It's Ada Cougar Football Time!

Jeff Cali Sports Editor Ada Evening News

Ada — Consider this the rubber match.

Former Ada High coach Larry McBroom won his first-ever game as the ‘enemy’ in 2008 as he guided the Ardmore Tigers to a slim 14-7 victory over the Cougars.

Current Ada head coach Matt Weber and company returned the favor last year by a 21-18 count, another close call.

Expect more of the same when the two rivals butt heads Friday night at Noble Stadium in the 2010 opener for both teams.

“We’re excited. We’ve had three weeks of preparation. It’s nice to finally get into game week and get into our routine,” Weber said before Wednesday’s practice session. “We’re excited to get to go play at Ardmore. They’re always a good opponent, and they have nice facilities. It’s a nice place to open.”

Fan can expect to see a familiar Tiger team Friday night.

“We’ve seen their two scrimmage films but you kind of know what to expect when you turn Ardmore film on. They’re going to have a lot of kids that can run fast, which they do this year,” Weber said.

The Ardmore offense is centered around returning tailback Andra Brown, who broke free for an 87-yard touchdown against a solid Sulphur defense during a preseason scrimmage. Brown scored on a 17-yard run and averaged six yards per carry against Ada last year.

“He’s their go-to guy,” Weber said. “He got loose for quite a few yards against us last year.”

Also returning for the Tigers is senior quarterback and two-sport star Trey Cohee, who took over as the full-time starter last year after then-QB Reed Downing suffered an injury.

“The Cohee kid is their quarterback. He’s another very good athlete and throws the ball well,” Weber said. “Everybody knows him from being a good basketball player. He’s a confident kid. He’s started since he was a freshman on the basketball team, and he’s probably going to be a highly-recruited basketball player. He’ll be pretty comfortable running their offense.”

Defensively, to say Ardmore runs to the football would be an understatement.

“They run a slant-50, pretty much the same defense we started our first year here. They have a big strong noseguard that can move his feet, and both of their defensive tackles are back,” Weber explained. “And they’re impressive on the back end. The same kids that are running and catching the ball are in the secondary.”

Ardmore opened the season ranked No. 11 in the Associated Press Class 5A rankings while Ada was two spots behind at No. 13. Yet another indicator that the game will be a dogfight.

“They have experience and they have athletes. You’re going to have to play your best to have a chance,” Weber said. “And you know they’ll always be well-coached.”

A few question marks surround a new-look Ada offense that features sophomore quarterback Wyatt Robson and a mostly inexperienced offensive line. The plan is to lean on a much more experienced defense in the beginning.

“Like we’ve said before, early on we need our defense to lead us just because that’s where we have the most experience,” Weber said. “Our offense will come along and will be fine. Just how fast they come along, we don’t know.”

Ready or not, the 2010 season is here.

“You never feel like you’re totally prepared. You feel rushed. But the best thing is with our kids, the effort has been there. We feel good about our football team. We feel like it’s a football team that’s going to get better and better each week which is what you want,” Weber said.

Lady Cougar Softball Schedule Revisions

Due to OSSAA changes in school classifications, revisions in the Lady Cougar Softball schedule are necessary.  As of 9/3/2010 the following changes have been made:

Ada vs. Durant, originally scheduled for 9/30/2010, has been moved to 9/13/2010.  The game remains in Ada with the Varsity starting @ 5:00 p.m. and the Junior Varsity immediately after.

Ada vs. Shawnee, originally scheduled for 9/28/2010, will not be played on that date.  The date and time for this game will be announced when the change is finalized. 

Class 4A District pairings will be announced on 9/10/2010.

Ada stops Durant

Lady Cougars continue winning ways Monday

Ada Evening News

Durant — Ada’s Lady Cougars have come up with a simple recipe for cooking up a winning streak over the past couple of weeks: start with solid pitching, pour in some clutch hitting, add a heaping handful of defense, then mix well for seven innings.

That formula worked for a seventh straight time Monday, as Ada (11-4) beat old rival Durant (No. 15 in Class 5A), 4-2 at the Durant Festival. The Lady Cougars also beat the Antlers junior varsity, 10-0, in their first game of the day.

Sophomore lefty Leah Huling provided the pitching, allowing just four hits and striking out eight to improve to 8-3 on the season. Two of Durant’s four hits came in the first inning, when the Lady Lions scored both of their runs with the help of the only Ada error of the game.

“Leah’s control was incredible,” Ada coach Scott Simpson said after seeing his club win for the ninth time in 10 games. “She seemed to get stronger as the game went along.”

Durant (7-3) had entered the festival with a five-game winning streak of its own in which the Lady Lions had scored 54 runs.

Ada took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, when Blakeley Franz followed a leadoff walk to Jenna Huling, a double by Allison Keel and a walk to Charlesey YoungWolfe with a bases-loaded, two-run single.

After Durant scored twice in the bottom of the first, the game stayed tied until the fifth. Alanah Canfield started that inning with a walk, she moved to second on a sacrifice by Jenna Huling,a nd she scored the go-ahead run on YoungWolfe’s single.

