It was not the way head coach Van Isaac envisioned it, but the Adair County Indians picked up their first win of the season Friday night.
“It does feel good to win, but we’d like to win in a better fashion,” Isaac says. “That left a bad taste in my mouth. I don’t like how we handled ourselves.”
The visiting Berea Pirates trailed 24-6 when they conceded the contest via forfeit with eight seconds left in the first half. The unlikely conclusion followed a series of plays that escalated from physical to ugly and featured plenty of chirping between the two teams.
Four players—two from each team, including Indians Colton Feese and Travez Taylor—were ejected following the game’s final play and ensuing ruckus. The ejections left Berea with only 18 active players, hence the decision to forfeit.
Isaac says his players did not instigate the squabble, but still need to improve at controlling their emotions.
“After watching film, you have a kid from Berea on his back and he’s up-kicking [Taylor], so then the kid gets up—and Travez is real puffed up—and the kid swings on Travez,” Isaac explains. “Then there’s a fight that erupts.”
Missing out on a half of football especially bothers the head coach due to his team’s performance up to that point. Adair had already accumulated more than 300 yards of total offense while holding Berea to 120.
“I think we played right into their hands, because we were dominating the game,” Isaac says. “That was their only way out at that point and we just have to be more mature and handle our emotions better. We are a young group, but at this point, there’s no excuse. It’s unfortunate, because I thought we played really well.”
Ejections usually lead to suspensions, but luckily for Adair only one of their captains, Taylor, will have to sit out Friday’s game at Clinton County. Feese’s ejection has been overturned on appeal.
“He was not involved,” Isaac says of Feese. “He’s a great leader on this team and he did everything right, so he’s not out Friday.”
While Isaac hopes to pick up win No. 2 Friday, he says his bigger goal for his team is a more serious mental approach to the game.
“We know what to do,” he says. “We don’t have an X and O problem—we have an attitude and an effort problem. If we can fix the attitude and effort, we’re going to win a few.”
Adair County game stats:
Team
Rushing yards: 284
Rushing yards allowed: 32
Passing yards: 26
Passing yards allowed: 88
Passing
Carter White: 1-2, 26 yards
Rushing leaders
Byron Rodgers: 7 carries, 115 yards, 1 touchdown
Lane Grant: 10 carries, 107 yards, 3 touchdowns
Colton Feese: 8 carries, 57 yards
Receiving
Deshawn Crowdus: 1 catch, 26 yards
Defense
Travez Taylor: 3 tackles, 2 tackles for loss
Aiden Smith: 3 tackles, 2 fumble recoveries
Lane Grant: 1 interception, 1 forced fumble
Brayton Coomer: 1 forced fumble
This post is brought to you as part of Adair Drug Tuesday.
