The Adair County Indians made the three-hour trek to Union County last Friday for the second round of playoffs. There, they tragically fell to the Braves 17 to 6, bringing their season to a close.
After the game, Coach Steve Stonebraker stated, “I told the guys after the game that I was proud of them. They played their hearts out and believed they could go there and win. We had our chances but just made too many mistakes to win a game against a team like Union County. We needed to play better and I needed to be better for us to win that one… I am not down on our players at all. Everyone made mistakes but all of those guys were reasons why we won ten games this season so I can’t be down on them. It has been my honor to coach them.”
Throughout the entire season, Adair has only lost to Hart County and Union County. There have been multiple games where the Indians won by a large margin (such as Franklin-Simpson where they won 42 to 7, or Butler County where the Indians won 42 to 12). There have also been numerous games where the Indians took home a flawless victory (Caverna, Metcalfe, and McLean County all saw losses to the Indians while scoring zero points).
And win or lose, the Indians made history this year.
“When you look at what we accomplished this year it was really incredible,” Coach Stonebraker said. “We matched the school record for wins and became only the 4th team in school history to win a playoff game. We had the highest AP ranking in school history and were the only team in the 51-year history of the program to finish ranked in the top 10 at the conclusion of the regular season. Our guys can look back and have a lot to be proud of. We all wanted it to be a little bit more and that attitude is part of why we were able to accomplish so much.”
This game had some high points in spite of what the scoreboard said at the end. The team made 181 passing yards where Easton Jessie made 99 of them and Lane Grant completed the rest with a pass to Solomon Stonebraker in the first quarter.
Where the team appeared to show weak points was in their rushing yards. As a team, they only managed 26.
Regardless, it has been a tough-fought year for the Indians, and Coach Stonebraker was quick to acknowledge that it was a team effort both on and off the field.
“I want to thank the assistant coaches for all that they have done (Bryan Cross, Jamie Bryant, Aaron Peck, Isaac Carter, Dylan Feese and Robert Cox) as they have been great for our players. I want to thank our district and school administration from Superintendent Jason Faulkner to Principal Chad Parnell to A.D. Tyler Maskill for all of their support of our team. We couldn’t make it without our booster club led by President Jeff Karnes. And, we all want to thank our community for their support of our program this season,” Coach Stonebraker said.
By Kenley Godby
kenley@adairvoice.com
