SPORTS

Adena wins second in a row

Zach Taylor

The underdog Adena Warriors bested the Paint Valley Bearcats, 34-14, on a chilly late-October evening Friday.

Though the Warriors had only two wins entering the showdown, they were fresh off of a Week 7 win over Southeastern. Clearly some of last week’s confidence oozed over into this week as the Warriors put together a dominant second half on the way to their third win of the season.

“I told the kids, anytime you come down here to Bainbridge and you get a win, it’s huge, and to enjoy that, and take it in,” coach John Penwell said after the game.

It didn’t start out looking too bad for the Bearcats. Their defense held the Warriors in check throughout the entire first quarter, and midway through the second quarter Bryce Newland managed to connect with Austen Blevins in the back-left corner of the end zone from 20 yards out to take an early 6-0 lead. But Adena was able to bounce back in a big way before halftime, putting together a quick scoring drive that was capped off with a one-yard Jake Dawson keeper to take a 7-6 lead with only 19.8 seconds left before the break.

Just when it seemed the Warriors would be taking that one-point lead into the locker room, defensive lineman Bo Dratwa made the play of the game when he picked up a Bryce Newland fumble and rumbled 35 yards to make it a 14-6 lead and completely swing momentum in their favor.

In the second half, the Warriors kept their train on the tracks and took their second drive of the half 70 yards in five plays to take a 21-6 lead with another one-yard Dawson keeper.

The Bearcats briefly looked like they might have enough in the tank to pull off a comeback when they answered with a three-play drive that took less than a minute off the clock and resulted in Drake Stanforth getting a one-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 21-14 with 4:33 left in the third quarter.

Adena didn’t panic, though, they just kept their collective nose to the grindstone and did what they do best — run the ball. Using only eight plays but eating up more than 6 minutes of clock, Adena once again used its rushing attack to put points on the board. This time, Hunter May got in on the action with a 4-yard burst to put the Warriors up 27-14 with 10:08 left in the game. The Warriors used their run-first formula again on their next drive for their fourth rushing touchdown of the evening, and got Trent Sims into the end zone from 6 yards away for the final score 34-14.

“The guys that carried the weight were the guys up front,” coach Jihn Penwell said. “Making those holes, pushing people backwards — our offensive line played great.” The stats back up Penwell’s sentiment. The Warriors finished with 228 yards on the ground and four rushing touchdowns on the evening with a combination of Hunter May, JD Blevins, Jake Dawson and Trent Sims shouldering most of the load. “We just did a real good job of playing team football,” Penwell elaborated. “Nobody puts themselves ahead of the team, and that’s the way it’s supposed to be played.”

May led the team with 86 yards rushing on 14 carries and a touchdown, while Sims had a big day as well with 76 yards on six carries with a touchdown. Jake Dawson finished the evening 4 of 13 passing for 106 yards and an interception to go along with his 29 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

Paint Valley now falls to 4-5 and 2-4 in league play and will host Piketon in the final week of regular season for the Scioto Valley Conference. Adena, now 3-6 overall and 3-3 in the conference, will face a tough test in Unioto next week, with the Tanks riding high after a narrow 34-33 win over Piketon this week.

“It’ll be a huge task ahead of us,” Penwell admitted, “but ... we’ll get on film and get ready for the Tanks next week.”