Parkway holds off Indians (09/02/06)

FORT RECOVERY - It wasn't pretty.

Miscues, penalties and missed opportunities were the order of the day Friday for both the Fort Recovery Indians and the visiting Parkway Panthers.

But in the end - despite racking up more offense and more first downs - the Indians also chalked up more mistakes and ended up on the losing end of a 12-7 score.

Penalties were one factor, with Fort Recovery being penalized nine times for 83 yards while the Panthers were flagged just five times for 56 yards. But it was their timing as much as their number that made the difference.

Time and again the Indians were their own worst enemy, putting together two or three good plays only to derail their own drives.

After a scoreless first quarter, Parkway's Jeremy Heiser hit a 22-yard field goal to put the Panthers up 3-0. Then things started to go sour for Fort Recovery.

First a penalty interrupted an Indians drive, then a bad snap led to Wes Kahlig being nailed in the end zone on a 10-yard loss for a safety with 3:07 on the clock.

Smelling blood, Parkway put together its one and only convincing drive of the night, ending in a 2-yard TD run by Jordan Thompson.

Heiser's kick was good to put the Panthers up 12-0.

Late in the third quarter, it was the Indians turn to put together a consistent drive. That set up a 3-yard touchdown run by Matt Tobe in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter. Jordan Staugler's kick was good to make it 12-7.

A second touchdown drive looked at times to be in the cards, but the Indians couldn't get to the end zone again.

Fort Recovery had 236 yards of total offense, 190 in the air, while limiting Parkway to 173 yards.

The Indians had 13 first downs to the Panthers' seven. But third-down conversions continued to be a headache, with the Indians converting on just 14.3 percent of their attempts.

Toby Metzger completed 13 passes on 36 attempts for 168 yards. His longest was 36 yards, and he gave up one interception. Troy Metzger was 1-for-1 in the passing department for 22 yards.

Matt Tobe was the leading rusher for the Indians with 54 yards, and Matt Braun rushed for 17 yards.[[In-content Ad]]