Ada Cougar Pride: Tough Opening Night in Ardmore

Opening night for the Cougars in Ardmore turned out to be tougher than expected. Larry McBroom had his Ardmore Tigers well prepared for the game, coming out on top 28 - 7. Opening night losses are tough, but they certainly are not the end of the season. Ada has lost their opener 41 times in the last 96 seasons. 25 of those losses were in years that the Cougars made playoff appearances, and 5 of those losses were in State Championship seasons. That's right, 26% of our State Championships were preceeded with an opening game loss. So while the loss may be tough to swallow, it can also serve as motivation to catapult the team to success.

After receiving the opening kickoff, the Cougars turned the ball over on their 3rd play from scrimmage. Starting with excellent field position, McBroom quickly spread the Cougar defense out with his spread sets and misdirection plays. Although Ardmore scored after benefiting from the early turnover, the Cougar defense was able to keep them contained until late in the 2nd quarter. Unfortunately, the intended result of having the Cougar defense so spread out started showing, with the Ardmore ball carriers being able to evade the tiring Cougar defenders in the open field.

The Cougars showed some life late in the 3rd quarter when Wyatt Robson hooked up with Christian Johnson for an 80+ yard play that put the Cougars inside the Tiger 5 yard line. On fourth and goal, the Cougars were able to punch the ball into the endzone with a quarterback sneak. On the next possession, the Cougar defense held tough and partially blocked the Ardmore punt, taking the ball over at midfield. Unfortunately they were not able to capitalize and the game was effectively over.