Beau Miller scored the only touchdown with 2 minutes, 12 seconds left and that proved to be enough for the 11th-seeded Adna High School football team to beat sixth-seeded Liberty Bell 8-3 in a Class 2B Round of 16 thriller on Saturday afternoon in Winthrop.
It made the multi-hour trip from Adna well worth it for head coach Aaron Cochran, who in his second year as the Pirates (8-3) this deep into the playoffs for the first time since 2019.
“We played the closest to a complete game we’ve played all year,” Cochran said. “Those wins don’t come along everyday.”
It felt like a baseball game was taking place in November with a halftime score of 3-2. Liberty Bell, the reigning Class 1B state champs, struck first in the opening quarter, then Adna’s safety came on an intentional grounding in the end zone.
The Pirates forced the penalty after facing 1st and goal from the Mountain Lions’ 40-yard line and getting it all the way down to the six. In the fourth, Adna stuffed Liberty Bell on 4th and inches from midfield to take over.
Miller found the end zone from six yards out and on the last defensive series, Noah Hellem snared the game-sealing pick.
“There was nothing special about it; the special thing was, they all did their jobs,” Cochran said. “They wear on people a little bit.”
Adna and Napavine met in the C2BL West opener back in Week 5, a Tigers 27-13 win. That remains the closest victory on their schedule. Now, the Pirates have the ultimate chance to pull off an upset.
“It is always good to play Napavine,” Cochran stated. “They’ll have some different stuff than the first time and hopefully, we’re ready to respond.”
Toledo falls to Tri-Cities Prep as time expires
The run of getting to the state quarterfinals for the Toledo High School football team came to an end on Saturday afternoon.
Eighth-seeded Tri-Cities Prep scored on a 1-yard run as time expired to triumph over the ninth-seeded Riverhawks 13-10 at Grandview High School. Toledo (9-2) will lose a handful of seniors for next fall, but do return quarterback Eli Weeks.
The game was tied at 7-7 entering the locker room as TCP scored late in the second half to tie the contest. Toledo had a touchdown wiped away by a penalty in the fourth, but made the go-ahead field goal with under two minutes left in regulation.
The Riverhawks’ final defensive stand was not enough to continue their run of reaching the final eight.
