In an away game beneath the Friday Night Lights at Russell County’s brand new football stadium, the Adair County Indians kicked the year off with a major win.
It was, however, a brutal game.
To quote head coach Steve Stonebreaker, “It was very ugly with the amount of penalties that we had and some poor fundamental play, so we have a lot to come back and work on.”
In spite of all the numerous penalties and problems, Adair still managed to pull ahead. When the smoke cleared, the game’s score came out to 22 - 16 with Adair on top.
It was helpful that the Indians pulled ahead early on. For a long time, they led the Russell County Lakers eight to zero. They scored their first three drives, which helped push them over the edge and inflate their lead against their opponents.
The challenges were largely seen later in the game when Russell County not only began to fight back against the Indians, but the Indians began to struggle.
“(We) did not score our final three drives due to penalties, dropped balls, fumbles and mental mistakes,” Coach Stonebreaker explained. “We just have to do a better job of having the consistent focus that it takes to execute our offense at a high level.”
Given the early lead that the Indians built, these mistakes kneecapped what could have been a blow-out win based on early-game results. It is, however, indicative that the team has what it takes to win and improve, and the performance in this game gives the coaches and the team important feedback to get even better than they already are.
Coach Stonebreaker did not shy away from issues that will need to be hammered out in practice, but he was quick to compliment his team and the effort that they put in which rewarded them with the win.
“We had some kids that played extremely hard and competed well. I thought we did a better job defensively as the game went on,” he said.
He went on to compliment one player in particular that he views as a rising star.
“I thought Blane Bardin had a tremendous game for us in his first ever varsity game as our kicker. He made both of his PAT’s, his kickoffs were good and he even made a big tackle for us. I like what he is bringing to our team.”
Other high scores can be seen from Ryder Rodgers who finished the game with nine solo tackles and eight assisted tackles—the highest solo tackles and total tackles on the team.
Easton Jessie scored 15 of his 18 pass attempts, and Ryder Rodgers also scored two rushing touchdowns.
This was the first game in the recently-constructed football stadium at Russell County. The stadium itself is massive, intended to be evocative of a collegiate arena as opposed to the traditional high school football environment. The Russell County Lakers and the Adair County Indians have long been competitive rivals in sports and band, so winning at the new stadium’s inaugural game makes the Indians’ feat all the more impressive.
The Indians’ next game against Caverna Independent School District can be seen this Friday. It will be an away game.
By Kenley Godby
kenley@adairvoice.com
