By Cort Reynolds
Hosting its home finale at War Memorial Park Stadium, Ada High School football defeated Crestview 34-26 in a seesaw Northwest Conference football marathon on a chilly Friday night, October 14.
"It was a great win for our program," said Ada second-year head coach Toby Smith. "We are doing a lot of good things, but we still have a ways to go," Smith added. "We are excited to have a chance to keep playing (beyond week 10)."
The Bulldogs improved to 3-6 overall and 2-4 in the NWC with their second win in three games. The victory kept Ada's hopes alive for a first playoff berth since 2017.
The Knights dropped to 4-5 and 1-5 in the NWC with the defeat.
Crestview scored 13 late fourth period points to stay in striking distance, but a successful Ada fake punt late in the game allowed the hosts to keep possession and run the clock out.
On the second Bulldog possession, Ada drove 62 yards to paydirt on 11 plays. Three passes from sophomore quarterback Levi Green to classmate Kaine Fisher gained 27 yards.
On third and three, Casen Jones converted with a four-yard run. Green then connected with Max Puerto on a 10-yard TD reception at the 3:17 left in the first period.
Mason Speith returned the ensuing kickoff to the 50 to set the Knights up in good field position. Braxton Leeth fashioned a couple of good runs.
On first and goal at the two, Knight QB Carson Hunter scored on a two-yard run. The point after kick missed to keep Ada in front 7-6 with 68 seconds left in the quarter.
On the next possession, Ada drove 60 yards to the Knight five. Green completed a 27-yard pass to Levi Sousley to key the march. The Knight defense stiffened and forced Ada to kick a 22-yard field goal by Wyatt Green field goal with 8:05 to go in the half.
Speith returned the kickoff all the way to the 32-yard line. On the next play, Leeth made some nice cuts and weaved his way 32 yards to paydirt at the 7:45 mark.
The Hayden Parrott PAT kick put Crestview ahead 13-7.
Ada took over at its own 18 and marched 82 yards to the end zone. Green authored a 13-yard jitterbug run to ignite the run.
He then launched a long 54-yard pass on the left sideline to Fisher all the way to the Ada one. Green ran off left tackle one yard untouched for a TD to put the Bulldogs back on top with 5:49 left before halftime.
Another good kickoff return by Speith set the Knights up at midfield, but the Ada defense held. On fourth and seven at the Bulldog 12, Hunter was stopped short after a four-yard run.
Ada then earned a big first down when Green burst 29 yards up the middle. The Knights forced Ada to punt and after initially muffing it, Speith returned the kick 90 yards to the end zone. But it was called back for holding, keeping Ada ahead at the half by three.
The lights went out during the Crestview band show, but they came back on just in time for the second half fireworks.
On the first drive of the third stanza, the Knights converted a third and 10 pass over the middle from Hunter to Harting for 18 yards to the Ada 34.
After a penalty, Hunter launched a 37-aerial to Kellen Putman at the Ada two. On first and goal, Hunter fumbled trying to leap and stretch over the goal line, and the pigskin was recovered by Lester Amos at the two to thwart the drive.
Knight senior lineman Donovan Wreath was hurt on the game-changing play, and had to be carted off after a lengthy delay at the 8:17 mark.
A 15-yard facemask penalty was tacked onto a 12-yard Green run to dig Ada out of a hole and jump-start the defining drive of the season.
Green then scampered down the right sideline for 20 more yards as the march gained steam. Jones burrowed his way for eight yards.
Green then burst through the middle for a 31-yard run to the Knight nine. On fourth and goal from the seven, Green rolled right and scurried into the front corner of the end zone to cap the epic 98-yard march.
The extra point missed to keep Ada in front 22-13. The long march took 5:29 off the clock.
Crestview took over at their own 44 after a short kickoff. Two plays were stuffed by the Ada defense to force third and 10, and Hunter's pass was incomplete.
The Bulldogs got possession on their own 33 at the 2:18 mark. On third and three, Jones rumbled seven yards to move the chains.
A screen to Fisher netted five yards. On third and four on the first play of the fourth quarter, the Knight defense swarmed Green for a loss of one to force a punt.
Sousley's 38-yard punt was downed at the eight to pin the Knights deep in their territory. Leeth's shifty cutback run netted 14 yards.
Hunter's tight aerial over the middle to Harting gained 26 more yards. Harting then weaved 17 yards after snaring a screen pass. On third and two Hunter narrowly escaped a sack, but was called for a costly intentional grounding for a big loss of 19.
