By Cort Reynolds
The Ada High School football team (0-1) plays its second straight home game against a difficult foe when non-league Arlington comes to War Memorial Park Stadium Friday.
The Red Devils (1-0) defeated Paulding 21-12 in their opener last Friday.
"Arlington is a solid team," said Ada head coach Toby Smith. "We have an extremely tough challenge ahead of us. We are going to try and be competitive."
He said Arlington can run and throw the ball effectively. "They run a split backfield, and some shotgun," he said. "Their quarterback (senior returnee Jared Griggs) runs hard and is solid.
"On defense, they run out of a 3-4 formation. You have to beat them, they won't make a ton of mistakes to beat themselves. They have a solid program," he added.
Last year at Arlington, scrappy Ada trailed just 14-0 at halftime. But then Red Devil Grant Riegle returned the second half kickoff for a touchdown, and the hosts went on to post a 34-0 win.
Arlington finished 8-3 last season and lost in the first round of the playoffs to regional semifinalst McComb. The Devils boast a 42-player roster.
Kick-off is at 7 p.m. Friday evening.
