ADA — Fort Recovery’s Will Homan proved to be a one-man wreaking crew as the junior running back accounted for six touchdowns in the Indians 58-21 victory over Ada in the first round of the Division VI playoffs Saturday.
Homan sliced through the Ada defense for 275 yards on 20 carries and five touchdowns and scored a sixth touchdown on a pass. The junior fleet-footed back ripped off runs of 20 yards or more seven times in the game.
“We made some mistakes and they made us pay for them,” Ada head coach Bob Olwin said. “Homan is as good as everybody thought he was. We had some missed opportunities early and just made mistakes and they capitalized on all those. I am proud of our guys. They kept playing until the end.”
Olwin added that he thought Homan’s long runs took a toll on the Bulldogs psyche and praised Homan’s performance.
“ He is a talented kid and they did a good job and he maybe was a little quicker than anticipated,” Olwin said.
Indians head coach Brent Niekamp called Homan a warrior.
“That is how he runs,” Niekamp said. “That is normal for him. I was really happy with our offensive line. They rose to the challenge tonight because Ada has a big defensive line and we knew they would try to do some things to slow Homan down and we were able to get a push and get him in the open and whenever he got into the open and in the secondary he is dangerous.”
Homan helped the Indians take control of the game at the onset of the second half. After scoring a late touchdown when Homan raced 28 yards for pay dirt with 1:13 left in the first half to put Fort Recovery up 28-21 and then the Indians received the ball to start the third quarter.
On the first play from scrimmage in the second half, Homan scampered 53 yards for the touchdown to give Fort Recovery a two-touchdown advantage, 35-21.
The cushion grew to three touchdowns after Fort Recovery blocked an Ada punt on the Bulldogs’ ensuing possession and the Indians got the ball deep in Bulldog territory. Three plays later Indian quarterback Caleb Martin connected with Homan in the end zone from 17 yards out and the rout was on.
Early the Ada’s passing game was firing on all cylinders and Seth Conley was carving up the Indians’ secondary and looked comfortable in the the pocket. But towards the end of the first half, Fort Recovery’s defensive line began to clamp down and the pressure began to get to the junior quarterback as he was continually harassed him and forced him into some bad decisions.
“Our defense settled down and got a little bit more comfortable,” Indians head coach Brent Niekamp said. “We were able to get pressure with four guys and we started to really get a beat on their route combinations and that was huge. When we could start to pressure No. 5 (Conley) with four guys and get in the way of his first look and make him look to his second and third guys we could usually get there and that really turned the tide of the game.”
For the game, Conley went 29-for-43 for 238 yards with one touchdowns and two interceptions. The Bulldog quarterback was sacked four times.
“It is possible they were bringing some of the pressure but we weren’t executing as well,” Olwin said. “They got pressure from their ends and there guys up front started getting to up front.
Fort Recovery (7-4) will next play in a Region 28 semifinal at 7 p.m. Saturday against Covington (11-0), a 49-0 winner against Hillcrest Academy, at a site yet to be announced. Ada finished its season 7-4.
.neFileBlock {
margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
padding-bottom: 5px;
padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
font-size: 85%;
}