Ada added an insurance run in the seventh on a leadoff single by Jenna Huling, a Keel sacrifice and an RBI single by Taryn Jack.

“It was a good win,” Simpson said. “Durant is a really good defensive team. We only struck out one time, but they made every play on defense. Blakeley, Charlesey and Taryn all had big hits.”

Cayden Howard tossed two shutout innings in the win over the Antlers JV squad.

Ada clips Coalgate

Lady Cougars rally from early 3-0 deficit

Ada Evening News

Coalgate — Come-from-behind victories — in fact, victories period — are getting to be a habit for the Ada Lady Cougars.

Two days after rallying from a 2-0 deficit to score a 5-2 win at Sulphur, Ada erased a 3-0 Coalgate lead with a five-run fifth-inning outburst and beat the Lady Wildcats, 5-3, on the road Saturday. The win was Ada’s fifth in a row and eighth in nine games and left the Lady Cougars at 9-4 on the season.

“It was similar to Thursday at Sulphur,” Simpson said. “We were down again and got the big rally, and defensively we made some plays when we had to.”

Coalgate pitcher Jade Ward surrendered leadoff hits to Blakeley Franz and Laramie Brady leading off the fifth inning, then she walked Jenna Huling to load the bases. Allison Keel singled to plate Franz with the first Ada run, and Charlesey YoungWolfe gave the Lady Cougars the lead with a one-out, bases-clearing triple to left-center. YoungWolfe scored the game’s final run on Ward’s throw to first on a tapper back to the pitching circle by Cayden Howard.

Sophomore lefty Leah Huling (7-3) relieved Howard, the Ada starter, in the third inning with nobody out, runners at second and third and two runs already across the plate. Huling got a popout, a strikeout and a groundout to end that threat, and she walked a tightrope a couple of times later in the game — first to give the Lady Cougars a chance to win and later to preserve the lead.

Coalgate’s last threat came in the seventh, when the Lady Wildcats put runners at second and third with two outs. Jenna Huling, Ada’s third baseman, fielded a shot down the line and made the throw across the diamond for the out to end the game.

“I’m really frustrated right now,” Coalgate coach Tara Satterfield said after watching her club strand 10 baserunners — nine of them in scoring position — and fall to 11-8 on the season. “We had a chance to win. We just left too many runners on base. We’re just up and down right now.”

Coalgate took a 1-0 lead in the first, when Cherokee Acker led off with a single and scored on an two-out single by Ward. The Lady Wildcats extended the lead to 3-0 in the third, when Tandra Elkins reached on an error, Laramie Beal walked and Kaci Trentham doubled home both runners. Ward followed with a single and bring on Leah Huling, who allowed just three hits and struck out six in her five innings of work.

Ada and Coalgate both returns to action Monday, with the Lady Cougars playing Antlers at 6:30 and Durant at 8 p.m. at the Durant Festival.

Lady Cougars knock off Sulphur

Ada Evening News

Sulphur — Sophomore Leah Huling tossed a three-hitter and junior Jenna Huling drove in three runs as Ada’s Lady Cougars stretched their winning streak to four games with a 5-2 victory over Sulphur Thursday.

Jenna Huling (6-3) struck out nine and walked three, and she worked out of a jam in the seventh inning (with the tying run at the plate) with the help of a nice defensive play by second baseman Ally Keel on a ground ball to end the game.

Keel’s defensive gem was one of several by the Lady Cougars, including a pair by Leah Huling. Bree Foster made a nice over-the-shoulder catch on a line drive and also threw out Destiny Rodgers in the fourth inning attempting to score from second on a hit by Ashley Hughes.

“We’ve had a pretty good last week,” Ada coach Scott Simpson said after seeing his club improve to 8-4 on the season. “Sulphur was definitely the best team we’ve played in the last week.

“Leah threw the ball well, and she and Bree Foster both made a couple of big plays on defense.”

Sulphur (ranked No. 19 in Class 3A) took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth, when Darsha Reagle doubled home one run and scored the second on a wild pitch, then Ada took the lead for good with four runs in the top of the fifth inning.

Leah Huling and Blakeley Franz drew walks leading off the fifth, and Alanah Canfield singled to load the bases. Leah Huling followed with a game-tying two-run double to left-center, and after Canfield was forced at home on a fielder’s choice, Taryn Jack and Charlesey YoungWolfe delivered run-scoring hits to make it 4-2.

The Lady Cougars scored an unearned insurance run in the sixth, which began with Leah Huling reaching on an error. She was replaced on the bases by courtesy runner Jaycee Boydston, who moved to second on a groundout and scored on an RBI single by Jenna Huling.

Jenna Huling and YoungWolfe had two hits apiece to pace Ada’s seven-hit attack, and Reagle finished 1-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI for Sulphur (6-5).

Ada returns to action Saturday with an 11 a.m. game at Coalgate. Sulphur was scheduled to face Pawhuska at 11 a.m. this morning in the first of two game for the Lady Bulldogs at the Hall of Fame Shootout in Oklahoma City.