September 20, 2006

If Coach Matthew Call didn’t have any grey hairs before, he does after tonight’s JV Highlander 30-26 victory over Pontiac Northern at Adams Field.  It was a battle of strong running attacks the entire game as both defenses showed why Wednesday is called Hump Day.  Matt Egbert got Adams started out right as he rushed for 31 yards on four carries and a Touchdown in the opening drive for a quick 6-0 lead.  The Huskies countered with a quick drive of their own, capped by a 45 yard Howard Collins scamper for a TD to take the lead, 8-6.  It was off to the races from there as both teams ran up and down the field.  The first quarter ended on a Mike Barber TD run for an Adams 14-8 advantage.

The second quarter began with Pontiac Northern driving, but a fumble recovery by Mitch Weiland gave Adams the ball at midfield.  A 33 yard run by Barber, and a couple of rushes by Egbert put the ball at the four, where Egbert kicked a 21 yard field goal to stretch the lead to 17-8.  20 seconds later, it was 17-14 when Northern’s Collins ripped off a 65 yard touchdown run.  The defenses finally stiffened, and the half ended with that 17-14 score.

The second half began beautifully for Adams as Joe Reynolds ran for 22 yards, and passed to Kevin Rohner for 28 yards to get the ball deep into Pontiac territory.  Mike Barber took it the last 15 yards for his second TD of the game to stretch the lead to 24-14.  But six plays later, the Huskies answered with four long runs to go 72 yards and a TD to close the gap to 24-20.  An Adams fumble on their own 33 set up a series of Husky runs toward the goal line.  Stellar DB play by Aaron Taylor led a revitalized defense, but the relentless run game eventually wore down the front and culminated in a touchdown to end the third quarter with the lead over the Highlanders, 26-24.

The fourth quarter was crunch time for the Highlanders, and they rose to the occasion.  The offense controlled the ground during the quarter, chewing up yardage and the clock.  Mike Barber scored his third TD of the game early to put Adams up 30-26.

Then it was the Defense’s turn to step up and stop the explosive Husky running game.  And they did.  Led by the hard hitting Kevin Markey and Jordan Parker, and the aggressive pursuit by Mitch Weiland, the defense held and forced a punt with just under 7 minutes remaining. The offense chewed all but 6 seconds of the remaining time by running 12 consecutive times to reach the Northern 11.  The Huskies last gasp screen pass did not deliver the needed score and the Highlanders walked away with a hard-fought victory over the previously undefeated Pontiac Northern Huskies.

The Highlanders now stand 4-1 on the season, and take their show on the road to West Bloomfield next Thursday, September 28^th.  Adams returns to Brown Town in two weeks against Troy.

Photos by Yvonne Egbert