Fenik has a day to celebrate (08/28/04)

FORT RECOVERY — Simon Xavier Fenik has some pretty amazing timing.

Simon Xavier is the 1-day-old son of Fort Recovery football coach Mark Fenik and his wife Leslie. He was born at 6:30 p.m. Friday night, just in time for his father to make it to his season opener, see Greg Faller run for a 35-yard touchdown on his team’s first offensive play and watch his team roll to a 33-6 win over the Ansonia Tigers in just three quarters.

The game was delayed at the end of the third quarter because of lightning. Officials waited for more than an hour before official calling the contest.

“It’s a fantastic day,” said Fenik after the game. “First and foremost, having a son born is a great experience. I’m really proud of my wife and son. They’re doing well at (Mercer County Memorial) Hospital right now.”

Fenik stayed home from school Friday to be with Leslie, and she checked into the hospital at 4 p.m. Simon was born at 6:30 p.m., and Fenik headed to the stadium at 6:55.

He arrived just 15 minutes before kickoff at 7:30 p.m. When Simon’s dimensions — 7 pounds, 2 ounces and 19 inches long — were announced over the public address system, it was news to him too.

Fenik said he had always joked with Leslie that if she was in labor, he would be at the game.

“I don’t know if you can thank her,” he quipped, “but I’m glad she had the baby before game time.”

Fenik has two other sons, 4-year-old Victor and 2-year-old Jacob.

Ironically, Fort Recovery boys basketball coach Brian Patch and his wife Anne also brought a son into the world Friday.

Daniel Joseph Patch was born at 2:20 p.m. and weighed in at nine pounds, eight ounces. He has a sister, Olivia, 2.

Fenik watched his team stop Ansonia three-and-out — as it did four times in the first quarter — on the first drive of the 2004 season. Dusty Guggenbiller returned the Tiger punt 13 yards, and Faller ran the up and middle and cut left for a 35-yard touchdown run on the Indians’ first play from scrimmage.

“It’s a great feeling,” Fenik said. “You’re on top of the world. ... We came right out and scored and you’re thinking, ‘Hey, this is our day and we’re going to have fun.”’

And they did.

Faller did a replay of his first run on the first play of the Tribe’s second drive, this time cutting right for 35 yards to take the ball to the Ansonia 23-yard line. Four plays later on third-and-goal from the 20-yard line, he scored on a delayed draw play as he took the handoff after quarterback Mark Willmann faked a wide receiver screen pass.

Willmann added to the lead with 1:53 to play in the first quarter, hitting Tyler Wuebker on a 37-yard touchdown pass on third-and eight. It was Willmann’s first pass attempt of the evening.

After Fort Recovery fumbled at the 1-yard-line on its next drive, Willmann put the game away. On the Tigers’ third play he picked off a Craig Fosnaugh pass and took it 20 yards to the end zone for a 26-0 Indian advantage.

“I’m really proud of the young men who played the game tonight,” said Fenik. “Starting out the game ... we took it the first three drives, went down the field and scored. We had another chance and we fumbled, but we got a quick interception and scored again. It’s a lot of fun playing football (like that).

“I think the one thing that really set the tempo was our defense. We came out, we kicked off to them and we were three plays and out. We were stuffing them. We had good field position right from the get go. I think we established ourselves as a competitive football team.”

Ansonia (0-1) did not get past midfield until the second quarter, and got its lone touchdown on a 1-yard dive by Tony Koesters with 2:52 to play in the half. Willmann added a 5-yard scoring run for Fort Recovery midway through the third quarter, and the game was called after the long lightning delay.

Faller racked up 129 yards on nine first-half carries, which put him more than halfway to the school’s single-game record of 235 yards set by Chad Timmerman against Wayne Trace in 2000. He ran once in the third quarter to finish with 143 yards.

Fort Recovery (1-0) defeated Ansonia 30-22 in 2003. However, it went on to lose its final nine games, scoring more than 14 points just once.

After such a great start to the 2004 campaign, Fenik is hoping for a different outcome.

“Greg Faller is a great individual, he is a great leader,” he said. “If he stays healthy this entire season we have a chance to be very successful.

“And really that’s true for a lot of our players. As long as we stay healthy I think our first group can be competitive with just about anyone.”

The Tribe had three players, including speedy tailback Dominick Post, rush for at least 35 yards in the game. Post scampered 11 times for 68 yards, Mark Hemmelgarn ran seven times for 38 yards and Dusty Guggenbiller carried four times for 35 yards.

Willmann finished 1-of-2 through the air for 27 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Ansonia managed just 78 yards of total offense, with Koesters leading the way with 50 yards on the ground on 12 carries. Tyler Runner rushed five times for 40 yards.

Fosnaugh went 4-of-10 passing for just 18 yards.[[In-content Ad]]