Ada prepares for season opener with Durant

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The vibe has been strong around the Ada High School football camp leading up to Friday night’s season opener against rival Durant.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Norris Field.

“There’s a lot of buzz and excitement about getting the season started,” Ada head coach Wade Boyles told The Ada News. “The kids have been laser-focused in meetings, and we’ve had great practices trying to learn the schemes and game plans for the week. They’re ready to go.”

The Cougars lost their fair share of starters from a large senior class, but nothing compared to the losses suffered by the Lions.

Durant graduated 22 seniors and had four other players who would have been returning starters transfer to Kingston High School.

Now, the Lions feature a mostly inexperienced roster that includes just four players who saw significant action in 2025 on a team that finished 4-6.

“They have a pretty young team, but from what we’ve seen, they’re executing pretty well,” Boyles said. “The biggest thing for us is to make sure we play our style of football. We want to control the tempo and make sure we take care of the football.”

Durant is moving from a spread offense to the old-school Flexbone formation, which should mean a heavy dose of the running game.

Boyles expects the Lions to lean heavily on the run Friday night.

“From what we’ve seen, I think they’re pretty good up front, and they have a couple of skill guys that can make plays and make you miss,” he said.

Senior Joseph Flores moved to quarterback after playing wide receiver last year. Senior Tyler Rhodes and sophomore Draegan Baker will lead the running game, while part-time returning starter Gaige Rocha, a 6-foot-3, 315-pound junior, will anchor the offensive line.

The Lions’ top receivers include juniors Josh Bull and Ajay Edgeman.

Sophomore tight end Graham McIlvoy is also expected to be featured in the offense.

“We’re going to have to be disciplined and do our job and do our assignment and play at a high level. We want to chase the football and be good tacklers in space,” Boyles said.

Durant will line up in a 3-3 Stack defense.

Senior Blake Auldridge, a 6-foot-2, 225-pounder, has moved from the offensive line to play nose guard and will be joined on the defensive front by sophomore tackle Braylen King, a 6-foot-2, 234-pounder who got some varsity minutes as a freshman.

Durant’s linebackers include McIlvoy, junior Aiden Makke and Rhodes.

Flores is among the Lions’ leaders in the secondary.

“They have some guys that will get after you and play hard,” Boyles said. “They’ll try to bring some pressure and will give us different looks in the back end — play some Cover 2 and Cover 3 back there. They’ll also try to confuse you by moving guys around a lot.”

Getting their kicks

Much has been made of all the offensive production the Ada football team lost from a talented graduating class.

However, the Cougars are also without kicker David Stout, who made 43 PAT kicks and converted all four of his field-goal attempts last season.

Sophomore Charlie Black, freshman Tommy Black — Charlie’s younger brother — and freshman Diego Solorio could all share kicking duties in some form or fashion, at least early in the season.

All three are soccer players.

“We have some young guys who came out who are soccer guys who wanted to give it a shot,” Boyles said.

Charlie Black and Solorio approached the Ada coaching staff over the summer and expressed interest in kicking for the Cougars.

“Both of those guys came to us this summer and said they wanted to try and kick. They’ve been working really hard to help us out,” Boyles said.

Later, Tommy Black joined the new kicking crew.

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