Cougars to make long trek to Stilwell for fall break matchup

Oct. 12—The Ada High School football team will embark on its longest road trip of the season tonight for a fall break battle with Stilwell.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at James Bradley Memorial Field.

The bus ride to Stilwell will be twice as long as Ada's previous two road trips to Durant and Madill. By bus, it is expected to take the Cougars just over three hours, so the entire week of preparation has been a little different.

Ada head coach Brad O'Steen said he looks forward to seeing how his team responds to something out of the ordinary on the 2023 football slate.

"That's something this team really hasn't had to do this year. It's something else we have to handle," O'Steen told the Ada News. "You have to get off the bus after a three-hour drive and get right into our routine when we get there and go out and handle our business. Any type of adversity we get throughout the season will help us in the playoffs."

The Cougars enter the game unbeaten at 6-0 on the year and are off to a 3-0 start in District 4A-4 play. Ada is ranked No. 4 in this week's Associated Press High School football poll. The Cougars are tied with second-ranked Poteau at the top of the district, while Sallisaw and Fort Gibson are tied for second with 2-1 district marks.

Meanwhile, the Indians are sitting at 2-4 overall and have yet to win a district contest (0-3). Stilwell won its first two games of the season against Roland (34-19) and Keys (20-0) but is now in the midst of a four-game losing streak. The Indians lost at Stigler in somewhat of a shootout (36-21) and fell to Hilldale in overtime (24-21). They then suffered a pair of lopsided losses at Sallisaw (41-17) and at Fort Gibson (42-7).

O'Steen said Stilwell will keep a defense on its toes with a potent aerial attack, led by junior quarterback Juan Martinez.

"They run just a few run-type plays and throw it 70 percent of the time. They're going to sling it around and sometimes it looks kind of like backyard football," O'Steen said. "Defensively, We're going to have to make sure we stay on our receivers and maintain our coverage. and you can't give up on it because the quarterback will run around and then throw the football. He's a pretty good athlete."

Martinez has completed 79-of-131 passes for 1,074 yards and nine touchdowns so far this season. and even with all those pass attempts, the Stilwell playmaker has thrown just three interceptions.

Freshman Chase Benham is the team's starting running back. The Indians also like to get the ball in the hands of senior Tray Chuculate with runs or passes. He's the team's leading receiver with 32 catches for 466 yards and four touchdowns. He's also rushed the ball 19 times for 136 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

"(Martinez) is a really good receiver and a big back that can pound it up the middle," O'Steen said of the Chuculate-Benham combo.

Speedy freshman Brayton Carter is next with 11 catches for 193 yards and three TDs.

The Stilwell offensive line is anchored by sophomores Adrian Duvall (5-10, 240) and Ronnie Gonzalez (5-10, 200).

"That's kind of what you're going to get from these guys," O'Steen said.

Senior linebacker Orren Shelley leads the SHS defense with 43 tackles and Benham is next with 40 stops.

"Defensively, they're what I would call kind of a 4-4 defense. They'll attack you," O'Steen said.

This will be just the third all-time meeting between the two football programs. Ada won the first two, including a 55-0 win last year.

Better than 7

The Ada High football team hung 63 points on the board during a road win over Madill last week. It was a far cry from the seven points Ada scored in its two previous home wins over Sallisaw and Hilldale.

The Cougars rushed for 172 yards and quarterback Brock Boyles completed 17-of-20 passes for 245 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

"We were able to run the football and I thought our short passing game was fantastic. and I was really proud of our protection up front without offensive line and backs," O'Steen said. "I was proud of our quarterback for getting the ball out fast. and our receivers did a great job of running after the catch."

The defense was mostly sharp again except for one Madill drive early in the third quarter. The Wildcats went 70 yards in 10 plays to snap a streak of 12 consecutive scoreless quarters put up by the Cougar defense.

When Madill receiver Miguel Fajardo hauled in a 9-yard touchdown catch, the Wildcats were still kind of in striking distance at 35-14.

O'Steen said finally giving up a score again might have been a blessing in disguise for the Ada defensive unit.

"We kind of came out in a second-half lull. It was good for us to handle a little adversity. It shows you still have to do things right no matter who the team is or the situation. Anyone can drive the ball down your throat if you don't do things right. It was a little bit of a wake-up call to them," he explained.

The only other touchdown of the night by Madill was a 69-yard punt return for a score by Caden McHatton. By all accounts, it appeared McHatton quickly signaled for a fair catch before hauling in the punt and speeding down the sideline for the score.

"That was a fluke call that should have been made. But it happens. Officials make mistakes. You have to respond to it and I thought we did a good job of responding," O'Steen said. "Overall, defensively, it was another solid performance."

Marr can do it all

Ada senior Fisher Marr is best known as a defensive specialist at linebacker for the Cougars. But fans have seen him line up at a number of spots on the field. Against Madill, he showed he can play just about everywhere.

With 8:49 left in the fourth quarter, Marr lined up at quarterback in Ada's Wildcat formation, like he has done numerous times before. But on this play, he took the snap and then executed a perfect jump pass to tight end Cord Coffee for an 8-yard touchdown. It was the first pass in a varsity game during his stellar prep career.

Marr told The Ada News following the game that play was something the coaching staff had just added to the Cougar offense during workouts leading up to the Madill contest.

"We know that when I go in at quarterback everyone is going to bring in their defense and think I'm going to run it," Marr — who has 19 carries for 95 yards and four touchdowns so far this season — said. "This week coach had me practice throwing a little dump pass to Cord. I threw it right over the defense and it worked."

Injury update

Ada sophomore lineman Dawson Matthews practiced this week and O'Steen is hopeful he can return to the lineup Thursday night.

The Cougars will still be missing lineman Makir Sanusi, tailback Caron Richardson and receiver Collin Christian.

"We have a few bumps and bruises here and there, but at this time of year, that's going to happen. Overall, we came out of the (Madill) game pretty healthy," O'Steen said.