Bluffton coach Brent Kunkel doesn’t want to talk about Adams Central. Not yet.
When asked what his team needs to work on between Friday’s 50-15 victory over South Adams and Week 8 when the Tigers visit the Flying Jets, he barely entertained the question.
But Blitz has the luxury of looking ahead. He isn’t a coach. He doesn’t have to keep teenagers focused on the next opponent and not looking ahead over a month from now.
Yet what Bluffton was able to do to the Starfires on their home field in Berne begs the question…
“Is this the year Bluffton knocks off Adams Central?”
It has been a minute since it has happened – 17 years, in fact. Seventeen consecutive losses to the Flying Jets since a 21-19 victory in 2009. It just so happened to be Bluffton’s lone win of that year. It was also AC coach Michael Mosser’s first season at the helm.
Mosser hasn’t lost to the Tigers since.
It is either a cruel twist of fate or the presence of opportunity that, in the most recent realignment, Bluffton moved up to Class 3A due to enrollment while Adams Central did the same due to Success Factor. Once again, the two are in the same sectional. The Flying Jets have ended the Tigers’ season in each of the last two years.
But could 2026 be different? How easy the Bluffton offense shredded Adams Central showed Blitz that perhaps it could be. The only thing that slowed down Axton Beste last night was a pair of turnovers – one fumble and one interception. Time and again he escaped containment and jetted downfield to pick up big yards with his legs. He rushed for 188 yards and three touchdowns, but perhaps his most impressive play was on a two-point conversion try in the third quarter.
Beste took the snap, rolled out to his left, went back to his right to buy time and hit a receiver for an easy two-point conversion. Well, Beste made it look easy, anyway.
Fellow senior Cooper Craig was just as dominant as he rushed for 160 yards and three scores. South Adams continuously struggled to bring the running back now, springing several chunk runs over the course of the game.
But the Tigers weren’t perfect, something that are going to need to be close to being if they are going to knock off their long-time nemesis later this year. Three turnovers derailed drives. While it did not hurt them on Friday, miscues are magnified when playing a team as good as Adams Central.
Three turnovers against the Flying Jets and you will lose.
Kunkel will also surely want to see his team continue to get better at playing physical football. That is the key against AC, you have to match their intensity, their physicality and their execution.
Now in his 10th season as head coach, Kunkel has been through it all. He has played Adams Central time and again and knows the advantages it brings into almost every game. The ACAC title has been elusive, with the Tigers last winning the conference in 1989.
To find a way to knock off Adams Central after 17-straight defeats, either in the regular season or, more importantly, in the playoffs, Bluffton will use every second of the next five weeks to get better in every facet of the game.
There is always room to improve, no matter how good the Tigers looked on Friday night.
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
Be the first to comment