In football, the final yardage stats might not always tell the whole story of who wins the game. That can be due to turnovers, penalties and big defensive stops. That was the case Friday night at Bostic Field in Frankfort as the Unioto Shermans opened SVC play with a 35-14 win over the Adena Warriors.
Despite Adena controlling the total yards stat 359-231 and the Warriors defense held the Shermans to 109 rushing yards, it was Unioto who took advantage of (three) Adena turnovers and seven key Warriors penalties, to gain the most important final numbers on the scoreboard. Adena had 13 first downs to 8 for Unioto. The Warriors also had the rushing advantage at 151-109.
Adena opened the scoring at 8:29 of the first quarter, driving 64 yards in 4 plays. Dalton Metzger scored on a 1 yard run, followed by a Devon Spriggs PAT kick for a 7-0 lead. That didn't last long, as Unioto's Chance Smith returned the ensuing kick-off 71 yards for a touchdown, with 8:18 to play in the first quarter. Brice Robinson's PAT kick tied the game at 7-7.
The Shermans grabbed a 14-7 lead at 11:55 of the second quarter, when Jamarcus Carroll ran 4 yards for a TD, capping a 5 play/27-yard drive. That short drive was set up by a long punt return and a 15 yard face mask penalty against Adena.
Unioto scored 22 seconds later, after Adena fumbled the ensuing kick-off and the Shermans' Gabe Fisher scored two plays later on a 20-yard TD run, making it 21-7 Unioto.
One more Unioto score would be added at 2:03 left in the first half, as the Tanks drove 78 yards in 10 plays, capped off by Jamarcus Carroll's second TD run, from 10 yards. Unioto took that 28-7 lead into halftime.
No scoring occurred in the third quarter, but the Shermans made it 35-7 at 4:10 of the final period, when Gabe Fisher raced 18-yards for the TD to conclude 55 yard/6 play drive.
The Warriors added one last TD when freshman Preston Sykes connected with senior J.D. Blevins on a 22-yard pass, completing a 5 play/65-yard drive. Spriggs' PAT provided the 35-14 final score.
Quarterback Gabe Fisher led the Shermans with 77 yards and 2 touchdowns, throwing for 122 yards on 10/18 passing.
Adena's dilemma moving forward, might be who they want to start at quarterback. Both J.D. Blevins and Preston Sykes did well throwing and running the ball. Blevins was 6/9 for 104 yards while Sykes was 4/8 for 100 yards. But, Blevins was responsible for most of the big receiving yards, and caught one for a TD.
Unioto improves to (1-0/3-1) while Adena drops to (0-1/1-3). The Shermans host (1-0/3-1) Zane Trace next Friday in a major SVC match-up among preseason favorites. 94 Country WKKJ will broadcast the game with airtime at 6:40pm.
Adena will face (0-1/1-3) Westfall next Friday.
Listen to our podcast of the Unioto at Adena broadcast, at the bottom of this page...