Adams plows past Troy in OAA crossover
BY JAKE LOURIM
STUDENT CORRESPONDENT
TROY — Having to win out in order to make the state postseason for the 14th straight time, Rochester Adams made sure there was still hope entering Week 9 of the season.
The Highlanders won the battle at the line of scrimmage and rolled past Troy, 35-19, in the OAA Crossover Showcase.
Adams (5-3, 3-3 OAA White) and Troy (3-5, 3-3 OAA Red) came in as the No. 5 seeds from their respective divisions.
In a game that started defensively, Adams struck first with 2:39 left in the first quarter and took it to the Colts from there, plowing its pistol option offense through holes in the Troy defense.
“They’re going to run their offense,” Troy coach Gary Griffith said. “They did exactly the things that we thought they would do.”
Adams coach Tony Patritto, meanwhile, credited his offensive line, senior quarterback Tony Annese, and senior fullback David Jagow with the performance.
“(Annese is) a fantastic player — when he’s really healthy, I think he’s one of the best players in the state of Michigan,” Patritto said. “He’s a great passer, but we chose not to throw today, and he’s obviously a great runner. We wanted to put him in a situation where we get him in space.”
Patritto said Annese suffered a shoulder injury in Week 5, so the Highlanders used the quarterback sparingly.
“He’s a very fine football player and we helped him by not being where we were supposed to be,” Griffith said. “And there were several times when we just couldn’t tackle very well.”
Adams rushed 46 times for 382 yards, an average of 8.3 yards per carry, and ran 15 plays for double-digit yardage. Annese finished with three rushing touchdowns while passing for another for Adams, which led 35-7 at one point of the second half.
IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION: Rochester Adams' Ben Hart and the Highlanders downed Troy for their fifth win of the season Friday night, 35-19, and are one win away from making the postseason. File Photo | Larry McKee, www.lmckeephotography.com
“I’m very disappointed that we seem to have a habit of giving up big plays,” Griffith said. “They executed their offense, they did the things they were supposed to do, and I honestly can tell you I don’t think there was anything they ran that we hadn’t practiced.”
After Adams lost a fumble and went three-and-out in the first two series, the Highlanders went to work at pulling ahead 27-0 over the next five drives.
It ended as another rough night for the young Troy defensive line, which lost all its starters from last year, started three juniors, and played without senior Jeremy Middleton (mononucleosis).
“Option football forces you to be gap-responsible,” Griffith said. “You can’t ad-lib. The offense is going to run a lot of plays that look similar, but they’re going to block them differently. We have to fit differently, and sometimes we did, and sometimes we didn’t.”
On the other side of the ball, Adams shut out Troy for three quarters and held the Colts to 31 total yards in the first half.
“That’s the best defense we’ve played,” Patritto said.
Troy tried to come back with 19 points in the fourth quarter. The Colts scored their first touchdown six seconds into the fourth quarter on a 21-yard pass from junior quarterback Justin Losey to junior Tommy O’Donovan.
But the Highlanders quickly erased the score, recovering the ensuing onside kick and scampering 52 yards on the next play.
Troy’s defense stiffened for the rest of the game, but the Colts couldn’t recover any onside kicks to speed along the comeback.
The last three drives included a turnover on downs in the red zone, a Losey one-yard score, and a 13-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Jay Darish to senior Davion Rice.
Punching in the two red zone chances that instead ended in a fumble and turnover on downs would have made for a closer game, but Griffith acknowledged that the scoring must start sooner.
“It’s a process. It’s 48 minutes. You can’t come out slow,” he said.
Next week, Troy has its archrival game with Troy Athens, who has already qualified for the playoffs at 6-2, and both teams should be excited for that one. Rochester Adams will visit Rochester Stoney Creek.
“I certainly hope so,” Griffith said. “I honestly feel that if we put it all together, we can be very competitive, and we can beat them. They are huge, they’re very talented, they’re very fast.
“For whatever reason we’ve stepped back the last two weeks.”
Category: High School, High School (M-Z), Prep Wraps, Rochester Adams, Troy
