Adam Kruger and Eli Weeks have played football together for nine years, going back to when they were in third grade.
They’ve never had a night together like Friday night.
The Toledo Riverhawks seniors connected for four touchdowns in a 51-26 thumping of Adna in Toledo in a non-league bout between Central 2B League foes. Kruger could’ve even had a fifth score had it not been for an offensive holding penalty on the Riverhawks.
“I feel like I’ve been putting in the work this offseason. I just came out here and tried to do my thing and have fun with it,” Kruger said.
The Riverhawks, who have beaten the Pirates for the fourth straight season, stopped Adna’s six-play opening possession, which resulted in a turnover on downs. Toledo used three chunk plays to strike first, with Weeks finding Kruger on the first snap for 23 yards followed by a 24-yard run by senior Carter Swofford.
Weeks’ first of four scoring tosses to Kruger came from 22 yards out, and the duo would get another chance in the first quarter as senior cornerback Rohan Feigenbaum picked off Adna quarterback Trevin Salme.
While Toledo turned it over on downs on its second possession, the Riverhawks only needed one play on their third trip on offense to take a 12-0 lead, with Kruger finding an opening down the field and Weeks tossing it perfectly.
A huge kick return by Adna’s Kannen Kephart and a horsecollar penalty on Toledo set the Pirates up with the ball at the Toledo 10, and Salme’s first touchdown pass of the season came to Grayson Humphrey from 8 yards out to cut the margin to 12-7 early in the second quarter.
On a much more methodical drive, the Riverhawks marched down the field in 10 plays, capped off by the third Weeks-to-Kruger score, this one marvellously surpassing the other two in entertainment value. Weeks rolled to his right and chucked the ball down the field off one leg, and Kruger caught a jump ball surrounded by two Pirates defenders.
“That’s just who Adam is. If he’s one-on-one, it’d be really, really hard to cover him,” Toledo head coach Mike Christensen said.
Salme appeared to settle in despite some high snaps from his center and constant pressure from Toledo’s defensive front. But it was junior standout tailback Beau Miller who helped the Pirates inch closer before halftime with a 25-yard march to make it 20-14. Both teams exchanged turnovers late in the first half, with Weeks throwing interceptions on consecutive drives and Steven O’Dell fumbling the ball away for Adna.
Kruger and Weeks connected for a fourth touchdown on another jump ball that Kruger came down with in traffic, and Toledo led 28-14 after Weeks ran in the two-point try. But Adna’s offense could not carry its second-quarter momentum, and the Pirates failed to score in the third on two possessions, the second resulting in a Salme interception thrown to none other than Kruger.
Weeks picked off Salme to start the fourth, and Swofford dashed to the end zone nearly untouched for a 72-yard score to make it 44-14 Riverhawks. Humphrey put some juice and hope back in the Pirates faithful that filled up more than a third of the Toledo stadium with a long kickoff return for a touchdown, cutting Toledo’s lead to 44-20.
Adna tried an onside kick trailing by three scores, but Toledo recovered near midfield and needed just three plays for the dagger, coming from senior running back Nathan Beaver on a 26-yard run. The Pirates punched it in once more on a 37-yard toss from Salme to a wide-open Miller, but their offensive goose eggs in the first and third quarters proved fatal, as well as struggling to contain Kruger and Swofford. Kruger finished with a career-high four touchdowns on just five receptions to go along with 142 yards, while Swofford paced Toledo with 190 yards and the long touchdown.
“Kruger’s a really good player, and he got us a couple of times. Weeks is a really good quarterback and he does a great job, but we got away from some of the things that we hang our hat on defensively,” Adna head coach Aaron Cochran said. “That’s a really well-coached team. They took advantage.”
Although the Riverhawks beat down an Adna team that returns most of its contributors from a state quarterfinal squad last year, the Toledo coaching staff were not impressed with the defensive performance against a first-time starting quarterback.
“I’m kind of frustrated with our defense. Honestly, I think we’re better defensively. It’s no disrespect to Adna. They had some good plays,” Christensen said. “There were some individual breakdowns that they made the most of, and that’s really frustrating because we’re a better team than that.”
Toledo (1-0) takes a trip to Goldendale next Friday at 7 p.m., while Adna (0-1) will face Cle Elum-Roslyn in its home opener at the same time.
