Downed by No. 1

MARIA STEIN, Ohio — The Tribe moved the ball into the Flyers’ territory on its first drive, but got stopped on fourth down.

When the Flyers pushed back the other way, the Indians caught a few breaks to put the undefeated, four-time defending state champs in fourth-and-long. But one big pass play secured first down and set up a short run to break the ice.

And that sequence repeated itself all night.

The 12th-seeded, No. 10 Fort Recovery High School football team had its season come to a close in a 35-0 loss Friday to the No. 1 Marion Local Flyers in their OHSAA Division VII Regional 28 semifinal.

While the season comes to a close for the Tribe (7-6) after winning a playoff game for  the first time since 2021, Marion Local (12-0) extended its winning streak — it dates back to the 2021 season — to 76 games and will face another Midwest Athletic Conference team in St. Henry in the regional final.

“They’re well coached and you can tell that’s a 20-year system they’re doing over there with their kids,” said FRHS first-year coach Wes Wenning. “They’re well coached, technique is to a T, anything you feel you have an edge in is completely wiped out.

“We took some gambles early on and sometimes those pay off and sometimes you feel like you die right then and there, but regardless, I’m proud of these dudes and the way they fought tonight.”

While the Indians’ gambles didn’t often pay off, the Flyers’ risks resulted in touchdowns.

On Marion Local’s first drive of the game, it marched down the field to the 28-yard line. After a trio of short runs by Ben Meier and Kamden Eifert, who led with 112 yards on 20 carries, the top-ranked team faced fourth-and-3.

The Flyers then had a false start, setting them back 5 yards for fourth-and-8 at Fort Recovery’s 29-yard line. But they took a gamble and it paid off as Brennen Hess’ pass found Brayden Mescher for a 22-yard reception and a first down.

Eifert punched the ball into the end zone on the very next play for a 7-yard score, the longest of the game.

“Whenever you can extend a drive, especially early, and you can convert on it, you never know how that changes the game,” said MLHS coach Tim Goodwin. “(Fort Recovery) came here and wanted to play a physical game. It took us a couple of plays there to figure out what they wanted to do. Wes is doing a great job over there and they’re moving in the right direction.”

That became a trend on nearly all the following drives. The Flyers would come up with one or two big plays before eventually punching in a short touchdown.

Mescher caught two of those passes, while Hess found Eifert once and Oliver Huelsman another time. Hess finished with 211 yards on 14-of-15 passing (93.3%), but didn’t have any touchdowns. Four of the scores came from Eifert, while Mescher punched in a direct snap from the 2-yard line.

The Tribe only made two stops — one to start the second half when Marion Local turned the ball over on downs and another in the fourth quarter after the game had been decided.

On the other side of the field, the Tribe couldn’t get the ball rolling enough to score. Reece Wendel finished with the most offense for Fort Recovery with 77 yards on 14 carries.

Alex Gaerke was better in first half with 36 yards as he completed three of his six passing attempts, but couldn’t find any receivers in the second half.

“It’s just consistency of putting together 10-12 positive plays against this defense,” Wenning said. “At times we moved the ball well and then it came to finishing. It felt like we were just short of finishing.”

Still, the Indians saw improvement over the season. Not only did they win their first playoff game since 2021, they made the regional semifinal for the first time since 2016 and their seven wins were more than the last three seasons combined. (They had three in 2022, one in 2023 and two in 2024.)

“It’s meant the world for me,” said Wendel, who played his final football game for the Tribe. “I’m unbelievably grateful for coach Wes and everybody who came back. They mean so much even if they didn’t start on the actual field, just in practice. They were all helpful the whole season. Every single day was amazing.”

Wenning is also looking forward to a brighter future.

“It was a stepping stone in the right direction,” he said. “This is the fourth time in school history that we’ve had seven or more wins. I’ve raved about these seniors and their sacrifice … I can’t express my gratitude to these seniors enough.”