No. 1 Poteau rushes past mistake-prone Cougars

Oct. 31—POTEAU — They say never look a gift horse in the mouth.

The fourth-ranked Ada High football team must have looked like a gift brontosaurus to No. 1 Poteau during their District 4A-4 clash Friday night at Costner Stadium.

In what many believed would be an epic encounter between two 8-0 teams for the district title, it turned out to be just the opposite as the Pirates cruised past the mistake-prone Cougars 40-7.

Poteau stayed unbeaten at 9-0 overall and 6-0 in 4A-4 play. The Pirates secured their sixth consecutive district title. Ada fell to 8-1 and 5-1 and will finish second in the district standings.

Ada finished with four turnovers to go with two bad snaps during punt attempts and the Pirates took advantage of all six of those miscues.

The first disaster came when the Ada offense stalled out at its own 30 on the first possession of the game. Punter/quarterback Brock Boyles unleashed a 40-yard punt that looked like it had gotten the Cougars out of some bad field position. But a penalty during the kick forced Ada to line back up and punt again.

This time, the high snap said right past Boyles and he was forced to chase it down and fall on it at the 2-yard line.

Two plays later, Poteau standout Dax Collins — who has committed to the University of Tulsa — strolled into the end zone from a yard out and the PAT kick that followed gave the Pirates an easy 7-0 lead at the 8:44 mark of the opening period,

Poteau took over near midfield on its second drive after a short Ada punt and drove into the red zone before the Ada defense stiffened and forced kicker Ethan McBee to boot a 22-yard field goal that extended the PHS advantage to 10-0 with 3:40 left in the3 first quarter.

The Cougar responded by going 80 yards in six plays. That drive ended in a 1-yard touchdown run by Kolten Carlock. Caden Mitchell's extra point cut the Pirate lead to 10-7 with 1:18 remaining in the first frame. Carlock got Ada close with a 46-yard run down the left sideline before being chased down at the 13.

Poteau answered with a long, time-consuming 70-yard drive that was capped by a 7-yard TD run by Jackson Sommers, who had suffered a collarbone injury earlier this season and had been easing his way back into the PHS lineup. Poteau led 17=7 with 9:48 left in the second quarter.

An Ada penalty forced the Cougars to set up shop at its own 10 and after a 3-and-out, a punt snap sailed over Boyles' head and went out of the back of the end zone for a Poteau safety that made it 19-7 with 8:28 left in the first half.

The Cougars had the ball in good shape later in the period and moved into the red zone. But Poteau's Holden Mattox ended that Ada drive with an interception.

The half ended after the Ada defense stopped the Pirates short on a 4th-and-8 from the Ada 38.

Poteau quickly put the game out of reach in the third quarter when Spencer Perry got free for a 24-yard touchdown run to open the second half and — after a fumble recovery by Aiden Sockey — Perry again found the end zone with a 4-yard scamper. At that point, Poteau had pushed its lead to 33-7 at the 3:57 mark of the third quarter.

During that span, the Ada offense had run just one play — a 12-yard catch by Deante Lindsay.

The Cougars ran two more plays before Rylan Wadell recovered a fumble for the home team. The Pirates used three plays to go the short 15 yards for another touchdown, this time a 1-yard plunge by Wayln Wadell. The Poteau lead had ballooned to 40-7 with 1:06 left in the third quarter.

There was no more scoring.

The Cougars had one fourth-quarter drive and that ended with a fumble recovery by Poteau's Jance Sommers.

The Pirates piled up 312 yards of total offense compared to 165 for Ada.

Poteau's vaunted ground game did most of the damage as the hosts compiled 276 rushing yards. Three different players had at least 50 rushing yards. Perry led the way with 93 yards on 14 carries, Sommers followed with 80 yards on 13 totes and Collins ended up with 50 yards on 10 carries.

Carlock led Ada on the ground with 64 yards on eight carries. Xander Rhynes, Ada's leading rusher, was limited to 38 yards on 12 carries.

After throwing for 12 touchdowns in Ada's past two games, Boyles never could get into a rhythm against the Pirates, completing just 7-of-15 passes for 58 yards and no scores. Lindsay had three receptions for 35 yards for the visitors.

Linday and Fisher Marr paced Ada defensively with 12 tackles apiece. Carlock was next with 10 stops and Lakievin Richardson had an interception for the Cougars that stopped a promising first-half drive for Poteau.