Amidst errors and penalties, Blackhawks defeat Whirlwinds
By MIKE BURRIS
In a lackluster game played at the Adrian Sports Complex the Blackhawks managed to take advantage of numerous short field situations to post another victory over a conference opponent Friday. This time it was against the Archie Whirlwinds with a final score of 40-7 in favor of Adrian.
The game appeared to start well for the Adrian Blackhawks as they took the opening drive of the game down to the Archie side of the field. But things went south in a hurry, both literally and figuratively, when Archie’s Cameron Mills stepped in front of a Trevor Gregg pass that took forever to develop and returned it 75 yards to break Adrian’s scoreless streak in the conference. The successful extra point made the score a shocking 7-0 Archie lead.
Simple math tells you that the rest of the game belonged to the Blackhawks. But it had more to do with Adrian’s defense creating short field advantages than by stellar play from the team as a whole. Adrian played a very mediocre first half marred by mistakes, penalties and turnovers being balanced out by three touchdown drives.
The scoring drives of Adrian came after a very vocal Erik White let his team have it in the huddle, then backed up his
senior leadership with a punishing hit on an Archie defender a few players later. That set the tone for Adrian to snap out of its offensive doldrums.
Luke Hough stretched his rushing legs the second half scoring on two runs. One score was a 20-yard run in the third quarter. The second was a 34-yard sprint to paydirt late in the fourth quarter, capping off the scoring for the night. Erik White scored his second touchdown of the game on a one-yard run early in the fourth quarter. White was successful on four extra point attempts.
“We made too many mistakes for this late in the season” said Head Coach George Bruto. “This week with Appleton City we must play with more intensity on both sides of the ball,” he added. “This is a big game for us. Appleton City is a good team and will play us really hard. So, we must be ready for their running game.”
If Adrian heeds their coach’s advice they look to improve their overall record to 8-2 and will go into the playoffs with a full head of steam. If they do not, they will back into the playoffs playing mistake-filled football. And, how long they last will depend on which team shows up when they go against teams as talented or more so than them.
Right: Kendell Schellman assists Luke Hough on a sack of the Archie quarterback Paul McAlexander.
Far right: Tuff Wimberly and Ivan Wendleton tackle Archie’s offense last Friday.