SPORTS

Huntsmen dig deep to beat Adena

Brock Netter

CHILLICOTHE- Grit, guts, heart and perseverance.

Those four adjectives describe what was needed for the Huntington Huntsmen to get the victory, and that’s exactly what they did Friday night in the muddy field conditions as they ground out a 7-6 victory over the Warriors.

“It was a hard-fought game,” Huntington coach Alan Preston said. “I have a lot of respect for Coach (John) Penwell. I’ve known him for a lot of years when he was at Greenfield. I knew Adena was going to play tough and they would play ball control; pretty much typical Adena football. We finally played four complete quarters against a good football team, despite what their record may say about them.”

The field was a muddy mess, however, that played into the strengths of each team; running the football. The only problem was that neither team could find its footing. Huntington (3-3, 1-2 SVC) opened with possession only to go three and out. The punt was blocked and Adena recovered on the Huntsmen 39. But penalties hurt their drive and they punted right back to Huntington, leading to a scoreless first quarter.

Adena took possession back after another punt. But they fumbled the ball and Huntington recovered. During the drive, quarterback Elijah McCloskey hit Jordan Sharp for an 18-yard completion on third down to keep the drive alive. However, two plays later McCloskey through a backward pass that his receiver dropped. It was ruled a fumble and the Warriors recovered with 1:45 left. They ran out the clock, going into halftime scoreless.

“Adena is a good team,” Preston said. “They beat Westfall a couple weeks ago and we’ve been stagnant the past couple weeks. But I’m really happy how we responded. Our defense played great. Credit to our defensive coordinator Spencer Smith and the defensive coaches for drawing up a great game plan.”

Adena got off to a quick start to begin the third quarter. Hunter May took the opening handoff and dashed 41 yards into Huntsmen territory before being tackled at the 30 yard line. They managed to get all the way to the eight yard line before they were forced to settle for the 25-yard field goal. The attempt was missed wide right, keeping the game scoreless with 7:30 to play.

Huntington took full advantage of the missed opportunity. After Gavin Snyder rushed for 2 yards on the first play, Sharp took the jet sweep, reversed field and sprinted up the left sideline 66 yards before being caught at the Warriors’ 12 yard line. Three plays later, Brian Smith took the option toss, reserved field himself and scored from 10 yards out for the first score of the game. After a successful point after, the Huntsmen lead 7-0 with 4:56 left.

“I lined up in my position, looked to my left and saw no one over there,” Sharp said. “So I looked at Elijah and yelled ‘left’, but he didn’t hear me. As soon as I caught it, I reversed field and saw nothing but open area. B (Brian) Smith made a great block and I kept running. I rolled my ankle in the process of running, but luckily I was 66 yards down the field before I got caught.”

Adena answered right back on its ensuing drive. Using a healthy dose of running backs J.D. Blevins and Hunter May, the Warriors drove down the field, overpowering the Huntsmen. 13 plays and 58 yards later, May punched the ball in from one yard out. However, their two point conversion was stopped short, making the score 7-6 with 10:17 left in the game.

Huntington’s next offensive possession was about eating up as much clock as possible. They chewed up four minutes before punting back to Adena with 6:30 left. With the ball on their own 41 yard line, the Warriors went three plays and out while knocking more than two minutes of time off the clock.

The Huntsmen ate up more clock, forcing Adena to use two of its three timeouts. On 3rd and 8, McCloskey dropped back and connected with Sharp for the 15-yard completion and gave the Huntsmen a huge first down with 3:18 left.

“I got switched to the left side (of the formation),” Sharp said. “The same Adena corner had covered me all night, so I knew if I could get him inside that I could break back out and he would slip off his coverage enough, and that’s what happened. I was able to reel in the catch and make a little move to stay in bounds before I was tackled.”

With a new set of downs, Huntington continued to run the ball and milk the clock with Adena having only one timeout left. The Huntsmen’s punt with 1:38 was blocked and recovered by Adena at the Huntsmen 25 yard line.

Unfortunately, penalties and negative plays killed the Warriors’ momentum and their fourth down pass was incomplete, sealing the win for the Huntsmen.

“I’m so proud of this team,” Preston said. “A couple years ago our team might have folded after Adena scored their touchdown. But these guys never gave up, they stuck to their guns and they played for each other. It’s been a big week for us and with all the great things happening inside the classroom with our guys and it being homecoming week for us, to get this win is great and I couldn’t be more proud of our guys.”

McCloskey was 4-of-8 passing for 57 yards, Sharp has 3 catches for 47 yards, Smith had one catch for 10 yards along with the rushing touchdown, while Snyder had 19 rushes for 32 yards.

Jake Dawson was 2-of-5 passing for Adena with 14 yards. He also had 10 rushes for 21 yards. Blevins had 17 carries for 62 yards while May had 15 carries for 89 yards and a touchdown.

Huntington returns to action on Friday when they travel to Piketon while Adena will host Zane Trace.