Indians advance

FORT LORAMIE, Ohio — The Indians were just hoping to make it to week 11.
Now they get to prepare for week 12.
The Fort Recovery High School football team scored 28 unanswered points Saturday, dismantling the Fort Loramie Redskins 28-7 in the Division VII Region 26 quarterfinal.
The Indians (7-4) advance to the regional semifinal against three-time defending state champion and top-ranked Marion Local at 7 p.m. Saturday in Wapakoneta.
“I think it’s still sinking in,” FRHS coach Brent Niekamp said following the victory. “I’m really proud of our kids for stepping into a game like this, playing well on a big stage and showing that they belong here.”
Fort Loramie’s Josh Siegel put the Redskins (7-4) on the board on the game’s opening drive, which was aided by a 77-yard pass and catch from Andy Grewe to Grant Olberding. Fort Recovery then fumbled at the Redskin 14-yard line, but forced the home team to punt after FRHS freshman Andrew Stocker tackled Wes Puthoff on second down and Grewe’s pass on third-and-14 fell incomplete.
From there it was all Fort Recovery, which was making its first playoff appearance in program history.
The Indians, who had enough fans at the game to fill the home bleachers, scored on each of their next four possessions, while holding the Redskins to just seven offensive plays for the remainder of the half.
Cole Hull finished off a 16-play, 97-yard drive with his first of two touchdowns. The senior, who led all players with 124 rushing yards, carried the ball five times on the possession before finding the end zone from 10 yards out.
“In the beginning of the game we started slow,” Hull said of his offense. “We expected more blitzes. After we got more pickups I didn’t think we were going to be stopped.”
Although Hull had another stellar performance running the football, he was quick to praise the rest of his teammates for his individual successes.
“I get a lot of credit I don’t really deserve,” he added. “We’ve got 11 people on the field. I just feel like they should get some recognition.”
On the Indians’ next drive, Mitch Stammen took a pass from sophomore quarterback Caleb Martin down the left sideline for 38 yards and into Redskin territory, and Hull notched his second score on a 29-yard scamper to give Fort Recovery the lead for good.
Martin was 11-of-18 for 205 yards, 107 of which were to first-team All-Midwest Athletic Conference wide receiver Wes Wenning, who caught five passes.
Fort Recovery’s defense, which allowed only 185 yards of total offense, followed by forcing the Redskins into their second-straight three-and-out. Martin then orchestrated a 63-yard drive in 50 seconds, and Kyle Schroer caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from Stammen with 17 seconds left in the second quarter. Schroer, who mans the backfield with Hull but doesn’t register as many carries, had 48 yards on seven rushes and scored the game’s final touchdown to open the third quarter.
And after the Redskins’ score on the opening drive, the Fort Recovery defense stood tall the rest of the game. Seven of Fort Loramie’s 10 possessions lasted four plays or fewer.
“We’ve come a long way this season,” said senior linebacker Seth Riegle, who was second on the team with eight tackle’s behind Evan Schoen’s 11 stops. “This is probably the best defense I’ve seen in the last four years of playing. The linebackers are flying down hill (and) the defensive line did a great job.”
Riegle, who also had 1 1/2 tackles for loss, commended Stocker for stepping up as a youngster. The freshman had five tackles and added one of the Indians’ eight tackles for loss.
Fort Loramie coach Matt Burgbacher said the Redskins, who rely heavily on Grewe, just weren’t able to get much offense going after the game’s opening drive.
“The second series we got a couple first downs, and from there on out we couldn’t sustain anything,” Fort Loramie coach Matt Burgbacher said. “In the second half we’d get a first down but we couldn’t get two or three in a row.
“We couldn’t get that momentum back.”
After Fort Recovery scored on its first drive following halftime, both teams had five more possessions, all of which came up empty. Only one of Fort Loramie’s drives lasted more than four plays, but three straight incompletions in Fort Recovery territory forced the Redskins to turn the ball over on downs.
Although the Indians surpassed their goal of simply making it to the playoffs, Niekamp said the postseason victory was not just for those on the field, but the players and coaches — Niekamp is a 1999 FRHS graduate — who helped get the program to where it is now.
“I think of guys before me who started the program who are just diehards and support us all the time,” said Niekamp, whose team’s seven wins is the most in the 23-year history of the program. “We had a huge crowd tonight.
“It was overwhelming to see all of those people and how big of a deal this is.”