FR dismantles Stritch

FORT RECOVERY - The Indians left no doubt Friday night.

A week after dropping a 10-point, fourth-quarter lead to Ansonia, Fort Recovery High School's football team racked up 42 points in the first half on the way to a 56-7 victory over the Cardinal Stritch Cardinals.

"The scoreboard looks good, that's the main thing," said FRHS coach Brent Niekamp, who emphasized the importance of bouncing back after a 52-48 season-opening loss to Ansonia. "We talked about that this week and before the game that we wanted to make a statement. We had to get back on the right track in terms of how hard we play and how well we play."

The Tribe (1-1), which put up 61 first-half points in last season's match-up, held Cardinal Stritch to a three-and-out on the opening drive of the game and then marched down the field with its spread offense. Quarterback Greg Kahlig completed three passes to Craig Tobe and two to Nathan Keller while running twice for 18 yards. With the ball on the 7-yard line he rolled out to his left and bought time before finding Michael Gaerke in the back of the end zone for the 7-0 lead.

Kahlig took the Indians down the field again on their second drive before missing on three straight throws from the 11-yard line. Niekamp gave him another chance on fourth down and he cashed it in, this time rolling to his right before finding Keller for the TD.

Fort Recovery's defense limited the Cardinals to three-and-outs on each of their first four drives, setting up a 14-yard TD pass from Kahlig to Tobe and a 33-yard TD run by Aaron Vagedes. A Cardinal Stritch fumble resulted in a 37-yard TD pass from Kahlig to Gaerke two plays later, and Kahlig capped the first-half scoring with a 9-yard bootleg for a TD.

In the first half, Kahlig racked up 226 of his 232 yards as he finished 20-of-36 passing. Tobe and Keller each had six receptions for 59 and 53 yards respectively, and Gaerke caught four balls for 73 yards.

Shane Brunswick did most of the work in the second half with 11 carries for 122 yards and a TD.

The Indians' defensive effort was equally impressive as they shut out Cardinal Stritch in the first half. The Cardinals finished with just 175 total yards, and quarterback A.J. Zalewski struggled to a 3-of-17 passing effort.

"That was good. I'm happy with the defense," said Niekamp, whose team gave up 32 points to Cardinal Stritch last season. "They just played real solid and real smart. They kept things in front of them and made the tackles."[[In-content Ad]]