Booker T. takes out Ada

Joe Claxton ACS Publications Director

Tulsa November 19, 2008 01:00 pm

— It was a battle of perhaps the two most tradition-rich programs. And, as it should be for Oklahoma playoff football, it was on a cold, wind-blown Friday night. Though the Cougars fought hard, top-ranked Tulsa Washington moved past Ada, 46-14, at S.E. Williams Stadium, the home of this team and so many champions of the past.
Though admittedly the best Booker T. team in years, to first-year head coach Matt Weber it may have seemed more like an all-star team composed of the top players from Ada’s tough schedule.
When the Cougars slowed quarterback Eric Bennett’s running and passing, running back Michael Doctor was just what the doctor ordered for the Hornets.
Doctor had 117 rushing yards. One of several flashy runs inspired the PA announcer to surmise, “I think the Doctor just made a house call.”
Despite several top-flight quarterbacks on the schedule this year, the junior Bennett was atop the list, even surpassing the show Tulsa Central’s Demarco Cobbs put on at Norris Field. He had 107 yards on the ground and another 197 through the airways to top-notch receivers like 6-3 x 205 Terry Smith, Tyler Lockett and Justin Liggins. The Hornets would outgain Ada 480-270 in the game.
When the Cougars did get on track in the first half, they moved the ball well, covering 85 yards from the 10 to the BTW 5 before Lockett intercepted a Qumain Black pass.
The Hornets turned that interception into a TD drive that upped the count to 20-0 at the half.
The drive included a weaving, 58-yard run before a determined Aaron Wallace brought down Doctor, prompting the PA man’s ‘House Call” comment. Bennett finished off the remaining 22 yards on two runs.
Bennett had two TDs rushing and two passing, including the game’s first score, a 21-yarder to Tony Daniels. In the second quarter he scored ruushing twice to run up the 20-0 halftime count.
Ada’s first score was by the defense with Washington leading 26-0 with 6:07 left in the third quarter.
A hard-charging Justin Todd broke through to block a punt at the Washington 21 and Colton Richardson escorted the ball out of the end zone for six points. Ryan Smith’s PAT made it 26-7.
Keeslar Stover and sophomore Christian Johnson made big hits on the kick-off return man, but Booker T. bounced back with a 69-yard, eight-play drive to a 34-7 count, Doctor scoring from the 10 with 2:59 left in the period.
Another Hornet score, 26-yards Bennett to Smith made it 40-7 going into the final period.
The Ada offense got on the board on the first drive of the fourth quarter, going 76 yards on 11 plays.
The drive featured Black’s arm and the hands of Richardson and Eddie Brown.
Black completed four of seven passes including 28, 5 and 23 to Richardson to move the ball to the Hornet 15. Richardson would catch five for 75 in the game.
A short pass to Brown found the junior unwilling to do down, prompting an ‘Eddie Brown will not go down’ PA comment as he two-stepped with a crowd of would-be tacklers to the 1.
Todd, who finished with 66 yards on 14 carries, scored Ada’s final TD of the year and Smith kicked the closing point. Stover led the Ada ground attack with 77 yards on 16 tries. Black contributed 127 yards of total offense (89 passing, 38 rushing).
Washington is headed for a showdown with defending 5A champ Guthrie, a 35-0 winner over Deer Creek,
The game marked the return of Ada to the playoffs after a one-year absence, the first since 1982. The defeat left the Cougars at 5-6 for the year. It was the first losing season since 1983, a 6-7 year that saw Larry McBroom’s troops go to the third round of the playoffs.
The lone first-round survivor from 5A-4, Ada’s district, was the CowetaTigers, who handled Tulsa Kelley, 44-14. Eliminated were Tulsa East Central by Miami, 35-28, and McAlester, 25-3 by 2007 state-runnerup Bixby.
It was the third meeting for the two storied schools, all in the first-round of the playoffs. Ada won in 1999 under Gary McBroom and lost in 2001 under Larry McBroom.
Post Game
“Of course we are disappointed to lose and we would like to still be playing, but we were just beaten by a better football team,” head coach Matt Weber said in comments with his boys after the game and early Saturday morning during a birthday party for four-year-old son Cody.
“They obviously are one of the better teams that Washington has had in years. We knew we would have to get a little help from them and they didn’t give us any, no turnovers, few mistakes. They are pretty sound at what they do,” Weber said.
On the year:
“We had a great time, really enjoyed this group of kids. With a new staff like we were, you could expect some resistance. We had none of that. We reached our first goal, making the playoffs. Our goal is to get back like the Cougars of old (state record 19 state championships) and we told this group of seniors after the game that they laid the foundation for doing just that. They were so very, very unselfish. These seniors will always hold a special place in my heart. You can bet the Cougars are gonna be back and we want to see those alumni come back as well. We are a family and we want alums of all ages and eras to come back, come to the lockerroom, stay a part of it.”
Over the next few days, Weber & Co. will say good-bye to the 18 seniors who led his inaugural Cougar team. Seniors like Joel Allen, Rance Rue, Colton Richardson, Corey Higbee, Dakotah Farmer, Derick Eidson, Keeslar Stover, Scotty Bowers, Robert Quarterman and Cory Javernick, all of whom earned starting roles for one, two or three years.
Steady seniors like Lance Keenan, Keith Burris, Lance Buck and Garett Hatton. Seniors who took some time off, then returned to help out like Matt Clayton and Jordan Guitierrez and Daniel Perkins and Alex Long who came out after fall practice had started. Long, in fact, was coaxed off the golf course by links coach/tight ends coach Robbie Powell and earned a starting spot at tight end. Perkins played mostly JV ball, but, like the other 17, he will forever be able to say, “I was an Ada Cougar.”
What’s next? Four days or so off, then back in the saddle. Go hard, get better, until Ardmore comes to town once again in the fall.

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