Ada Overwhelms North

The Ada Bulldogs came to Lewisburg ranked as the third ranked Division 6 team in the state by the AP. By games end it was clear why. Ada was able to dominate on both sides of the line of scrimmage and their spread offense was ran efficiently. Many times during the night the Panthers would have the Bulldogs in third and long situations, but they would toss the ball to an open receiver and keep the drive alive. And although North was able to make some plays on offense, they had a rough time putting together a scoring drive – every yard was hard earned from North’s perspective.

This was the first playoff game where North was able to host the game and a generous crowd was on hand. When Ada scored on their first drive - using just a minute and half of the clock, it looked like North might answer. JJ MacPherson helped put the ball into Ada territory with a 30 yard carry. But after driving to about the 36 a quarterback sack pushed the line of scrimmage back and North had to punt. Ada immediately went back to work and scored again. That would become the theme for the night, North would do a 3 and out series, maybe getting a first down or two but in the end being forced to punt the ball away. And Ada would methodically move the ball down the field

North did try to adjust on defense, but when they blitzed Ada would dial in a bubble screen. Stop the pass, then Ada would run for yardage. And when you are playing a better team, you hope for turnovers to give your team more possessions. But the football gods smiled on Ada all the way, while North was shown no love. Ada put the ball on the turf 3 times and recovered all 3 times – the last one was on the 5 yard line and was ran in for a score. North gave away the ball twice, once on a fumble and the other an interception in the end zone. Ada did not punt at all – they faced 4th down several times and went for it each time.

North was finally able to find the end zone in the second half. In the first half, sophomore Austin Hutchins had hurt his left wrist, left the game for a few plays – but the gritty quarterback returned to the field. He lead the TCN scoring drive in the second half, starting from their own 26 yard line. JJ MacPherson capped the drive with a touchdown run from about 17 yards out. Then just before time ran out, the TCN reserve quarterback ran a keeper around the right end for North’s second score. At night’s end it was 49-12 Ada.

This is a first draft - come back for the coach's comments.