Cougs survive Max effort

Jeff Cali Sports Editor

Durant September 17, 2008 09:44 am

— Talk about waiting to exhale.
The Ada High football team nearly watched a two-touchdown halftime lead disappear in the closing seconds of a Week 2 matchup with Durant. But the Cougar nation breathed a sigh of relief when Durant quarterback Max White just missed connecting with tight end Justin Buckham on a potential, game-winning two-point pass at the end of Ada’s heart-pounding 21-20 win before a large crowd at Southeastern’s Paul Laird Field.
It was the first Cougar win under the direction of new Ada head coach Matt Weber.
“That was a crazy game,” Weber said shortly after watching his team hang on. “We’re going to enjoy the win. They’re too hard to come by.”
In a contest that featured a little bit of everything, the one thing that really stuck out were the 12 fumbles — seven by Durant and five by the Cougars.
Weber did have an answer to the bad case of fumbleitis shared by both teams.
“I think fatigue a little bit, and just being careless with the football. We, believe it or not, put more time in this week on holding on to the football. I don’t have any magic ideas. We’re just going to go back to work and do it some more,” he said.
With just 33.2 seconds left in the game and Durant trailing by the point, DHS head coach Byron Cordell opted to try and let his playmaker — White — try and make one more.
White took the ball from the shotgun but had to backpedal thanks to an oncoming Ada rush led by Colton Richardson and Robert Quarterman.
White floated the ball toward the left side of the end zone and, although Buckham broke free from a crowd and was all alone in that area, he couldn’t quite come up with the catch as the ball fell to the blue turf.
“We had the guy that missed the pass defended, but they dead picked us,” Weber explained of the big play. “That’s all there is to it. We’re in man coverage, and they picked our guy and he’s running wide open. It’s just lucky for us, he didn’t make the catch.”
Durant tried a last-ditch onside kick, but the ball went right to Richardson, who at 6-3, easily made the snag to secure the Ada victory.
“Even after they didn’t make the two-point conversion, we had to get our hands team out there and Red makes a great catch, and gets on the ground. Then we were able to run our favorite play in football — take a knee,” Weber said.
The fourth quarter consisted of just two drives. Ada had the ball first and got to the Durant 25 before failing to convert on a fourth-and-one play. Durant then took the ball 75 yards in 13 plays during a six-minute drive that ended with White avoiding yet another Ada rush just long enough to hit Jon Garza in the back of the end zone for a 9-yard TD catch. That play set up the even more dramatic finish.
The loss spoiled another great White performance against Ada (his brother Bo White rushed for 293 yards and passed for 91 more in Durant’s 42-13 win in 2007). The DHS quarterback completed 16-of-21 passes for 138 yards, rushed for 76 more and was in on a number of Durant defensive plays.
“He’s a heckuva football player,” Weber sad.
Things went Ada’s way for most of the first half.
After Durant scored on a 4-yard run by tailback Tyler Fields — set up by a 27-yard punt return by White — Richardson gobbled up a fumble to give the Cougars nice field position.
On the very next play, tailback Keeslar Stover slipped out of the backfield and was wide open down the left side for an easy 29-yard TD catch from quarterback Qumain Black. Ryan Smith’s first of three PAT kicks tied the game at 7-7 at the 5:35 mark of the opening period.
Durant’s Spencer Stephens fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Garrett Hatton pounced on it for Ada. Black gained 18 on a nice keeper and several plays later, Stover and his QB connected on nearly the same play around the left end — this time covering six yards — to put Ada on top 14-7.
In the second period, Ada put together it’s longest drive of the season. Starting at its own 8, the Cougars methodically marched down the field, picking up four first downs before Black capped the 12-play surge with a nifty 37-yard TD jaunt, getting a couple of nice blocks along the way. That scoring run gave Ada a 21-7 halftime lead.
Durant tried to put some points on the board just before the buzzer sounded when White lined up to kick a 37-yard field goal. But White ended up having to chase down a bad snap that rolled back past midfield. He scrambled to try and find a receiver but was brought down in convincing fashion by Richardson to end the second quarter.
Ada couldn’t get much offense going in the second quarter and after Stover had thwarted a Durant drive with another fumble recovery that gave the Cougs the ball at the AHS 1. But two plays later, Ada bobbled the ball and Buckham tracked it down in the end zone for a touchdown that trimmed the AHS advantage to 21-14.
“We had our chances to put the nail in it, and didn’t quite do it,” Weber said.
Weber said his team showed a lot of scrappiness in the wild Week 2 win.
“We had plenty of opportunities to quit, and we never did that. We had to punt on our first series, and they take it right down there and score right off the bat. And we looked really flat at the point. We could have spit out the bit. But that’s why I’m the most proud of our kids, they played until the last whistle,” he said.
Black led the Ada offense, rushing for 101 yards on 17 carries and completing 6-of-9 passes for 80 more.
Linebackers Cory Javernick and Corey Higbee led Ada’s defensive charge with 15 and 13 tackles, respectively.
Ada will hope the home portion of its 2008 schedule this Friday when Noble visits Norris Field. The Bears improved to 2-0 on the season with a 48-12 thumping of Chickasha.

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