Friday night the Adrian Blackhawks electrified their fans with a dominating 41-0 victory over the Appleton City Bulldogs. The win raises the Blackhawks record to 6-0 overall and a clean sweep of the WEMO Conference.
Adrian didn’t come out the gates hot but once they found the endzone they were very steady finding it over and over again with none of them being shorter than 12 yard scores. The Blackhawks first found paydirt on a 53 yard Hunter Steen to Cooper Mead touchdown reception with 4:26 to play in the first quarter. Cameron Tallman raced 45 yard for the second score early in the second quarter. On the ensuing possession Gavin Reed stepped in front of a Bulldog pass on the first play of the drive. The interception turned into a 25 yard score just 7 seconds after the previous touchdown.
Adrian went into halftime with a commanding 21 point lead but come out in the third quarter with victory in sight and a conference championship trophy to play for. Hunter Steen scored on a 72 yard keeper at the 10:46 mark in the quarter. Cooper Mead found the endzone a second time on a 12 yard run just five minutes later.
The Blackhawks dialed it back a bit in the fourth quarter by getting the junior varsity some valuable play time. The game was all but decided so keeping starters healthy and getting the younger players some experience is a very valuable part of the game. Even the change in personnel could not keep Adrian off the board. Cole Nebocat, running behind a largely freshman offensive line, was provided a running lane to paydirt 28 yards later to cap the scoring.
I did not mention the extra points on the touchdowns on purpose. Offensive players get the majority of the attention, and deservedly so. Defensive standouts deserve praise, and there was plenty of praise to go around. But I wanted to bring special attention to Adrian’s kicking game. Noah Koehler connected on all but the last extra point attempt. His successful kicks split the uprights with enough distance that the coaching staff felt comfortable attempting a field goal when a touchdown was called back on penalty that brought up fourth down. The kick was wide left but the experience of attempting a field goal now may pay off later in the playoffs. Koehler was also very successful kicking off routinely landing the kick inside the ten yard line.
Defensively the entire team was all over the place making tackles. A staggering 18 players recorded a tackle in the ballgame. James Keating led the way with 11. Dakota Harris wasn’t far behind with 9 as was Nicholas Preston with 7.
The Blackhawks dialed it back a bit in the fourth quarter by getting the junior varsity some valuable play time. The game was all but decided so keeping starters healthy and getting the younger players some experience is a very valuable part of the game. Even the change in personnel could not keep Adrian off the board. Cole Nebocat, running behind a largely freshman offensive line, was provided a running lane to paydirt 28 yards later to cap the scoring.
I did not mention the extra points on the touchdowns on purpose. Offensive players get the majority of the attention, and deservedly so. Defensive standouts deserve praise, and there was plenty of praise to go around. But I wanted to bring special attention to Adrian’s kicking game. Noah Koehler connected on all but the last extra point attempt. His successful kicks split the uprights with enough distance that the coaching staff felt comfortable attempting a field goal when a touchdown was called back on penalty that brought up fourth down. The kick was wide left but the experience of attempting a field goal now may pay off later in the playoffs. Koehler was also very successful kicking off routinely landing the kick inside the ten yard line.
Defensively the entire team was all over the place making tackles. A staggering 18 players recorded a tackle in the ballgame. James Keating led the way with 11. Dakota Harris wasn’t far behind with 9 as was Nicholas Preston with 7.
The euphoria carried over after the game as the players posed for pictures with the trophy then led the Blackhawk Faithful in the school fight song. This win may have been the icing on the WEMO Conference cake but the season is not over. Adrian travels to Windsor next Friday to take on the Greyhounds in a game that will be every bit as tough as the Archie and Midway games. Windsor is 5-1 on the year and are coming off a 28-12 win over Cole Camp. The Greyhounds will be no pushover. Adrian will have to come out fired up and ready to play to avoid a post conference championship letdown. Game time is 7pm in Windsor.
Coach's Comments:
Super effort by everyone tonight. We started a little slow offensively, but picked it up later in the game. Defensively, I thought we were pretty good. I didn't think we had any stand out players, but everyone, for the most part, played well. Very proud of these guys. After seven years, they brought the WEMO Conference championship back to Adrian. However, as sweet as this is, we can't be satisfied. We go to Windsor next week, and they are pretty good. We will have to be focused and ready to play if we want to get out of there with a win. It will be a huge game in deciding who gets the first place seed in districts.We will need the energy of a big crowd there.
Adrian @ Appleton City
Boys Varsity Football Fall 17-18 · Friday, September 22, 2017
9/22 @ 7p
|
Q1
|
Q2
|
Q3
|
Q4
|
Final
|
7
|
14
|
14
|
6
|
41
| |
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
Team Totals
Adrian Appleton City
8 First downs 6
6 Penalties 4
47 Penalty Yards 25
Scoring Summary
First Quarter Summary:
Adrian (4:26) - Cooper Mead 53 yd pass from Hunter Steen (Noah Koehler kick)
Second Quarter Summary:
Adrian (9:34) - Cameron Tallman 45 yd run (Koehler kick)
Adrian (9:27) - Gavin Reed 25 yd interception return (Koehler kick)
Third Quarter Summary:
Adrian (10:46) - Hunter Steen 72 yd run (Koehler kick)
Adrian (5:53) - Mead 12 yd run (Koehler kick)
Fourth Quarter Summary:
Adrian (3:46) - Cole Nebocat 28 yd run (kick failed)
Comments
Post a Comment