No. 3 FRHS moves to 5-0

FORT RECOVERY — Wes Wenning was crowned homecoming king.
Minutes later he set the tone for a blowout victory.
Wenning caught passes on each of the first three Fort Recovery High School football team’s offensive plays, the last of which went for a 42-yard touchdown along the right sideline. It was the first of a career-high four TD passes for quarterback Caleb Martin as the Division VII No. 3 Indians earned a 41-0 homecoming victory over the Parkway Panthers and a 5-0 start for the first time in school history.
“We really put together a complete game,” said FRHS coach Brent Niekamp, whose team squeezed by a winless St. John’s squad a week earlier. “The last few weeks we’ve felt like we’ve played good in phases, but we didn’t have everything working at the same time. Tonight I felt like we had everything working well.
“That’s how we felt like we could play. I’m glad to see us do that. We took some steps forward.”
After forcing a three-and-out by Parkway (0-5, 0-3 Midwest Athletic Conferecen), the Indians took control on their own 36-yard line and immediately put the ball in the air.
Martin and Wenning first connected on a 14-yard pass, then followed with an 8-yarder. The next toss went deeper, with Wenning catching it in stride down the right sideline and carrying it into the end zone to give FRHS (5-0, 3-0 MAC) the lead for good.
The Indians went on to score on each of their five first-half drives.
The second TD came when Martin scrambled to his right on fourth down and found Adam LeFevere in the end zone for a 15-yard TD pass, and Kyle Schroer added the third on a 7-yard run on the second play of the second quarter.
A double pass — Martin first toss backward to Darien Sheffer in the left flat, and then the quarterback turned receiver found Schroer deep down the middle of the field — put FRHS up 27-0 as Schroer broke Caden May’s tackle attempt at the 25-yard line after the catch and then dodged Kevin Flaugher at the 10. A Martin to Schroer 18-yard scoring pass extended the lead going into the intermission.

Martin added his fourth TD pass, this time for 14 yards to Brandon “Speedy” Schoen, on the first drive of the second half before Niekamp sent in his junior varsity.
Martin missed on just four of his 20 tries Friday, racking up an efficient 241 yards as 10 different receivers caught passes. Wenning was the leader with eight receptions for 117 yards, and Schroer added three for 86.
“It was a combination of things,” said Niekamp, who also got a team-high 46 rushing yards form Martin. “We blocked well on the edge when we threw those screens. Those guys made routine catches … and Caleb made good reads and good decisions. All those things together equals a really good game.”
Parkway quarterback Justin Barna tossed for 101 yards, but the Panthers were limited to just 1.4 yards per carry on 19 rushing attempts.
Ross Homan and LeFevre each make six tackles to lead the defense in the shutout effort.
Fort Recovery had not won its first three games of a season since 2000 and had never been 4-0. Now undefeated midway through the regular season, they are tied atop the MAC with defending state champions Division V No. 1 Coldwater and Division VI No. 1 Marion Local.
“It feels incredible. It’s right where we want to be,” said Niekamp. “It’s kind of a history-making thing. That’s neat. It’s cool. It’s what these guys work to … they want to have a lot of firsts this year. It’s exciting and it’s fun and we’re looking forward to the next one.”