Coaches' dreams come true

Toby Metzger is easy to spot on the Fort Recovery sidelines, and not just because he always wears shorts.
He’s also the guy, along with a couple of players at his sides, waving his arms and flashing his fingers before each offensive play. On Friday night, they’ll get to display those antics on the sidelines at Ohio Stadium.
Playing in the Division VII state championship at 3 p.m. Friday in Columbus will fulfill not only a dream for the players, but also Brent Niekamp and his coaching staff that includes Dave Blockberger, Tyler Wuebker, Kirk “Smoke” Link and Metzger.
“It is just incredible, especially since I started with this senior class when they were in seventh grade,” said Metzger, a 2009 FRHS graduate who began coaching in the football program at the junior high level immediately after graduating from FRHS in 2009. “It’s just incredible to see them succeed and to live through them. I mean, I’m living my dream through them but still being able to be a part of it coaching and helping them.”
Much of the staff’s most important work occurs long before kickoff, with each coach watching film independently Saturday and Sunday.
Niekamp breaks down the opposition’s running game, and Metzger looks at its passing game. As the offensive coordinator, Blockberger reviews the defense and how to attack it. Wuebker, who graduated a season before Niekamp took over the program, pays attention to personnel, trying to identify the opposition’s strongest players or weakest links. And Link tracks the details of the special teams.
Then the staff gathers Sunday evening for an hour or two to discuss how the Indians will approach the upcoming game.
“Those guys spend a lot of time watching video Saturday and Sunday, and then we put the plan together Sunday night,” said Niekamp. “And then once Monday hits, everything is set. There’s not much adjusting after that.”
Each coach has an assignment during practice as well, with Niekamp working with the offensive line and linebackers. He also runs the scout team offense.
Blockberger handles the quarterbacks, running backs and safeties, Metzger the receivers and cornerbacks, Link the defensive tackles, offensive line and special teams and Wuebker the defensive ends and H-backs. Link is also responsible for the scout team defense.
When game day rolls around, Link and Wuebker make the defensive line substitutions, which are frequent, and keep an eye on personnel groupings. Often, teams have specific players they bring on the field for certain types of plays.
Blockberger watches from above in the press box, relaying offensive plays down to the sideline where Metzger stands along with sophomore Cade Wendel and freshman Clayton Pearson, who are backup quarterbacks behind starter Caleb Martin. Once they get the call from Blockberger — he likes being in the press box because it allows him better ability to read defenses, make adjustments and focus on the game plan in less chaotic environment — all three begin gesturing to the players on the field.
Only one is giving the real signals. The other two are throwing up dummy signs. Sometimes they’re real signals for plays that have not been called, and sometimes they’re completely made up.
The signaling job used to be Metzger’s alone, but the Tribe added Wendel and Pearson to create confusion for opponents.
“When you do stuff like that, eventually somebody’s going to start picking up some stuff that you do,” said Niekamp. “So we had Cade and Clayton learn all the signals … and stand beside him so people can’t tell which guy is actually signaling things in. And we can switch. It’s very easy if we think somebody is getting a bead on something we can switch which guy is the real signal.”
Though the coaching staff won’t say, for obvious reasons, how often it changes who is giving the real signals. But they do note that when Metzger was late arriving to the Tribe’s regular-season game against Minster after his honeymoon, it was Wendel who was passing on Blockberger’s offensive calls.
The result — two drives, two touchdowns.
The trust to allow a freshman and a sophomore to have a hand in the play calling is no different, Niekamp said, than trusting an Indian on the field to execute a play correctly. That confidence that the players and coaches have in each other has been key to the metamorphosis from a team that had just one winning season in two decades to one that is now preparing to play for a state championship.
“It’s huge. But really, I think to be effective, you have to (delegate),” said Niekamp. “If I tried to do all that stuff, there’s no way I could be effective at it. So I have to trust those guys.
“They really want to do well. So they’re really working hard to hold up their ends of their responsibilities. We all are. And I feel like that’s how our team works too. The bottom line is, everybody wants to win. We want to do as well as we can. Now we have a chance to win a championship, and that’s really special.”