Indians take down Barren County 25-19 in last pre-season game

Last Friday Adair County hosted Barren County at home in a pre-season showdown. The Trojans ended last season with a 4-7 record and posed a great challenge for the Indians, but the Tribe brought home a 25-19 win.

Coming off an excellent outing against Garrard County, Adair County came out firing early against the Trojans. Junior running back Dakota Morris put on a first half clinic. He had two touchdowns for over 70 yards and proved himself as the bell cow running back in this Indian offense. 

Morris wasn’t the only one lighting it up on offense, as the duo of quarterback Lane Grant and wide receiver Soloman Stonebreaker were back at it again. They started off the game slow, only connecting on one pass in the first half, but that quickly changed as Grant would connect over the top to Soloman for his first passing touchdown for the game. This is a duo to keep an eye on for the upcoming season. Grant also had the bleachers on their feet as he had an electric rushing touchdown in the first half. Putting these rushing abilities on display really should give Indian fans something to be excited for.  

On the defensive side of the ball, senior defensive back Jakeb Lacy put the Trojans on absolute lockdown. He started out the game with an interception, which put the offense in a position to easily score. Soon after a pass was thrown over the middle, and junior defensive back Aiden Smith deflected it in the air. Lacy was there one again. He made a great catch and dodged through traffic in order to give the Indians excellent field position. This once again led to an Indians’ touchdown. 

 By far the biggest take away from the win against Barren County is the massive improvement from the offensive line. Going into the pre-season it was not certain if our line could hold up against tough teams, but they proved themselves against the Trojans. It was obvious to all watching the game that this young Indian line was flawless, as they allowed Grant to have plenty of time in pass protection situations and even allowed great blocking for Morris on both of his touchdown runs. If they are able to keep this up for the regular season, the Indians will be a tough team to beat. 

This Friday, the Indians will face their rivals, the Russell County Lakers, to begin the season. The Lakers delivered Adair County an early loss last season, and the Indians are seeking vengeance this time around. Russell County’s high flying offense should put the Indians defense to a test and show the fans if the pre-season hype around the Indians is true. Although the Lakers have lost many key pieces to their offense, this will certainly be a great game.  

Earlier two of Adair County’s star players, Lane Grant, and Aiden Smith, share their feelings going into the season, and they had both had very strong words for the Lakers. When asked how they planned to get past the Lakers’ offense, Grant said “They have no clue how much depth we have this season. Every position on our offense is filled by elite level guys, and this year’s going to be completely different than last.” 

When asked about concerns on the defensive side of the ball, Smith said, “We may be a young team, but we have so many guys who are complete game changers. Anyone could step up at any time and make a huge difference, and that provides us so many options as a team.”