FOOTBALL: Rochester Adams downs Grand Blanc to reach state finals for first time since 2003
Highlanders rally back for 40-20 triumph over Bobcats
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
HOWELL — Please forgive Parker Picot if he never gets tired. Even though he only left the field for less than five plays Saturday, the Rochester Adams junior still produces all over the field.
“I’m sorry,” laughed Picot about coming out momentarily.
“We’ve been here before (with a deficit) and these players have so much talent that we never get our heads down,” continued Picot. “We have so much talent that at any moment we have guys that can make plays.”
DRIVING DOWNFIELD: Rochester Adams junior Parker Picot splits a trio of Grand Blanc defenders during a first-quarter drive of the Highlanders’ 40-20 triumph Saturday over the Bobcats. Courtesy Photo | Rochester Adams Football
Ditto for Picot’s talented cast of teammates who seemed to step up routinely over the final three quarters of play.
The unbeaten Highlanders forced five turnovers, dominated the line of scrimmage, and overcame a 14-point first-quarter deficit for the first time this season. The result was a resounding 40-20 workman-like triumph over Grand Blanc in a Division 1 state semifinals at Howell High School’s Bob Maxey Stadium in a battle of unbeatens.
Rochester Adams (13-0) will face Belleville (12-1) Nov. 27 at Ford Field for the Division 1 state championship — its first appearance since winning the Division 2 title back in 2003. Belleville won its semifinals game over Sterling Heights Stevenson, 40-19.
Parker Picot finished the night with 151 rushing yards on 31 carries, was 6-for-12 passing for 152 yards and three touchdown passes, played defensive back and even returned a kick.
Reaching the final weekend of the season was the goal for Adams since the opening week of practice in August.
“This is what we have worked for,” smiled Adams two-way lineman Alex DeGrieck, one of 18 returning starters for a team that has the most wins in school history at 13. “We have those 18 starters back and we all get along so well — all of us. Our chemistry is amazing.”
Still Adams found itself with its biggest deficit of the season. Adams has out-gained Grand Blanc 205-184 yards on total yards in the first half, although 174 of the Bobcats’ yards came on two plays.
Grand Blanc only had 15 plus from scrimmage and four first downs in the first half. The Bobcats had 184 yards of offense in the first half — and two long plays from scrimmage resulted in a 14-0 lead with 57 seconds left in the first quarter.
Senior Elijah Jackson-Anderson broke a tackle near the line of scrimmage and raced 93 yards for the score with 5:13 left in the first quarter. On The Bobcats’ third play from their third series, Jackson-Anderson hauled in a short pass from senior Hunter Ames and raced 81 yards for the touchdown late in the first period.
“We’ve been here before (being down in the postseason),” said Patritto, whose team trailed West Bloomfield 13-0 at the half last week in the regional finals before roaring back for a 14-13 win. “This is not what we wanted, for sure. That’s on the kids. They never doubted themselves at all.”
Adams botched a snap on a field goal attempt in the first quarter when the game was deadlocked at 0-0.
The Highlanders’ senior Marco Decresce recovered a fumbled punt on the Grand Blanc 26 and two plays later Picot fired a 25-yard dart over the middle to senior Christian Schomer to trim the Bobcats lead down to 14-7 with 11:51 to play in the half.
Grand Blanc fumbled on its next possession, this time junior Tait Picot scooped up the ball at the Bobcats’ 24. Four plus later Parker Picot raced five yards up the middle and Colin Timko’s extra point tied the game at 14-14 with 9:21 to play in the half.
Adams put together a 12-play, 80-yard, time-chewing drive on its next series and took the lead for good with 45.9 seconds left in the half when Parker Picot faked a handoff and hit senior Max Cibor with a wide-open 16-yard touchdown strike down the middle.
Grand Blanc again turned the ball over on the ensuing kickoff, and junior Tanner Buck recovered the ball on the Bobcats’ 40. Eight plays later Adams settled for a 22-yard field goal off the foot of Timko for a 23-14 lead at the half.
The Highlanders opened the game open by scoring points on its first two drives of the third quarter. Schomer hauled in a 58-yard scoring toss from Parker Picot with 7:50 remaining in the frame. After Grand Blanc turned the ball over on downs, Adams marched back down the field 14 plays later and 7:47 later on another field goal by Time — this time a 37-yarder the sailed just over the bar.
After yielding 33 unanswered points to Adams, Grand Blanc was finally able get untracked again and score again with 3:54 remaining in the contest. Ames hooked up with Jackson-Anderson for a 14-yard catch and run for pay dirt.
The Bobcats’ best season in school history was stalled after that point.
Adams was able to tally one last score on the Bobcats’ fifth turnover of the game —a 26-yard interception return for a touchdown by Tait Picot with 2:13 to play.
“It took us a while to get here, five years to build this team and get here as a program. We wanted to be here and we deserved to be here,” said Grand Blanc coach Clint Alexander. “I can’t be any more proud of our team because we have never been here (in the Final Four) before. But we came up short.
“We had a lot of turnovers that really hurt us. We gave up the short field to Adams and you can’t do that against a really good team like Adams,” added Alexander.
Adams held a 355-320 edge in total yards offense and amassed 21 first downs. Grand Blanc only had 10 first downs and six came after the Highlanders led 33-14.
Jackson-Anderson had eight carries for 93 yards and four catches for 94 yards on the day. Ames finished 14-for-28 passing for 195 yards, two touchdown passes and two interceptions.
Tait Picot had one fumble recovery and one interception, Buck had one fumble recovery, Schomer picked off a pass in the end zone with 8:18 to go with the Highlanders up 33-20, Dicresce had a fumble recovery and both DeGrieck and Broder Kawa had sacks in the victory. Schomer also got a tip on Tait Picot’s pick-six which led to the final points. Timko was 4-for-5 on extra points and hit the two field goals.
“Our defense has been making plays all season long,” smiled Schomer. “(On the interception) their (receiver) ran a flag route and I was able to get caught up and stepped in and made the pick,” said Schomer. “We forced a lot of turnovers. We knew they had some big-time athletes and we had to step up and make plays.”
Adams was making its fifth appearance in the state semifinals with the previous four all being in Division 2. The Highlanders won the state title in 2003 — Patritto’s first season at the helm — while Adams lost in the semifinals in 2004, 2005 and 2007. The Highlanders also reached the regional finals (Elite Eight) in Division 1 back in 2013 and now own a 29-20 all-time record in the postseason.
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