By RICK SPRUNGER
BERNE – The Bluffton Tigers found out what they’re made of Friday night.
No, they didn’t win — but they put on a second-half rally that won’t soon be forgotten. The Tigers lost 50-35, falling just short of victory.
Considering that they were playing the third-ranked team in Class A on the road and that they trailed at halftime, 36-6, that’s remarkable.
“We say we don’t believe in moral victories, but I’ll tell you what,” gushed a proud Bluffton coach Brent Kunkel after the game, “there are going to be a lot of teams down the road that aren’t going to want to have to play us.”
Bluffton weathered just about everything South Adams threw at it and was still in there scrapping at the end.
The South Adams offensive machine churned out 324 yards in total offense in the first half alone and got five rushing touchdowns from senior workhorse Maverick Summersett.
The Starfires got an 84-yard kickoff return by Hunter Kongar and a 92-yard touchdown run from junior quarterback Owen Wanner.
And still the Tigers wouldn’t go away.
Throw out that 92-yard gallop, and the proud South Adams offense managed just 19 yards in total offense and no first downs in the entire second half against the suddenly fired-up Tigers.
“I didn’t give them any great halftime speech except to tell them to stop playing scared,” said Kunkel of his team’s remarkable turnaround. “We played that second half on guts and pride.”
Count South Adams coach Grant Moser as a believer.
“Hats off to Bluffton,” said Moser after addressing his team. “They have a lot of class in that program, and they’ve got some very talented upcoming players.
“They were better conditioned than we were.”
Bluffton set the tone right off the bat in the second half when Anthony Cruz set sail on a 57-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage to cut the margin to 36-14.
Cruz wasn’t finished. He would end up with 191 yards rushing for the game, 136 of them coming in the second half.
He also blocked a South Adams punt midway through the third quarter that went out of the end zone for a safety and two more Tiger points.
Although Bluffton didn’t score on its ensuing possession, South Adams didn’t go anywhere either. A poor Starfire punt set the Tigers up at the South Adams 34.
Three plays later, Bluffton was in the end zone again on a 14-yard pass from Hunter Wenger to A.J. Streveler, a freshman who caught five passes for 45 yards.
Suddenly, it was 36-23 and Bluffton seemed to be right back in it.
Until, that is, Kongar lit out on his 84-yard kickoff return to up the count right back to 42-23.
A momentum buster? Not a chance.
Exactly one minute later, Andrew Hunt was gathering in a nine-yard scoring pass from Betancourt to put the heat on again at 42-29.
And when yet another second-half South Adams three-and-out gave the ball back to Bluffton and the Tigers marched it all the way down to the Starfire 3, fans on both sides were sitting up and taking notice.
But then Summersett, who managed just nine yards rushing in the second half after scoring those five first-half touchdowns, came up big on defense. He crashed into the backfield and stripped Betancourt of the football.
A Starfire fell on it at the 8. On the next play, Wanner faked a handoff to Summersett, cut through a hole on the right side of the line, reversed field, and outraced the Bluffton secondary down the left sideline for an electrifying 92-yard touchdown run that brought the hometown faithful to life.
From an almost certain 42-35 score and who-knows-what to a back-breaking 50-29 margin in 19 devastating seconds.
This time, finally, a momentum buster?
No, again.
Bluffton again found its way into the Starfire end zone on a 12-yard pass from Betancourt to Andrew Hunt and then immediately got the ball back on another South Adams three-and-out.
The Tigers still had 3:28 to work with and were just a touchdown and a successful onside kick away from having a chance to trigger statewide headlines. They were out of timeouts, however, and finally ran out of time at the South Adams 27.
Mistakes were made along the way.
There were 10 penalties for 80 yards, some in some unfortunate circumstances.
There were some dropped passes, some missed opportunities, and, of course, the fumble near the end.
“We’re young, and we’re going to have some growing pains,” said Kunkel later. “We’re going to make some of those mistakes, and we had some of those growing pains in the first half.
“They’re taking it pretty hard,” Kunkel added as he gestured toward his team huddling in the west end zone. “But they learned a lot about themselves tonight.
“And, like I said, by the end of the season, there’s going to be a lot of team that aren’t going to want to have to play us.”
SOUTH ADAMS 50, BLUFFTON 35
Bluffton 6 0 23 6 – 35
South Adams 15 21 6 8 – 50
First Quarter
SA – Maverick Summersett 3 run (Brady Beall pass from Owen Wanner), 8:08.
BL – Braxton Betancourt 1 run (kick failed), 2:37.
SA – Summersett 28 run (Hunter Kongar kick), 0:37.
Second Quarter
SA – Summersett 16 run (Isaac Dee pass from Wanner), 8:49.
SA – Summersett 1 run (Kongar kick), 6:02.
SA – Summersett 2 run (run failed), 1:17.
Third Quarter
BL – Anthony Cruz 57 run (Brody Lewis pass from Betancourt), 11:37.
BL – Safety, punt blocked out of end zone, 7:14.
BL – A.J. Streveler 14 pass from Hunter Wenger (Lewis kick), 1:37.
SA – Kongar 84 kickoff return (pass failed), 1:21.
BL – Andrew Hunt 9 pass from Betancourt (kick failed), 0:21.
Fourth Quarter
SA – Wanner 92 run (Silas Loshe pass from Wanner), 7:29.
BL – Hunt 12 pass from Betancourt (pass failed), 4:44.
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