By Laurence Hilliard
Star Herald
It was a glass half full or half empty football season for McAdams in Sylvester Grays first year as coach.
The good news is that the Bulldogs won their first four games after only three wins the previous four years. The bad news is that McAdams lost the last five and went winless in Region 5-1A.
The season concluded with a 42-12 loss to Nanih Waiya. Jaeden Harmon completed six of 12 passes for 160 yards for McAdams, with touchdowns to Andre Brown and Caden Smith,
But the Bulldogs could not stop Korben Sanders, one of the state’s best 1A running backs. He had 11 carries for 220 yards and three TDs. For the season he has carried 148 times for 1,530 yards (10.3 average) and 20 TDs.
It’s no coincidence that the losses began when injuries started piling up. The most significant were to Gavin Brown, the Bulldogs’ best offensive player, and Willie Nash, the best lineman.
But Grays sees better times ahead. “I’m excited because we only have five seniors. The young guys got some playing time. They got some wins, so they know what it takes. We have high expectations for next year.”
The Bulldogs will be hitting the weight room during the offseason.
“We’re going to work on football as much as we can. We just have to get better fundamentally. We have to get better as a group understanding situational football. We had a lot of penalties this year and I want to get that cleaned up.”
Key underclassmen include Andre Brown who saw time at running back and quarterback, Smith who had five interceptions, two-way lineman James Granderson and tight end D.J. Fleming.
Nanih Waiya (7-2) won 5-1A with a 5-0 mark and will host West Bolivar Friday to open the 1A playoffs.
