Miscues, turnovers key in Tigers’ loss at Adena

The McClain coaching staff knew it was going to be a tough start to the new season after graduating so many experienced and talented seniors last year, and the inexperience showed early on in the Tigers’ 24-8 season-opening loss at Adena Friday night.

Miscues and penalties at inopportune times also played a big part in the final score, but after a sloppy and mistake-ridden first half, the young Tigers settled down and played much better in the second half.

“We knew coming in that Adena was going to be pretty good,” McClain head coach Keith Penwell said after the game. “Scott (Hurtt) does a great job over there, and he knows a little bit about us.

“It wasn’t like we could invent a whole new offense for just one game. We did change some things up and added a few new things for tonight, but Coach Hurtt definitely knows our system.”

Hurtt had been one of McClain’s assistant coaches over the past couple of years prior to taking the Adena job this year, which is where he was a standout on the gridiron during his high school career.

Adena scored first at the 8:39 mark of the opening period on a 3-yard touchdown run by senior Austin Magill. The Cody Watkins PAT was good, and it was 7-0 Warriors.

Two plays into McClain’s first offensive possession, the Tigers fumbled the ball away, and the Warriors took advantage of the miscue to score their second TD of the quarter.

This time it was a 21-yard run to paydirt by Magill with 7:35 still remaining on the first-period clock and after another successful PAT by Watkins, Adena led 14-0, which is how the quarter ended.

The Warriors scored the only points of the second period on a 25-yard made field goal by Watkins after getting another short field due to a blocked punt by the Warriors’ Chuck Saxour.

After a sluggish offensive quarter and a half, the McClain coaching staff opted to bring in freshman quarterback Hudson Lovett, who seemed to spark the team, and he quickly moved the Tigers deep into Adena territory. Lovett finished his varsity debut 3-for-7 passing for 29 yards.

But the only Tigers’ scoring threat ended at the Adena 27-yard line with just 25 seconds left in the first half.

“We had a lot of new kids playing new positions tonight,” said Penwell. “I knew there would be mistakes, especially in the first half, but I thought in the second half we did some things better.

“Defensively, we gave up 14 points in six minutes, then basically held them the rest of the game, giving up just one touchdown in the second half, and penalties really hurt us on that one.”

That touchdown was a 3-yard run by senior Nathan Dreitzler at the 3:54 mark of the third period.

The Tigers continued to play hard the entire game and scored their only touchdown on a 4-yard run by senior quarterback Cohen Six with 9:02 remaining in the game. Six also converted the two-point conversion try with a run up the middle to make the score 24-8, which is how the game ended.

A bright spot in the contest for McClain included the play of senior wideout Zane Adams, who led the Tiger receivers with eight catches on the night for a team-high 65 yards. Riley Cummins had two receptions for 33 yards.

Cohen Six, after struggling some in the first half, came back in the second half and played pretty well, finishing the game with 10 completed passes for 83 yards, and he scored the only points McClain had in the ballgame.

Senior Owen Sykes was the workhorse for the Tigers, rushing the ball with 47 yards on 14 carries, plus one reception for 15 yards.

On defense, Andrew Roeder made seven tackles, Noah Sponcil had six and a half tackles and Medley made four.

“Zane (Adams) is a different player than what I saw two years ago,” Penwell said. “He has really worked hard, and it shows. He never got down tonight and kept pushing forward and continued to play hard every single play.

“I thought Cohen (Six) got into a better rhythm in the second half and starting seeing things better.

“We had some growing pains tonight, but overall I thought we played much better in the second half where we outscored them 8-7,” Penwell continued.

The Tigers will host Northwest next Friday, Aug. 30 with a 7 p.m. kickoff. Northwest fell to Piketon in Week 1 by a 26-0 score.

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