BERNE – Nobody at South Adams was going to sugarcoat what Friday night was about. The taste in their mouths has been sour for 10 months; since November 15 to be exact.
That night in Monroe, county rival Adams Central took home a regional title and ended the Starfires’ perfect 2019 season.
And it never sat right, especially for Drew Stutzman.
Sidelined with an injury, Stutzman couldn’t even play in that game and he was itching for a chance to face the Flying Jets on Friday, looking fully satisfied post-game after South Adams’ 29-9 win.
“I had to sit on the sideline and watch my guys lose that (game),” said Stutzman. “That took a chunk out of my heart. So coming back and being able to play with them and getting that win tonight like we did, in an orderly fashion, coming back from being down, that was huge for us.”
Stutzman was given a captain spot for Friday’s game in South Adams’ rotating captain scheme because of his week of work and unselfishness he displayed, South Adams coach Grant Moser said.
“It was a long 9-10 months for all of us, but especially for him knowing what kind of impact he could have had on that [regional] game,” Moser said. “He had a big game the first time we played them last year so he’s been waiting for this game more than anybody else.”
Don’t get Blitz wrong, it wasn’t all smiling and holding babies – though, as chance has it – he did that too following the win. Stutzman put in a lot of work to the tune of team highs in catches (six) and receiving yards (100) while also registering a fumble recovery on defense.
While South Adams looked to be cruising at a comfortable pace through the second half of play, it was Stutzman who Blitz thought made the turning point for the Starefires after a slow start earlier in the contest.
With just under eight minutes to play in the second quarter, South Adams quarterback James Arnold lobbed a near-perfect ball to Stutzman, who cradled his arms out for the long yardage catch and just came up a fingertip short of hauling it in.
Sixteen minutes into the game and already down 6-0, that could have been a defining, down trending moment for the Starfires.
Instead, on the next play, Stutzman slid in and made a running catch across the middle from Arnold on what would turn out to be a 57-yard gain, turning the tide.
“We know how good he is. He is a 5A, 6A receiver playing at a 1A school. He is a college athlete,” Moser said of Stutzman. “He makes mistakes like that, we say give him another chance, we went right back to him. We knew had a mismatch there, James audibles into a post and (Stutzman) didn’t hang his head. Our guys all night: respond to adversity.”
“That is what my receiver coach preaches,” Stutzman said of that quick bounce back. “For that to happen, the guys to get my back and say I’m good and for that to happen, it meant the world.”
While hampered with penalties in every quarter – 16 for 110 yards – things felt a lot lighter for the Starfires after Stutzman kept his head up from the near miss to make the big grab. A few plays later, Christian Summersett punched in South Adams’ first touchdown from three yards out and the Starfires went up 7-6. They would again trail briefly off a 35-yard Trevor Currie field goal, but once Arnold found Trey Schoch in the closing seconds of the first half from eight yards out, it was all South Adams.
Credit goes to a lot of guys. Moser will be the first one to tell you that. But in Blitz’s gaze, a lot of that credit had to go to Stutzman for helping be a fire starter.
The second half went how it felt at halftime that it may go. The Starfires kept pushing while Adams Central struggled to get major yardage on the ground from Ryan Black and Blake Heyerly.
With 7:55 left in the third, South Adams again made one of those ‘wow’ plays when Arnold pitched the ball back to Aidan Wanner, who let loose diagonally down the field to Schoch on a 30 yard pickup. That pass ultimately set up an Arnold to Braden Bixler 16-yard touchdown to push South Adams further ahead.
With Adams Central trying to rally back through the air midway through the third quarter, South Adams linebacker Jacob Plattner absolutely walloped Black with a hit in the midsection mid-throw that may be the hit of the year. It stopped the Flying Jets in their tracks and, on the ensuing Starfire possession, allowed Nick Miller to punch in a score from the 1-yard line to essentially finish off this year’s edition of the rivalry…for now.
South Adams did a solid job of picking itself up for Week 6. With the Adams Central baggage pouring over from last season and the loss this week of Sam Plattner, Carter Lewis and AJ Dull to injuries, the Starfires had a lot of willing of themselves to do. It puts them in clear space to repeat as ACAC champions but also a possible rematch with Adams Central down the road, should both teams make it back to the regional round.
“We just need to stay focused on the task at hand and winning that conference championship for the second year in a row. And then after that, we will go to sectional and etc.,” Stutzman said.
The nine points and single touchdown are a single low for the Adams Central offense. Moser heaped praise onto his defense for stacking the box and attacking the Flying Jet run game. Adams Central had 197 yards of total offense compared to 390 from South Adams. The Starfire defense was led by Miller’s 6.5 tackles and six from Alex Gorney.
These opinions represent those of Blitz and Outside the Huddle. No opinions expressed on Outside the Huddle represent those of any of our advertisers. Follow Blitz on Twitter at Blitz_OTH
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