’s biggest test of the season thus far when they travel to Lehi for a battle with No. 3 Skyridge. With a stud quarterback of their own and plenty of talent on both sides of the ball, Skyridge poses a serious threat to American Fork’s unblemished record.
But even Skyridge head coach Jon Lehman had nothing but praise for the quarterback he’s been tasked to game plan against on Friday night.
“They’re (American Fork) quarterback is, at some point, going to contend for probably most of the records in the state,” Lehman said of Madsen. “He’s a good athlete, throws a nice ball and is a really dynamic, smart kid.”
Records are not something Madsen cares much for, but he did say they’re cool to think about afterwards. The praise from an opposing head coach, however, is something Madsen takes pride in.
“For an opponent head coach to be able to say, ‘this guy is a stud’ just means a lot,” Madsen said.
There should be plenty of points scored on Friday night among two teams that combine to average 930 yards of offense per game. But Madsen believes this top-five showdown will ultimately be decided by the other side of the ball.
“It’s going to be fun; I’m really excited,” Madsen said. “The one who gets those stops is the one who will come out on top.”
