Adamsville secures playoff spot

The Adamsville Cardinals picked up a non-district victory over West Carroll on Friday night by a score of 49-6. With the victory, Adamsville increased their chances of receiving an at-large bid to the Class 2A state playoffs.

The top two teams in each district receive an automatic bid to the playoffs. The other spots are filled by the top 24 teams in a poll produced by the TSSAA. The Cardinals are currently 16th in the poll with one more week left in the regular season.

The Cardinals will know the definite playoff scenario this Saturday. Head coach Brandon Gray is eagerly anticipating his team’s performance in the post season. “Going into the game last week, we knew we had to win. The kids responded well, but I don’t like being in that situation,” he said. “It was the best week of practice we’ve had all year. If we can keep doing that, we will continue to succeed.”

Adamsville did finish their regular season schedule with the victory over West Carroll to even their overall record at 5-5 on the season. The Cardinals played in Week 0 so they will have an off week during Week 10 to get ready for the first round of the playoffs, which will begin on Friday, November 5.

“We played one of the best games we’ve played all year. We ended up getting a lot of guys the ball. We had several players back who had been out for injuries. A lot of guys got some playing time, but it was nice that it was because we were winning and not because they had to play in place of hurt players,” Gray said.

The Cardinals got off to a fast start in the opening two quarters of last week’s game. Stephen Jackson scored the first touchdown of the night late in the first quarter on an 18-yard run. Adamsville added a Josh Chappell fumble return from 24 yards out and a 52-yard pass from Jackson to Josh Shoate to give them a 21-6 lead at the half. Dalton Plunk successfully kicked each of the first three extra-point attempts Adamsville extended their lead in the first few minutes of the second half.

The Cardinals needed only three plays in their first two drives to push their lead to 35-6. Jamel Sanders scored on a 62-yard run, and Kameron McDaniel rushed for a 3-yard score. Plunk added the extra-point for each of the scores to give Adamsville a 35-6 lead at the 8:10 mark of the third quarter.

Hayden Reese and Taylor Alexander added rushing touchdowns for the final two Adamsville scores. Reese scored on a 13-yard run, and Alexander’s touchdown was from 11 yards out. Plunk and Christian Yanok each connected on a PAT to set the final margin at 49-6.

Sanders led the Cardinals in rushing in the game with 135 yards on 11 carries. Jackson had 6 rushes for 69 yards. Shoate had three receptions for 73 yards.

John Blakely and Blake Edwards each had six tackles to lead the Cardinals on the defensive side of the ball.