TAHLEQUAH DAILY PRESS — Tahlequah looked to be the equal of No.13 Ada for the first 16 minutes of Friday night’s game, but the Cougars reeled off 22 unanswered points before halftime on the way to a 38-20 victory.

The Ada second quarter rally was fueled by several untimely Tahlequah mistakes, including three interceptions.

“They [Ada] have some pretty good athletes,” said Tigers coach Tuffy Thornton. “The game can turn around on you pretty quick when you make mistakes.”

Ada (7-2, 5-2 District 5A-4) was led by quarterback Qumain Black, who was responsible for four of the Cougars five touchdowns. He had two rushing and two passing scores.

Black got Ada on the board early when he finished the opening drive of the game with a 10-yard touchdown run. The Cougars converted the extra point to make it 7-0 with 8:10 left in the quarter.

Tahlequah (2-7, 1-6 5A-4) answered just over four minutes later when quarterback Zack Thornton broke away from the Cougars defense for an 11-yard touchdown run. The drive began after Thornton intercepted Black’s pass and returned it to the Ada 15-yard line. Senior kicker Ramin Ramani added the extra point to even the score at 7-7.

The score remained the same until the 7:25 mark in the second quarter when Tahlequah junior Blake Campbell had his punt blocked out of the back of the end zone for a safety to give Ada a 9-7 lead. The drive came three plays after the Tigers defense had forced the Cougars to turn over the ball on downs.

On the ensuing drive, Ada added to their advantage when Black scored a 1-yard touchdown run. The extra point was again successful to give the Cougars a 16-7 lead with 5:43 left before halftime.

Things continued to go downhill for Tahlequah on the next drive when Thornton had his pass intercepted and returned for a touchdown. The extra point was added to push the Cougars lead to 23-7 with 4:16 left in the half.

The interception was Thornton’s third of the half. He entered the game with no interceptions in four games.

“Zack didn’t throw the ball well in the first half,” said Thornton. “He missed some reads.”

The Cougars added one more score before halftime when Black threw a 52-yard touchdown pass with 36 seconds left. The extra point failed to make it 29-7 going into half.

The touchdown capped a 22-0 Ada run over the final 7:25 of the second quarter.

Ada added nine points to their lead in the third quarter. The first two points came on a safety with 7:11 left in the quarter when Thornton was sacked in the end zone.

The other seven points came on a Black 11-yard touchdown pass. The extra point was added for a 38-7 lead with less than 14 minutes left in the game.

Tahlequah scored a pair of touchdowns in the final quarter to cut the final margin to 38-20.

Junior running back Taylor Harris scored a 7-yard touchdown run with 6:06 left. The extra point was blocked to make it 38-13.

The last touchdown was scored with 2:48 left on a 5-yard run from Thornton. Ramani hit the extra point to make it 38-20.

Thornton finished the game with 110 yards passing, 94 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

Sophomore receiver Tanner Weston had a team-high three catches for 18 yards. Fellow sophomore Blake Elam led the team in receiving yards with 33.

“The young kids made some mistakes, but the same kids turned around and made some big plays,” said Thornton.

Tahlequah will play their final game of the 2009 season on Friday against East Central. Game time for the Senior Night game is set for 7:30 p.m. at Doc Wadley Stadium.