DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
Hoisting the regional trophy for the sixth time in eight years, the Adams Central Jets made a statement Friday night in far-away Carroll County with a 29-0 shutout win over the Carroll Cougars.
While their archnemesis, Indy Lutheran, struggled to a 14-7 win in their game, the Jets dominated the third-ranked Cougars, running for nearly 300 yards and hitting Carroll in the air for big gains. The Jets put major pressure on Carroll quarterback Luke Tanner and picked up four sacks.
Adams Central established the run early, like they normally do, with a heavy dose of Keegan Bluhm on a cold November night, but it was Ryan Tester who had the first big play of the game, picking up 32 yards on a pitch down the right side and nearly taking out Jet Superfan Eric Mann along the way.
That run by Tester, who finished with 40 yards on four touches, set the Jets up in the red zone for some smash-mouth football and Bluhm knocked it in from two yards out for the first score of the game.
Adams Central immediately forced a punt from Carroll after the Cougars went three and out, unable to convert on 3rd & 13 when a pass by Luke Tanner was broken up by Tester.
The Jets picked up a couple of first downs with third-down conversions and Keegan Bluhm scored again to put the visitors up 14-0 with ten minutes to play in the half.
The game took a different tone in the minutes to follow and Carroll found success on the ground with Keegan Ellis and the Cougars made it all the way into the red zone on the next possession.
Luke Tanner took a shot from Trevor Currie as he scrambled and evaded Cam Fravel, setting up third down and the senior Currie picked up two sacks in a row to set up fourth down. Carroll were unorganized and unsure of what they wanted to do on the crucial 4th & 16 play and a fade into the left corner of the end zone resulted in a textbook pass breakup by Cam Smith to return the ball to the Jets.
Adams Central had eighty yards to go and four minutes to do it before halftime and Jack Hamilton’s arm came alive, completing big passes to Trevor Currie and Ryan Tester to put the Jets in position to score.
Hamilton ended the game 5 of 8 for 128 yards. Running out of time and having already used all three timeouts, Hamilton’s best play of the game may have been throwing the ball away on 2nd & Goal and allowing his team to give Trevor Currie a chance to put three more points on the board and make it a three-score game, knowing Carroll would have the ball to start the second half.
Adams Central’s defense made a stand to start the second half and with less than a minute ticked off the third quarter clock, the Cougars punted it back to the Jets. Jack Hamilton’s punt return gave AC great field position and they needed just one play to score.
Keegan Bluhm took the ball right up the middle and evaded every Carroll linebacker and DB to score from 56 yards out.
A penalty on the extra point caused the Jets to miss the extra point and they settled for a 23-0 lead with 10:38 to play.
Cam Fravel’s sack on the next Carroll drive forced Tanner to throw on third down and the Jets nearly picked up a turnover when a pass went off the hands of Cam Smith, but Carroll was still forced to punt the ball back to AC, who just needed to run out the clock for the win.
At least that’s what Carroll thought the Jets they would do.
Instead, Trevor Currie went streaking down the middle of the field and was hit in stride by a laser from Hamilton and the senior went into the end zone untouched for the touchdown. (see gallery below)
Max Hamilton and Max Kaehr led the Jets in tackles with six each, with Hamilton picking up an interception to seal the win for the Jets.
Trevor Currie was credited with 2.5 tackles for loss and five overall.
Aaron Hirschy added 23 yards on four carries for the Jets.
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