On fourth and 21, Hunter's pass fell incomplete to turn the ball over to Ada on their 46 with 7:54 left to play.
On third and six, Jones was stopped short to necessitate a Sousley punt. Crestview took over at their own 24 with over five minutes left. Kyle Mattson sacked Hunter for a two-yard loss.
Jones then intercepted a pass and sped in for a pick six return to give Ada what seemed like a comfortable lead with 4:50 remaining. The PAT boot just missed to keep the score at 28-13.
Crestview started out at the 49 after an Ada penalty. A Hunter pass to Parker Speith gained 13 yards. Hunter then launched a 36-yard aerial to Putman for a quick TD to keep the Knights alive with 4:28 still to play.
After an unsportsmanlike penalty on Crestview following the score, a 35-yard extra point kick try deflected off the left upright to maintain a critical nine-point margin.
Ada's Jayden Bankston recovered an on-sides kickoff at the 44.
The speedy Green immediately cut back through the defense and weaved 56 yards to the end zone at the 4:15 juncture to put the Bulldogs back on top by 15.
The two-point run failed, but Ada led 34-19.
But Harting cut and ran all the way to the Bulldog 25 with the ensuing kickoff return. Hunter immediately hit Harting for a 25-yard TD aerial at the 3:54 mark. Parrott's PAT cut the Ada lead to 34-26.
Ada started at its own 20 after a touchback. Green ran for eight yards. After a first down and several timeouts, the Knights forced fourth and three and a big play.
Ada lined up to punt but Sousley faked it, ran right and hit Green for a seven-yard reception to keep the ball and move the chains with 2:03 left in the second half marathon.
"We practice the fake punt every week all the time and feel comfortable the kids can execute it when they need to," explained Smith. "We wanted to keep the ball in our hands and run out the clock."
Crestview was out of timeouts and thus Ada was able to run out the final two minutes after the gutsy call.
1 2 3 4 F
Ada 7 9 6 12 34
Cvw 6 7 0 13 26
Notes and stats
Ada netted 359 yards in total offense on 62 plays for an average gain of 5.8 yards per play. Crestview totaled 355 yards on just 43 snaps (8.3 avg.).
The Bulldogs carried the pigskin 46 times for 208 yards (4.5 average). Grove toted the ball 26 times for 155 yards (6.0 avg.).
Green completed 10 of 15 passes for 144 yards and one score. Green also rushed 25 times for 133 yards and three TDs. Sousley completed one crucial pass for seven yards and the game-clinching first down.
Senior back Jones netted 72 yards on 17 carries, and added one catch for 11 yards.
Fisher caught six passes for 94 yards. Sousley snagged two receptions for 28 yards.
Hunter completed 12 of 17 aerials for 200 yards with two TDS and one costly interception for a pick six.
Leeth ran nine teams for 74 yards and one TD. Harting netted 49 yards on four rushes. Harting also caught five passes for 94 yards and a TD.
Putman snared three aerials for 77 yards and a TD. Mason Speith had three kickoff returns for 67 yards, while Harting returned one kick for 52 yards.
Ada compiled 21 first downs. Twelve came on the ground, with seven through the air and two by penalty.
Crestview amassed 16 first downs, with eight coming on the ground and eight more through the air.
The Knights committed two critical turnovers that cost them two TDs, while Ada made no miscues. Crestview was penalized nine times for 85 hurtful yards, while Ada was flagged five times for 45 yards.
Ada made it on seven of 16 third down tries, and went 2-3 on fourth down. The Knights converted just two of six third down attempts and were 0-2 on fourth down.
Running 19 more plays, the Bulldogs won big in time of possession, 29:18 to 17:48.
Ada won the first half 16-13 and took the seocnd half 18-13 in almost identical scores.
Eleven Bulldog seniors went out with a win in their last home game. Ada finished 3-3 at home.
In the early unofficial computer rankings, with the win Ada exchanged places with and leapfrogged Crestview from 17th to 16th in region 26.
Ada at rival AE in season finale
Next Friday, Ada visits backyard arch-rival Allen East to finish the 2022 regular season.
League-leading AE (8-1, 6-0 NWC) is riding a six-game win streak after defeating Leipsic 17-8 in Harrod Friday to clinch at least a share of the NWC crown.
AE is seeking an outright conference title, and improving Ada would like to play spoiler.
The lone Mustang loss came to Elmwood in week three, 53-21. AE was rated second in Div. VI, Region 24 heading into week nine.
Ada is 0-3 on the road, while AE is 3-1 at home.
