Takeaways from Litchfield football's win over North Adams-Jerome
NORTH ADAMS — It was a grimy, rain-soaked slug fest at North Adams-Jerome High School on Friday night, when the Rams faced a powerful Litchfield offense. Litchfield gradually built a lead with a few big plays and took a 48-6 win, its first against a county rival this season.
There was plenty of good, and plenty of not so good, on both sidelines during the rivalry matchup. The Rams and the Terriers seemingly throw down their best whenever they meet in any sport, and this was no exception.
These are our biggest takeaways of the first major 8-player football matchup in Hillsdale County.
Scores: Week 3 Hillsdale County football homepage and live scoreboard
Litchfield looks to overcome penalties and mistakes
Whether or not it was a coach's worst nightmare among the dead ball fouls or miscues on offense, the Terriers and coach Michael Langhann will have a lot of work to do if they want to pull of a Week 4 win at Pittsford to contend for a playoff berth.
The Terrier offense saw several drives stalled or delayed by penalties, both before the snap and after. Three holding penalties pushed back the Terrier offense in the first half in addition to two turnovers that prevented them from capitalizing on drives.
Still, the Terriers, who are known for their big plays, found a way to put the ball into the end zone. Senior quarterback Tyler Bills connected with senior receiver Miguel Pedroza on two deep passing touchdowns. The Terriers added a few more scores on the ground before the night was said and done.
Bills led the offense with more than 150 yards passing and 130 rushing. The Senior had two scores each on the ground and through the air.
Senior Miguel Pedroza had 181 total yards on offense and two receiving touchdowns. Robbie Bradstreet at 56 rushing yards and one touchdown.
Senior linebacker Junior Alvarez had 58 rushing yards and a touchdown. With 11 tackles on his stat sheet, Alvarez nears a school career record for tackles.
Soccer: Neal Brady earns 250th career coaching win with Hillsdale Academy soccer
North Adams-Jerome has best defensive and special teams game so far
Rams junior Will Thielen stopped a red zone drive with an end zone interception. John Smith recovered a Terrier offensive fumble to stop a drive at midfield.
On special teams, junior Nolan Paradine had two impressive kickoff returns to set up the Rams in Terrier territory. His second return would eventually set up the Rams to score their first touchdown of the season; Thielen punched the ball into the end zone at the start of the second half.
However, a plethora of fumbles led to quick Terrier recoveries and subsequent scores. The Rams had their hands full offensively, with their longest sustained drive coming in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter.
The chippy back-and-forth changes of possessions in the second half eventually tired out the Rams. Litchfield was able to put the game away early in the second half and then continued to rain down points into the fourth quarter.
Litchfield is now 2-1 on the season and plays at Pittsford next Friday for another SCAA-East showdown. The Rams take on Climax-Scotts for their Week 4 matchup.
Subscribe Now: For all the latest local developments, breaking news and high school sports content.
Scores from around the county
Hudson 16, Hillsdale 0
Lenawee Christian 44, Camden-Frontier 8
Grass Lake 40, Jonesville 32
Union City 28, Reading 0
For more sports, follow The Daily News Sports Account on X (formerly Twitter) and reporter Joe Flaherty on X
Story Suggestions: jflaherty@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Takeaways from Litchfield football's Week 3 win vs. North Adams-Jerome
