Madison Rams beat Clear Fork Colts in Tim Lord's 400th career game

MADISON TOWNSHIP — When Tim Lord took over the Madison Rams boys soccer program in 2001, he never envisioned that 23 years later, he would still be at it.

He also didn't know just how much fun he was going to have coaching at his alma mater, so he hasn't even entertained the idea of stepping away. The 1995 Madison grad coached in his 400th career game on Friday night as his Rams sent him home with a nice celebration present, a 2-0 win over Richland County rival Clear Fork on the opening night of the 2023 season.

With 218 wins under his belt, there isn't much Lord hasn't seen in the game of soccer, so when Julius Walker sent a ball into the mixer that glanced off of a Clear Fork defender's back and into the goal for the first score of the night with 12:50 left in the match, it wasn't a huge surprise that it would take a lucky bounce for the Rams to get on the board first.

"You try to learn from every game; tonight, I saw what we have," Lord said. "It reminded me a lot of what we were last year with a young roster that didn't know any better than going out and playing hard from start to finish. We played well and it was a great game that could have gone either way."

Randy Jamieson later put an exclamation on the win with a penalty kick goal with 9:22 left to seal the 2-0 Friday Night Futbol victory.

Despite seeing just about all one could see in the game, Lord is crediting his 2023 squad with a huge compliment.

"We moved the ball as well as any team I have had in 23 years," Lord said. "Size-wise, we are a little small, but if we keep possession like we did tonight, I think we can play with anyone. We did that over the summer in quite a few scrimmages and we saw some success."

The Colts and Rams battled to a scoreless tie in the first half as Clear Fork withstood a barrage of shots on goal during the first 40 minutes. Starting five freshmen, Clear Fork coach Nate Gailey was proud of the way his young group handled the pressure of playing against a team carrying hight expectations into the season.

"We talked in the pregame huddle about our gameplan and they kind of forced us out of it," Gailey said. "We battled and kind of shot ourselves in the foot. We had a miscue out wide that bit us and then that first goal went off of one of our defenders. We hung in there for 3/4 of the game and for a young team, that is great."

The Colts (0-1) know there is a lot of season left to play.

"I told the guys, this is just Game 1 of 16 or 17 and to be where we are now compared to our first scrimmage, we have grown up a lot," Gailey said. "We rolled out five freshmen to start and that is nearly half your lineup. This is some big boy soccer and I am proud of them that they gave themselves a chance to win this game. We can fix those mistakes as the year goes on."

Lord was happy to see his team get tested right out of the gate, face some adversity and respond in a winning fashion. There was no one he would have rather played in the season opener than a cross county rival.

"With Clear Fork, there has never been a game where they just didn't play hard," Lord said. "I love playing those guys because of how well-coached they are and how much we learn about ourselves playing against them."

Lord, who played at Mount Vernon Nazarene University, reflected on coaching in 400 games and just how much soccer has evolved since his first day in the sport.

"The game has changed so much since I played in high school and college and now into coaching," Lord said. "It went from playing football with a soccer ball to a controlled game where we put together 10 passes to get a shot. It is a much more skilled game than when I played and then started coaching."

And despite all that, he has churned out winning season after winning season and guided some of the best teams and players in the program's history. He has also earned the respect of his fellow coaches for his longevity and success.

"That is a great accomplishment," Gailey said. "I knew he was getting up there. He does a great job and hats off to him. I read it somewhere that he was getting up there in games and it amazes me that someone can last that long when you start thinking about your own family dynamics. But it is great to see him at it because he does such a great job."

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