Preps!
Rochester Adams played a nearly flawless first quarter Friday night. And second quarter.
And that was enough.
The Highlanders cruised with four touchdowns on their first four possessions at Birmingham Seaholm, earning a 27-0 win in the Oakland Activities White division matchup.
On the third offensive play of the game, following a fumble recovery on the opening kickoff to Seaholm, Adams junior Stephen Roncelli ran 12 yards to score. Then on the second drive, Roncelli scored again, this time on an 11-yard pass from quarterback Kyle Wood. The Highlanders had a quick 13-0 lead with 4:25 left in the first quarter.
“I wouldn’t say flawless because we had a few drives we didn’t do everything to perfection, and obviously you can’t do everything perfect, so it wasn’t flawless but we did have a very good first half,” said Adams senior offensive guard Tyler Wineke.
Friday, Sept. 2 Michigan high school football scores
Adams kept pouring it on the next two drives, scoring on a 7-play drive when Wood kept the ball and ran for four yards, giving the Highlanders a 19-0 edge. After forcing a third consecutive punt for Seaholm, Adams needed only three plays to go 61 yards and finish all the scoring on a 24-yard touchdown catch by Mark Patritto.
“We had a good run-pass balance, and that makes us more difficult to stop,” said Adams head coach Tony Patritto. “Short fields made it easier too. Our quarterback, Kyle Wood, had great protection and he made some big plays. A real team effort on offense, some nice catches and runs. A lot of guys made plays.”
If there were any blemishes in the first half for Adams, it would have been one punt, an allowed sack for a loss of 11 yards and a fumble with less than one minute until the midway break. Other than that, a great performance of 146 yards rushing and 101 yards passing in the first two quarters set the stage for game totals of 217 yards rushing and 125 passing for the Highlanders.
Seaholm was held to only 81 yards of offense for the game.
“We did not play a great first half last week, and we want to improve week to week,” Patritto said. “Their offense is really potent so our defense and the coaches did a really nice job shutting them down.
“We have so much respect for Seaholm and knew we had to come out and play hard. Give them credit for what they did in the second half. And we had mental mistakes and lost some focus there.”
Adams’ other drives ended on two punts, being stopped on fourth down, and a fumble that was recovered by Seaholm’s Paul Jokisch.
“They made some good adjustments at halftime,” Wineke said. “We didn’t execute the way we wanted to but overall we had a really good game and credit to them in the second half making it tough.”