OKEMOS >> Even very good teams need a bounce or two to go their way to make it all the way to the promised land, but when every one goes in the opposite direction, it can end up being a long day.

None of the bounces in Saturday’s Division 1 semifinal went the way of the Rochester Adams Highlanders, who were outscored 20-0 in the second half, as No. 4-ranked Hudsonville rolled to a 27-7 win at Okemos High School.

“I thought we got the fumble down there, on the first drive — it was clearly out. They didn’t see it. We’ve still got to make a stop. And then fumble on the one going in … We had two of our top guys get hurt in the second quarter, and without those guys who have been so important for us all season, kind of threw our chemistry off on offense, a little bit,” Adams coach Tony Patritto said. “We didn’t make plays in second half, and they did. And, you know, it happens sometimes.”

The Hudsonville Eagles (12-1) will take on Detroit Cass Tech (11-2) in the D1 finals at Ford Field next Saturday. The Technicians beat Detroit Catholic Central, 17-14, in the other D1 semifinal.

For Adams (10-3), it was the first loss in seven games, since the Highlanders found themselves 4-2 after back-to-back road losses to Lake Orion and Oxford, by a total of four points, shunting them out of contention for the OAA Red title.

The two teams went into halftime tied at 7-7, but it could’ve been a bit different, if a couple of those bounces had gone Adams’ way.

Hudsonville ground out a 14-play drive to open the game, but one play before the capper, it appeared the Highlanders had forced a fumble. When the ball stayed with the Eagles, one play later, they punched it in with a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback Griffin Baker, the first of four he accounted for on the day.

After the Highlanders tied it at 7-7 on a 39-yard pass from Nolan Farris to Tommy Offer, the Highlanders had a chance to go up a score after stopping the Eagles on downs near midfield, with a 30-yard Farris run getting Adams into the red zone. But a fumble the other way gave the ball back to the Eagles on their own 1 — the same spot as the other miscue — and the half ended in a deadlock.

Adams turned it over on downs at midfield to open the second half, and the Eagles used the short field to take a 14-7 lead on a 5-yard Baker run.

On the final play of the third quarter, Hudsonville linebacker Ethan Carter got in the passing lane and tipped an interception to himself to set up another short field, and a 1-yard Baker TD run, making it 21-7 with 10:26 to play.

After another Adams drive stalled on downs with 8:03 to go, Hudsonville took six minutes off the clock before scoring again on a 5-yard pass from Baker to Jack Wills on fourth-and-goal, making it 27-7 with 1:55 to go.

The Adams offense spluttered much of the day, getting behind the sticks, and then in long down-and-distance plays, the Eagles would go to a ‘Radar’ defense, with no down linemen, bringing blitzers from all angles.

“We saw it on film, watched it, and we felt really good about our game plan against it — and really didn’t cause any problems for us at all, to be perfectly candid. We just had breakdowns in offense in the second half against their regular defense, and that put us in third-and-long where they can do that,” Patritto said. “And then we, you know, clearly, we had some backups in trying to make plays. And I give our kids a credit, they didn’t quit, and our kids really grinded to the end.”

Adams was looking for its third title-game appearance, and second in four seasons. This one may have been a bit less expected, though, considering that the Highlanders lost their starting quarterback to injury in that two-game midseason stretch. That’s why Patritto told the Highlanders “I love you to freakin’ death,” in the postgame meeting, after reminding them that they’d more than upheld the standard at Adams.

“We’re picked to take second-to-last in our league. We don’t have any four- or five-stars. Our quarterback (Ryland Watters) goes down in the middle of the season. He’s just an amazing player and next-man-up mentality. But really, ultimately, it’s like no one cares who gets the ball. No one cares who gets the glory. What a pleasure to be around, because it’s so rare in today’s society. So you hit the nail right on the head. I’m so proud to be associated with these kids because they were selfless, and they didn’t care what people thought, and they just did their best to try to win,” Patritto said.

“Honestly, that’s kind of the standard here. And I gotta give credit to the kids, the players that come to our program and have just kind of embraced that, and they’re the ones that carry it forward. So they’re all so memorable. I love these kids so much, but this is a special season.”