For the second time in as many weeks the Adrian Blackhawks football team came out victorious over a very challenging opponent. Adrian beat the El Dorado Springs Bulldogs 24-16 at the George Bruto Athletic Complex. The Blackhawks and Bulldogs had matching 7-1 records coming into the contest.
Team defense for both sides was very tough forcing turnovers and punts the first quarter. In the second quarter Adrian put together a drive to get well within field goal range for Noah Koehler. Koehler had a 37 yard field goal earlier this season so the coaches felt confident that he could hit the 29 yard field goal. That kind of confidence in the kicker appeared that those three points may be the difference in the game.
Fortunately for Adrian that would not be the case despite a frantic ending to the ballgame.
The field goal started the Blackhawks scoring machine. A bad 4th down snap to the punter on Eldo’s next possession gave Adrian a short field. Hunters Steen found paydirt on a one yard dive at the 8:43 mark. Hunter Steen followed the touchdown run with a 42 yard bomb to freshman Colton Bass. Bass outran the pass but, seemingly, bent over backwards to haul in the pass and outrun the defender to the endzone. Koehler converted on both kicks giving Adrian a 17- lead going into halftime.
The Blackhawks wasted little time after the break. Gavin Reed’s 4 yard run and Koehler’s kick was the final scoring for the team. They had a comfortable 24-0 lead but an injury in the fourth quarter took the wind out of Adrian’s sails. Eldo took advantage of the momentum switch to put two touchdowns on the board in the final six minutes of the game. Adrian covered the final onside kick to secure the victory but it was an exciting end to a game that was not as close as the final score indicated.
The challenge for Adrian heading into district play is to stay healthy and stay focused. Adrian squares off against Rich Hill Friday night at 7pm in Adrian. The winner will face the winner of Lockwood/Diamond matchup.
Coach’s Comments:
Great win over a good El Dorado team tonight. Our kids were fired up and ready to play. We played really well defensively for 3 1/2 quarters. The last half of the fourth quarter had us reeling, but the kids made plays when we needed it. Offensively, we weren't too bad. We spread the ball around to a lot of kids. Colton Bass had a heck of a TD catch. Hunter Steen played well all over the field. He had two interceptions and a huge catch to get us deep into El Dorado territory in the fourth quarter. Dakota Harris had another big game defensively this week recording 17 tackles. Kyler Six and Anson Johnson played very well on the line. Noah Koehler had a 29 yd field goal that was a huge boost to us in the second quarter. We will play Rich Hill next week in Adrian in the first round of the playoffs. We played them earlier in the year, but what happened then doesn't matter. This is a new season. You win, and you play on. You lose, and your season is over. We'll have to play well to move onto the second round. We look forward to the challenge that Rich Hill presents.
Scoring Summary
Second Quarter Summary:
Adrian (11:55) - Noah Koehler 29 yd field goal
Adrian (8:43) - Hunter Steen 1 yd run (Koehler kick)
Adrian (3:54) - Colton Bass 42 yd pass from Steen (Koehler kick)
Fourth Quarter Summary:
Adrian (10:20) - Gavin Reed 4 yd run (Koehler kick)
El Dorado (6:12) - Brayden Housh 7 yd run (Tanner Witt run)
El Dorado (2:05) - Housh 4 yd run (Housh run)
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| Hunter Steen is set to launch a 42 yard TD pass to Colten Bass |
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| Gavin Reed snags a pass and gets good yardage down the sideline. |
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| Here is the bracket for districts in Football |
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