#8 state ranked Adena will represent SVC football in the OHSAA Sweet 16 next week as they move forward with a win over Minster, while Paint Valley fell to #2 state ranked Mechanicsburg.
Adena 28, Minster 0
The Warriors defense pitched their second straight shutout, holding the (4-6) Minster Wildcats to 100 total yards, while the Adena offense rolled up 437 total yards.
The game was scoreless through the first quarter in our WKKJ broadcast game, but Adena broke the ice on an 89 yard TD run by Nate Throckmorton at 11:46 of the second quarter. The 2 point conversion made it 8-0.
Adena made it 14-0 with 35 seconds remaining in the half, thanks to a Preston Sykes 4 yard run to cap a 67 yard/7 play drive for a 14-0 halftime lead, with the PAT failing.
The Warriors added to their lead at 6:43 in the third quarter when Preston Sykes scored on a 12 yard run only to see the PAT run fail, capping a 71 yard/7 play drive, making it 20-0.
The final tally for Adena came at 11:53 of the fourth quarter, when they marched 76 yards in 9 plays, with Sykes scoring on a 9 yard run. His PAT toss to Logan Bennett for the two point conversion provided the 28-0 final score.
Preston Sykes was 11/15 throwing for 182 yards and ran the ball 16 times for another 105 yards and accounted for three TD's.
Nate Throckmorton ran for 129 yards in 14 carries. Logan Bennett had 4 receptions for 80 yards. 255 of Adena's yards were on the ground.
Adena improves to (8-0) and advances to play unbeaten at #2 state ranked Mechanicsburg Saturday at 7pm.
Listen to the WKKJ replay and postgame interview with Adena Coach John Penwell in our podcast link below....
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Mechanicsburg 55, Paint Valley 7
The Bearcats ran into a buzz-saw in Mechanicsburg, a team that advanced to the state final four last year, where they lost to the eventual state champion- Anna Rockets.
Mechanicsburg held a 7-0 lead after one quarter as the Bearcats held close, but the game started to get out of hand in the second quarter when Burg opened their lead to 28-0, before the Bearcats got on the scoreboard. Paint Valley suffered a tough break early, when quarterback Cavan Cooper left the game with a leg injury, but did return later in the second quarter to provide their only score of the game on a 30 yard TD run with 30 seconds left in the half.
But Mechanicsburg struck for their next score less than 10 seconds later, building a 35-7 lead going to halftime.
That score continued to expand in the second half, leading to the continuous clock in most of the second half en-route to a 55-7 final score.
Paint Valley's playoff run ends with a season record of (5-2), while Mechanicsburg improves to (7-0).