By Cort Reynolds
ADA __ The Ada High School boys soccer team rode a big second half to convincingly defeat Fort Jennings 6-1 on Monday evening, September 9, at War Memorial Stadium.
The Bulldogs scored five second-half goals to break away from a halftime tie and win.
Ada improved to 5-2 overall with the decisive non-league victory to already surpass last season’s win total of four. The Musketeers fell to 2-5 after the defeat.
“The first half Ft. Jennings came out strong and competed,” said AHS head coach Aaron Acheson. “They used a 4-5-1 formation, and we had to figure out how to attack that alignment.
“Once we did, we got some 2 v. 1 situations to take advantage of it,” he continued. “We knew with them having one defender back all the time we were not going to be off-sides.”
Bulldog senior Nathan Williams tallied a goal while also doling out three assists.
“He has great pace and weight on the ball, and gives our guys an easy ball to receive,” said Acheson of his passing.
Ada sophomore Andrew Allen and senior Logan Jolliff tallied a pair of goals apiece. Senior Max Puerto added the other Bulldog goal.
The game was scoreless for the first 38 minutes. Allen then netted the first goal on an assist from Williams with two minutes left in the first half.
But FJ answered a minute later to tie it up 1-1 at intermission.
“The first half was very competitive,” said Acheson. “I told the boys the first 10 minutes of the second would determine who takes control of the game. We made some minor adjustments at the half, got the ball off our feet quicker.
“We came out and attacked, moved the ball and had good spacing,” he added.
The Bulldogs took the lead for good off a Williams corner kick that Jolliff converted with 37 minutes remaining.
A minute later, Williams netted the third Ada goal on a loose ball in front of the goal to provide a 3-1 lead.
With 32 minutes left, Williams booted another corner kick that Puerto put into the back of the net to extend the margin to 4-1.
“Nathan had great touch on the two corner kicks we finished, and then we got our playmakers in space with some good through balls,” Acheson explained.
Allen netted his second goal with 26 minutes remaining. Jolliff tallied the final score with seven minutes left to provide the final margin of five.
Ada keeper Jacob Rush made four saves in goal.
“I am proud of the mental toughness the boys showed at the end of the first half after they tied it up,” said Acheson. “There was no panic in the locker room. We just talked about getting back to our identity, spacing and our formation.
“We scored three goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half,” he noted. “We made winning plays and played well to outscore them 5-0 after halftime.”
In the JV half-game, FJ netted two headers off corner kicks to take a 2-1 lead. Ada tied it on a goal with 4:52 remaining.
But with just 32 seconds left, the visitors tallied on a low-bouncing shot into the lower left part of the net to win it, 3-2.
Ada (0-1 NCOSA) visits league rival Riverdale (2-4, 0-1 NCOSA) Thursday, Sept. 12. The Bulldogs then visit Old Fort Thursday, September 14.
“We have a test hitting the road at Mt. Blanchard Thursday at Riverdale,” the coach said.
