Hudsonville pulled away from Adams in the second half of the semifinals to end the Highlanders’ special run – The Oakland Press

OKEMOS — Even very good teams need a bounce or two to get them to the promised land, but when everyone is going in the opposite direction, it can be a long day.

None of the rebounds in Saturday’s Division I semifinals went in favor of the Rochester Adams Highlanders, who were outscored 20-0 in the second half as No. 4-ranked Hudsonville cruised to a 27-7 win over Average Okemos School.

“I thought we had a mistake there on the first ride – it was clearly out of order. They didn’t see it. We’ll have to stop anyway. And then he fumbled the one who came in… We had two of our best guys get hurt in the second quarter, and without those guys that have been so important to us all season, it kind of hurt our chemistry on offense a little bit,” Adams coach Tony Patricto said. . “We didn’t play in the second half, but they did. And you know, this happens sometimes.”

The Hudsonville Eagles (12-1) will take on Detroit Cass Tech (11-2) in the D1 final at Ford Field next Saturday. In the other D1 semifinal, the Techs beat Detroit Catholic Central 17-14.

It was Adams’ (10-3) first loss in seven games as the Highlanders fell to 4-2 after back-to-back losses to Lake Orion and Oxford by a total of four points, knocking them out of games. fighting for the OAA Red title.

Both teams went into halftime tied at 7-7, but things could have been a little different had a couple of rebounds gone Adams’ way.

Hudsonville went on a 14-play drive to open the game, but with one play remaining, the Highlanders were forced to fumble. When the Eagles had the ball, one play later, they punched it in with a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback Griffin Baker, the first of four he would account for that day.

After the Highlanders tied the game 7-7 on a 39-yard pass from Nolan Farris to Tommy Offer, the Highlanders had a chance to go up the score after stopping the Eagles on downs near midfield and Farris’ 30-yard run set up the that Adams is in the red zone. But a fumble the other way put the ball back on the Eagles’ own 1 — the same spot as the other miss — and the half ended in a stalemate.

Adams turned the ball over on downs at midfield to open the second half, and the Eagles used the short field to take a 14-7 lead on Baker’s 5-yard run.

Hudsonville guards Ty Ikema (left), Trenton Naber (22) and Jalen Osting (10) approach Rochester Adams’ Matt Toppner (26) in the Division I semifinals at Okemos High School on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. Hudsonville won, 27-7. (MATTHEW B. MOVERY – MediaNews Group)

On the final play of the third quarter, Hudsonville linebacker Ethan Carter entered the passing lane and made an interception to set up another short field and Baker’s 1-yard run to make it 21-7 with 10:26 to play. play.

After another Adams attempt stalled on downs with 8:03 left, Hudsonville pulled away for six minutes before scoring again on a 5-yard pass from Baker to Jack Wills on fourth-and-goal to make the score 27-7. at 1:55 left.

Adams’ offense spent most of the day going behind the sticks, and then on long plays in the backfield, the Eagles switched to a “radar” defense, with no players on the bottom line, bringing out blitzmen from all angles.

“We saw it on film, we watched it, and we were very happy with our game plan against it – and we actually didn’t have any problems at all, to be quite frank. We just had some offensive breakdowns in the second half against their normal defense and that puts us in third place where they can do it,” Patricto said. “And then we, you know, obviously we had some backups trying to play. And I give our kids a lot of credit: they didn’t give up, and our kids really followed through.”

Rochester Adams’ Cameron Dawood (2) attempts to deflect a pass intended for Hudsonville’s Carson Dykstra (1) during the third quarter of the Division 1 semifinals at Okemos High School on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. Dykstra caught the carom pass to help the Eagles to a 27-7 win. (MATTHEW B. MOVERY – MediaNews Group)

Adams was looking for his third title game appearance and second in four seasons. However, that might be expected a little less considering the Highlanders lost their starting quarterback to injury during this two-game midseason stretch. That’s why Patricto told the Mountaineers, “I love you to f—ing death” in a postgame meeting, reminding them they more than upheld the standards in Adams.

“We were picked second to last in our league. We do not have four or five star hotels. Our quarterback (Ryland Watters) goes down halfway through the season. He’s just an amazing player with a new man mentality. But in reality, at the end of the day, no one cares who gets the ball. Nobody cares who gets the glory. What a pleasure to be around, because this is a rarity in modern society. So, you’ve hit the nail on the head. I’m so proud to be associated with these kids because they were selfless and they didn’t care what people thought and they just did whatever it took to try to win,” Patritto said.

“To be honest, it’s kind of the standard here. And I have to give credit to the kids, the players that come into our program and just embraced it and they’re the ones that push it forward. So they are all so memorable. “I love these kids so much, but this is a special season.”

Hudsonville pulled away from Adams in the second half of the semifinals to end the Highlanders’ special run – The Oakland Press

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