(Adel) KS95.7 FM will broadcast Saturday’s Class 3A State Football Semifinal game between ADM and Harlan. The game kicks off at 4:00 p.m. at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. The winner will play at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, November 18th against either #2 (11-0) Mount Vernon or #6 (10-1) Humboldt.
#4 ADM advances to the semi’s with a 68-42 quarterfinal win over #8 North Polk. Coach Garrison Carter says, “I think obviously that was a great win for our guys. Anytime you can beat a team for the second time in the season that speaks volumes about how you’ve improved. It’s obviously not easy to beat a team twice. A good win for our guys. I think they came out and played well from start to finish and that’s a good thing to see this time of year.”
Aiden Flora ran for 279 yards and two touchdowns along with going 9/12 passing for 147 yards and three more scores in the win over North Polk. Brevin Doll carried 13 times for 117 yards and three touchdowns. The duo combined to average 13.2 yards per carry. Doll also had a 75 yard kick return which was one of a few key plays that their special teams and defense produced. Christian Madison intercepted two passes and recovered a fumble for a score. “28-21 at halftime and kind of a really big momentum swing for us right at the start of the second half. We recovered an onside kick and scored right away, blocked a punt and recovered it for a touchdown, and then had a pick six. A 21-point swing in the matter of a few minutes that really opened the game up for us.”
Getting to the dome for the first time since 2011 is the next big step in a building process. When coach Carter took over, the team was coming off of a one win season. They put together 5-4 campaigns in his first two years. Since then they’ve posted win totals of 3, 7, and now 10 games. “I think everyone judges you for the 2-3 hours they see on Friday nights nine times a year. That’s such a miniscule part of the overall process. For us at ADM it really started at the weight room, starting to build bodies and get kids to compete. Then it was numbers and trying to slowly grow our number and grow our excitement and getting wins on the field. It’s all kind of culminated into this year. Hopefully it’s trajectory we continue to go forward with.”
The Tigers will face top ranked Harlan, a team they lost to 42-7 in Week 7. “They are the defending state champs and have played in the title game two years in a row. They are the favorites to do it again this year, right? Really sound at all spots. It starts with their coaching staff and works its way down. There’s no lack of respect for Harlan on our end. They are the standard for success in the state of Iowa.”
Coach Carter refers to their first meeting with the Cyclones as an eye opener. “We went into that game riding pretty high and were humbled pretty quickly. That’s not the worst thing.” Carter says, “We’ve learned a lot. Sometimes it’s okay to go and get beat and in that case humiliated to some extent. It really helps you form your identity. It allows you to understand the things you can do well and start focusing in on those things.”
While they’ll have a tough opponent in front of them, coach Carter’s squad has no interest in being content just to get to the dome. “That’s one thing that a lot of teams fall trap to. It’s almost like you’ve made it once you’re there. Really if this game was in Harlan, Iowa instead of Cedar Falls it’s just the next round of the playoffs. That’s something that we’ve really been trying to hammer home to our kids. We haven’t won a state championship because we’ve made it to the final four, we’ve earned the right to continue to play towards a state championship and obviously that next step comes Saturday and hopefully you get a chance to play again the next week.”
ADM’s last appearance in the dome brought a 42-28 loss to eventual state champion Union, LaPorte City.
ADM coach Garrison Carter:
