The
JV Highlanders traveled to
Farmington
for one of the top contests of the season versus the Harrison Hawks with
both teams among the best teams in the OAA-I.
Adams
delivered a strong effort on both sides of the football, excellent special
teams play and stepped up with consistent, error-free execution for all
four quarters. The result was a 24-6 victory over a strong
Harrison
team, boosting our Highlanders record on the season to 5 wins and 3
losses.
The
game opened with four offensive series ending in punts as the defenses for
both teams were over-powering. On the next series, big stops by Greg
Ornazian and Jake Heinrich forced another punt by the Hawks. Adam
Smith fielded the punt on the
Harrison
32-yard line and returned it for the first Highlander score.
Long-snapper Aaron Gesquire, holder J.D. Osborn and kicker Josh Patten
combined for the PAT kick to make the score Adams 7-0.
The
Adams defense stiffened again after a short drive by Harrison and the
Highlanders drove the ball deep into
Harrison
territory featuring receptions by Steve Emery and Smith. Josh Patten
booted a 23-yard field goal and our JV Highlanders led 10-0.
Special
teams and defense continued to be very strong with Andrew Loscko forcing a
fumble on fine kickoff coverage, pinning the Hawks deep on their end of
the field. Following another
Harrison
punt and a short drive, Patten capped the first half scoring with yet
another 23-yard field goal to boost the halftime score to 13-0
Highlanders.
The
second half continued much like the first. A strong Highlander
defense limited the
Harrison
attack whether on the ground (30 rushes for 58 yards) or through the air
(2-of-8, 20 yards). Josh “Thunderfoot” Patten (5 punts, 30.0 yd
average) and his punt team colleagues kept the Hawks at bay. The
yards per punt do not tell the whole story. Patten’s high booming
kicks were often downed inside the 20-yard line by good kick coverage.
Early in the third quarter, the Adams defense gave the offense good field
position but the
Harrison
defense stopped the Highlanders inside the 10-yard line. Patten’s
third field goal, this time from 27 yards, gave the Highlanders a 16-0
lead. I’d be surprised if three field goals isn’t an
Adams
record for field goals in a game at any level. For a little
perspective, there have been only ten games in the history of
Michigan
high school (varsity) football where a kicker converted on more than three
field goals in a game.
Harrison
finally broke
through with a 9-yard TD run and failed on the 2-point conversion to
narrow the score to 6-16. RB Marlin “Mo” Philips (16 carries for
97 yards) and Greg Ornazian (14 rushes for 67 yards) ground out the clock
and QB J.D. Osborn (5-for-13, 56 yards passing and 18 rushing) scored on a
1-yard TD run and passed to Adam Smith (4-53 rushing and 2 receptions for
20 yards) for the 2-point conversion to round out the scoring at 24-6.
The
Highlander defensive units all played extremely well, holding a talented
Hawks team to 78 total yards and 7 first down. LB Patten led all
tacklers with 8 tackles. LB Ornazian added 7 tackles, 2.5 for a loss
and 2.5 quarterback sacks. Other leading tacklers included: Jake
Heinrich (5 tackles, 0.5 for a loss), Frank Moran (3.5) and Alex Ko (3).
Defensive
tackles Aaron Gesquire and Alex Robertson both contributed quarterback
sacks during the fourth quarter, snuffing any chance of a
Harrison
comeback. Andrew Gerback assisted on another sack and Mike Monahan
(5 rushes for 36 yards) recovered a fumble for the Highlanders.
The
Highlanders rolled up 363 total yards (307 rushing) and 17 first downs for
the game.
All
in all, an outstanding effort versus a strong opponent. Our JV
Highlanders can now look forward to the rivalry match-up versus
Rochester
to close out the season.
Listen to the Game
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