St. Johns runs over Fort Recovery (09/27/03)

FORT RECOVERY — The Fort Recovery football team started the game Friday night with a bang — returning the opening kickoff 79 yards for a touchdown — but the only other excitement of the evening came from the thunder of Delphos St. Johns rushing attack and the lighting that canceled the game in the third quarter.

Trailing the Blue Jays 41-8 with 1:12 remaining in the third quarter, the officials called the game due to the dangerous weather conditions — making the final score official — and effectively putting an end to Fort Recovery’s misery.

For as poorly as the game ended, it couldn’t have started any better. The Indians’ Stan Roessner took the opening kickoff and sprinted down the right sideline 79 yards to put the Indians on top.

But that was as good as it would get for Fort Recovery, as it had no answer for the Blue Jays’ ground game.

St. Johns racked up a total of 313 rushing yards compared to 11 for the Indians, who could only manage 23 yards of total offense and two first downs on the night.

Blue Jays running back Matt Shumaker had three touchdowns on runs of two, 12 and 52 yards. Senior fullback Ryan Warnecke had a 50-yard TD run in the second quarter.

Kyle Spieles added a 24-yard TD run in the third quarter for St. Johns, and after a Fort Recovery fumble, Spieles was back in the end zone less than one minute later for his second TD on the ground.

Fort Recovery lost three fumbles on the night, as the wet conditions and the Blue Jays defense never allowed the Indians to get into any kind of offense rhythm.

Indians quarterback Mark Willmann was 2-for-5 passing with only 12 yards.

Roessner was the leading rusherwith 12 yards.[[In-content Ad]]