By John Rittenhouse
Adrian solidified its place among the Little Sioux Conference football elite by overpowering Murray County Central 31-8 in Slayton Friday.
The Dragon offense ran the ball for 284 yards and four touchdowns and the defense played well when it had to during a 23-point win.
The game was an important one as AHS and MCC had 3-1 conference records as well as being tied in the point standings for the section playoffs.
Adrian, which seemed to be taking a step backwards when it lost back-to-back games recently, erased any lingering doubts about its competitiveness while winning a second straight title to improve to 4-2 for the season.
"It was a surprising game for us because MCC is not too bad of a ball club," said Dragon coach Randy Strand. "We played really well."
The Dragons took any suspense out of the game by scoring the first 31 points of the tilt.
Adrian mounted three 60-plus-yard scoring drives in the first three periods to take an 18-0 lead and put the contest away by turning a pair of MCC turnovers into 13 points in the fourth quarter.
AHS opened the scoring with its second possession of the game.
The Dragons marched 63 yards in nine plays before quarterback Mark Kroon hooked up with Brad Lonneman for a 10-yard touchdown pass with 1:52 remaining in the opening quarter. An incomplete conversion pass kept the difference at 6-0.
Adrian put together an even more impressive drive in the second quarter to make it a 12-0 game.
A 13-play, 71-yard march that consisted of 13 running plays ended with a six-yard touchdown run by Kroon with 5:31 left to play in the first half. Another incomplete pass during the conversion attempt followed the touchdown.
The Dragon defense did its share to keep the difference at 12-0 late in the first half.
MCC moved the ball to the AHS 16-yard line, but the Dragon defense stopped the march on downs with 1:00 remaining in the second period.
Adrian received the kick to start the second half and increased its lead to 18-0 at the end of the possession.
A 13-play, 67-yard drive, which was kept alive when Kroon hit Travis Rupp for a 14-yard gain during a third-and-five situation, ended with Tyler Bullerman scoring on a one-yard plunge at the 5:40 mark of the third quarter. An incomplete pass for a conversion followed the touchdown.
Adrian’s defense, which allowed 309 yards during the game with few consequences, helped the Dragons put the game away by coming up with two turnovers as the second half progressed.
Kroon came up with the first take-away when he recovered an MCC fumble on the AHS 35.
After leading the offense during a 10-play, 65-yard drive, Kroon scored his second rushing touchdown of the contest with a one-yard run 1:25 into the fourth quarter. A failed extra-point attempt kept the score at 24-0.
Senior Jared Henriksen came up with a key play during the drive. AHS faced a third-and-five situation when Henriksen took a handoff from Kroon. He slipped out of the arms of an MCC defender to avoid a two-yard loss before running 17 yards for a first down.
The Dragon defense came up big again moments later when lineman Lonneman picked up a fumble on the MCC 44 and returned it 42 yards to the Rebel two. Dusty Henning scored on a first-down run at the 3:48 mark of the fourth quarter, and Matt Loosbrock added an extra point to make the difference 31-0.
MCC spoiled Adrian’s bid for a shutout when Adam Tentinger scored a rushing touchdown with eight seconds left to play against Adrian’s second team defense. A successful conversion run followed.
The late score didn’t seem to bother Strand, who was happy with his team’s play on both sides of the ball.
"We ran the ball well offensively, and I give a lot of the credit for that to our linemen. Our offensive line did an excellent job. Defensively, we bent, but we didn’t break. We gave up 309 yards, but we came up big when we had to. MCC was zero of five on fourth downs against our defense. We were eight of 11 on converting third downs offensively. Those were the keys in this game," he said.
The Dragons remain one game behind Canby in the LSC standings with two games remaining. The Dragons host Dawson-Boyd (1-4 in the conference and 1-5 overall) in a rare Thursday night game tonight.
Team statistics
Adrian: 285 rushing yards, 39 passing yards, 324 total yards, 18 first downs, five penalties for 25 yards, zero turnovers.
MCC: 292 rushing yards, 17 passing yards, 309 total yards, 16 first downs, five penalties for45 yards, three turnovers.
Individual statistics
Rushing: Bullerman 20-127, Henriksen 3-20, Kroon 12-74, Seth Bullerman 9-40, Henning 3-20, Kyle Dorn 1-3, Levi Bullerman 1-1.
Passing: Kroon 5-9 for 39 yards.
Receiving: Lonneman 2-14, S.Bullerman 2-11, Rupp 1-14.
Defense: Henriksen 10 tackles, Joey Anderson seven tackles, Justin Wieneke six tackles, S.Bullerman six tackles and one interception, Kroon one fumble recovery, Lonneman one fumble recovery.