Zalen McCraw’s message was heard loud and clear on the Polk County sidelines.

“We have to get that scoreless game,” McCraw shouted Friday night in the final seconds of the Wolverines’ season opener in Madison. “We have to want it.”

Given the defensive woes at the end of last season, the Polk County football program may never have wanted a shutout more. And McCraw and his teammates got it, and Polk spoiled Madison’s first home game since 2021 with a 30-0 victory.

It was the Wolverines’ first shutout since a win at Draughn by the same score in October 2021. Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of the performance was that Madison came close to scoring only once, advancing as far as the Polk 17 before settling for a 37-yard field goal attempt that missed by a whisker.

“I’m just happy with the defense, the shutout and how they finished,” said Polk County head coach Dustin Fry. “I’m just happy to be 1-0 now.”

As is typical for a season opener, it wasn’t pretty at times and there were plenty of stoppages. A referee was knocked unconscious by Polk on a play on the sideline, forcing a long stoppage (he later returned to watch the game). Players went into cramps. Wolverine lineman Simon Moore suffered a leg injury. Flags flew at regular intervals.

The injuries forced Polk to frequently change his lineup and modify his attacking strategy, because “Next man up” could well have been the mantra of the final two quarters.

“We tried to keep our game plan down to the basics, but we didn’t try to take on too much,” Fry said. “It got a little more predictable in the second half because it’s hard to move guys when they don’t know what to do. So we got a little more predictable in the second half.”

Polk scored its first points of the season on a safety when Aaron Dickey brought down Madison quarterback Easton Greene in the end zone on the Patriots’ first possession. The Wolverines scored again on the first play of the second quarter when Gunnar Alm threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Billy Booker, then Alm sprinted around left end for the 2-point conversion and a 10-0 lead. A Madison special teams error allowed that point when Polk gained possession at the Patriot 4.

A stop on a fourth-and-5 attempt at the midfield on Madison’s next possession gave Polk the ball at the Patriots’ 42, and the Wolverines again took advantage of their great field position. Alm’s 8-yard run on a third-and-4 attempt kept the drive alive, and Loreynzo Sanchez finished it off with a 4-yard touchdown run that gave Polk a 16-0 lead with 6:17 left in the half.

The lead remained until Polk put together its best drive of the night, an 11-play, 66-yard run, early in the fourth quarter. Alm and Dickey combined for a 41-yard catch-and-run to cap the possession with a touchdown. Dickey weaved through two defenders and then ran a few more along the sideline to the end zone. Billy Booker’s extra point put Polk up 23-0 with 8:28 left.

The Wolverines scored the highest of the game with just under three minutes left when Donte Tingling broke through the Madison line on fourth-and-1 and ran 43 yards into the end zone to cap the night.

“We were able to move the ball a little bit,” Fry said.

Tingling finished the game with 100 yards on 12 carries to lead Polk’s offense. The Wolverines unofficially held Madison to four rushing yards and 57 total yards.

“I’m going to enjoy this for 24 hours and then it’s back to work on Sunday,” said Fry. “Off to Tuscola.”