If there is one thing to take away from Athens’ playoff loss to Jackson, it would be not to rely on playoff rankings.
The Bulldogs’ perfect season finally came to an end Friday with a 27-7 loss to the Jackson Ironmen in the Division III, Region 12 quarterfinals.
The second-seeded Bulldogs were simply outplayed in all phases of the game by the seventh-seeded Ironmen, who were clearly the better team Friday night.
It didn’t help that about half Athens’ team had been sick at some point during the week, coach Ryan Adams said. Some were not even able to play in the game, including starting defensive and tight ends Cody Mack and Josh Maxson.
“That’s not to take a single thing away from what Jackson accomplished,” Adams said. “I don’t know that it would have changed the outcome of the game, but it certainly did affect our ability to execute what we’re trying to do.”
Executing was something the Bulldogs struggled with all night long, especially on offense. A 32-yard run by quarterback Michael Germano late in the fourth quarter finally put Athens on the board, but it was much too late for a comeback and was one of few drives in which the Bulldogs were able to gain any substantial yardage.
Credit is due to Jackson’s defense, which was bigger and much more physical than Athens up front.
“I think we faced an extremely good football team tonight,” Adams said. “They have a lot of nice athletes over there and were able to get penetration and keep us off balance all night long with our running game and put a lot of pressure on our passing game that forced some bad decisions.”
Facing the defensive front, the Bulldogs failed to get DeVon Sharp and their ground game going. Sharp was limited to 33 yards on 13 carries and had no running room, which proved troublesome for an offense usually anchored by the rushing attack. The offensive line also struggled to keep the Ironmen off Germano, who took multiple sacks and was under constant pressure.
Athens played a good defensive game except for a couple of big plays. Jackson quarterback Austin Osborne broke the tie in the second quarter with a 93-yard touchdown run, and running back Drew Irvin added a 71-yard touchdown scamper in the fourth.
The Bulldogs had no answer for the tandem of Irvin and Osborne, who combined for more than 300 yards and four touchdowns on the ground.
Despite the disheartening playoff loss, Adams reiterated in his postgame speech that Athens still has plenty to be proud of this year. He said he was especially proud of the senior class.
“The fact that they all stuck it out and stuck together and continued to work extremely hard from their freshman, sophomore, and junior years in that weight room is really the reason why we had the speed and strength that we had to be able to do what we did,” Adams said.
After learning from the successful senior class that led the team to a 9-1 record in 2009, this year’s class was “groomed for this type of a season” Adams said.
Based on the success Adams and his staff have had so far, similar seasons in terms of winning might not be all that uncommon in the future.
as506610@ohiou.edu
