The Adrian Blackhawks advanced to the district championship football game Friday night with a 34-21 victory over the Liberal Bulldogs at the George Bruto Athletic Complex.
Adrian got up big in the ballgame when Bryant Burkes, Cooper Mead and Cameron Tallman each found paydirt. Burkes scored on a quarterback keeper in the first quarter. Mead and Tallman each scored in the second quarter before Liberal found the endzone on a one yard run by Austin Johnson. The Blackhawks avenged that score with :07 on the clock before halftime on a Cooper Mead four yard run.. Noah Koehler was good on all four extra point attempts giving Adrian a commanding 28-7 lead at the break. Adrian extended the lead when Tallman scored the Blackhawks only touchdown of the second half on a five yard TD run.
The game was a blowout until Liberal closed the gap scoring the last two touchdowns of the contest. Liberal’s scoring threats were set up by their passing game. Two TD’s came by air and a third set up by a long pass play. Being down by three touchdowns forced the Bulldogs into passing situations. Most of the night Adrian had defenders all over the receivers but Liberal was somehow able to complete the reception. Adrian was able to secure the victory after Nicholas Preston’s key interception late in the fourth quarter.
The Blackhawks pounded out 350 yards on the ground without any turnovers. Liberal had some size on their offensive and defensive lines but was no match for what the Blackhawks lined up against them. The guys carrying the ball get the accolades that come with scoring touchdowns but the unsung heroes are the big bodies making holes for the backs to run through. Many of these same linemen are the are the same players making it next to impossible for the opposing teams to run on the Blackhawk defense. No doubt extra focus will be spent this week to shore up the pass defense.Adrian hosts the Lockwood Tigers Friday night for the district title. With a victory the Blackhawks will secure a top ten ranking for the season. An Adrian win coupled with a Lincoln win over Crest Ridge would give Adrian yet another home game November 11th as they would play host to the Lincoln Cardinals. An Adrian win and a Crest Ridge victory of Lincoln would result in Adrian’s first road game in the Class 1 playoffs. The game would be hosted by the Crest Ridge Cougars located five miles west of Warrensburg in Centerview, MO.
But first things first. Adrian must find a way to stop the Lockwood Tigers. Lockwood is a big, physical team and has a history of knocking Adrian out of the playoffs be it in basketball or football. Lockwood bounced Adrian in last year’s football playoffs. The Blackhawks will have to continue doing what they do well and improve on their weaker areas to beat the Tigers.
Coach’s Comments:
Pretty well played game for the boys tonight. Although the fourth quarter got a little hairy. I thought our offensive and defensive lines controlled the line of scrimmage all night. That is where we won the game. We had over 350 yards rushing, and that is a good night. We controlled the whole third quarter with a 16 play drive that resulted in a TD. That was huge. Defensively, our run defense was very good. We gave up less than 50 yards rushing. We have to figure out our pass defense. We simply have to get better at it. We will be working on that this week. We have a huge game next week. Lockwood is coming to town to play for the district championship. We will need a huge crowd to get us rolling. These are your Blackhawks. Get out there and help us bring a district championship to Adrian. --Matt Cochran
Scoring Summary
First Quarter Summary:
Adrian (6:33) - Bryant Burkes 1 y d run (Noah Koehler kick)
Second Quarter Summary:
Adrian (9:08) - Cooper Mead 9 yd run (Koehler kick)
Adrian (4:55) - Cameron Tallman 2 yd run (Koehler kick)
Liberal (3:56) - Austin Johnson 1 yd run (Gunnar Miller kick)
Adrian (:07) - Mead 4 yd run (Koehler kick)
Third Quarter Summary:
Adrian (3:54) - Tallman 5 yd run (kick failed)
Liberal (1:30) - Colby Selvey 34 yd pass from Jacob Dermott (kick failed)
Fourth Quarter Summary:
Liberal (3:53) - Selvey 7 yd pass from Dermott (Sean Clark pass from Dermott)
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