Something to cheer about (09/20/07)

FORT RECOVERY - Every year there is a homecoming week.

But this year is different. This year Fort Recovery has something to get excited about.

Friday's 33-20 win over Versailles, the Tribe's first over the Tigers in school history, lifted the team to 3-1 heading into this week's matchup against the Anna Rockets.

"It's different. It's a lot more fun," said Frank Thien, a junior who has been in the backfield both passing and running the ball as he's shared quarterback duties with sophomore Greg Kahlig. "Practice is more routine. It's just more fun to be at, a better atmosphere, just a lot more fun to play."

The difficult history of Fort Recovery football is well-documented.

The team is coming off four straight 1-9 seasons, and has not won this many games since the 1999 (3-7) and 2000 (4-6) seasons. Both of those campaigns started with three consecutive non-conference wins before the Indians stumbled to a combined 1-13 record in the brutal MAC. That's where this year is different.

After opening with a 33-0 shellacking of Ansonia, the Indians rebounded from a Midwest Athletic Conference-opening loss to Parkway in week two with wins over Minster (19-15) and Versailles. The two league wins are the most in Fort Recovery history, matching the 1997 season that saw victories over Minster and Parkway.

The best season in school history came at 6-4 in 1994, the year before the Tribe entered the MAC for football.

"It's been amazing just because we've always been known as the underdog team," said lineman Chuck Shier, "and we're finally coming out and showing people how we can actually play.

"It's real big. ... With winning, it gets the town of Fort Recovery involved more and we get more people at the games."

Both Thien and Shier said their goals haven't changed since the start of two-a-days this summer. From top to bottom, the Indians have believed from the beginning that they had a chance to make the playoffs for the first time in school history.

"We felt like we had some good players in place who have been here for a while and we were able to build and increase our numbers a little bit," said third-year coach Brent Niekamp, a Fort Recovery graduate. "It's fun to be in that position. Usually by week four we've never looked at computer points or anything like that. It's fun for the kids to have that chance now."

In Ohio, a tournament berth is not automatic in football. Instead, the top eight teams in each region, based on a point system that factors a team's victory as well as its opponents' victories, move on after the 10-game regular season.

Although there is a lot of football left to be played, Fort Recovery is currently tied for seventh with Harvest Prep in computer points in Division VI's Region 24 with an average of 4.25. Undefeated Catholic Central tops the region at 6.9.

Entering the season, Niekamp wasn't talking about wins and losses. He still isn't.

"I think that approach has allowed us to do what we've done, and we have to keep that approach," said Niekamp. "We say at halftime of the games, "Win or lose, the numbers don't matter, the score doesn't matter, we've got to continue to try to do things the way that we're taught to do them. We know what's a good play and what's not and we have to try to continue to make good plays.' And our guys are buying into that.

"1-9 to winning more games sounds like a big difference, but the differences aren't that big. We're doing a few things better, more often. Our systems are a little more sound and we're just getting better at them."

What Niekamp wants is for his Indians to look like a football team - to follow their assignments, line up correctly, tackle and block properly, run exact routes and make catches. And those things have been happening more and more.

"Most often, if you watch the game and our guys look like they know what they're doing and are trying to execute what we tell them to, then I'm happy.

"Everybody has got a job. The team works like a puzzle, and if all the pieces fit, it looks really good. If one doesn't it can look terrible. We just try to get that percentage as high as we can all the time."

Niekamp said it's been the accumulation of a lot of little things that have made the first month of the season special. But, the signature moment for the Indians thus far came in their only home game.

Fort Recovery, pinned inside its own 15-yard line, faced a 15-13 deficit to the Minster Wildcats with less than two minutes on the clock. Kahlig tossed a 7-yard pass to make it third-and 8, then gave the Indians a chance.

The sophomore connected on a 51-yard pass with senior receiver Bobby Rammel to get the Tribe in Minster territory. Three plays later Fort Recovery was in the red zone, setting up Kahlig's game-winning, 9-yard touchdown run with just 38 seconds remaining.

The thrilling, last-minute victory sent a Super Bowl-like fervor through the village, which has seen so little success since first fielding a football team for a partial season in 1992.

"It was important for us to overcome that many bad things happening in a game and still pull it out," said Niekamp of the 19-15 win. "I think that showed to our guys that we're always in it and we always have a chance. That was definitely a momentum builder within the season."

Now the Indians will look to build on the momentum of back-to-back MAC wins against Anna, a conference newcomer in 2006.

The Rockets, who blasted Fort Recovery 41-0 a year ago, are 3-1 this season. The only common opponent between the two thus far is Versailles, a team Anna defeated 35-13 Sept. 7.

A win on homecoming would mean a third MAC win for the first time in school history. It would give the Indians their most overall wins since joining the league. It would put them within one victory of a .500 season. And, with Anna being a Division V school, it would be a huge step toward a playoff berth.

"Right now school and practice is a lot of fun," said Niekamp. "And I think it would get even more fun it that happened. It would be big."[[In-content Ad]]