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Sports

Adams Gets Revenge on Oxford, Advances to Next Round of Playoffs

Tony Annese lifts the Highlanders over the Wildcats, 26-20.

In the playoffs, you win or you go home.

The Highlanders aren't coming home just yet.

beat Oxford High School 26-20 on Friday night to advance to the next round of the MHSAA football playoffs. It plays Port Huron next weekend.

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Tony Annese, coming off a five touchdown performance , scored three times on the ground and threw another to Jack Twitty.

In Week 6 of the regular season, Oxford beat Adams in overtime, giving the Highlanders a perfect reason for revenge.

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First Half

The Highlanders defense came out red hot, forcing the Wildcats to punt in their first three possessions. The offense was equally scorching, scoring on two out of their first three drives and giving Adams a 14-0 lead.

The end of the half was more brown than gold for the Highlanders.

Prescott Line led the Wildcats offense, rushing for two touchdowns at the end of the first half. Line, a commit to Southern Methodist University, was the workhorse for the Wildcats, running the ball most plays on offense and middle linebacker on defense.

Second Half

Glacier Wallington ran in a touchdown following a fumble by Ben Hart in the Highlanders zone, giving the Wildcats a 20-14 lead, their first of the game.

Annese passed to Jack Twitty with 32 seconds left in the third quarter, tying the game at 20-20 after back-to-back scoring drives and blocked extra points by both teams.

Kyle Niswonger recovered a fumble for the Highlanders during a dangerous Wildcats scoring drive, just to be fumbled back over by Annese.  An interception by Jack Twitty set the Highlanders up for their final scoring drive, the third rushing touchdown for Annese.

Bottom line: The Wildcats couldn’t capitalize on turnovers when they needed to at the end of the game.

Annese rushed for 177 yards on 22 carries, his highest number of attempts on the season.

"Tony's a great playmaker and I'm really proud of him," Adams coach Tony Patritto said.

Port Huron, 8-1 in the regular season, defeated Ortonville-Brandon 32-14.

Hear more from Patritto in the video attached to this story.

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