Indians are chasing history

FORT RECOVERY — Fort Recovery’s football team has already etched itself into the record books.
But Brent Niekamp and the Indians still aren’t satisfied.
They want to make it to week 11 and the playoffs — a place no Tribe team has been before.
The Division VII No. 8 Indians (4-1, 2-1 Midwest Athletic Conference) are coming off back-to-back conference wins against St. Johns and Parkway, and have a chance to move to 5-1 when they host a winless New Bremen squad Friday for homecoming.
They are currently second in Division VII Region 26 in computer points, trailing only top-ranked conference rival Marion Local. The top eight teams in each region advance to the playoffs.
“It’s fun,” FRHS coach Brent Niekamp said. “Everybody is excited about how we’ve been doing. At the same time there’s an understanding that we need to improve to accomplish the things we set out to accomplish at the beginning of the year.”
Niekamp said much of the Tribe’s success can be credited to the upperclassmen.
“I have to attribute a lot of how our season is going to our seniors and the expectation level they’ve set earlier in the year,” said Niekamp, who is in his 10th year at the helm of Fort Recovery. “We’ve got to the point where we’re approaching games with a lot of confidence in what we can do, and they’ve set a standard with how hard we have to play to be successful.”
Continued from page 14
On defense, much of what they’ve done starts with the Schoen twins, Alex and Evan. Alex leads the team in tackles with 49, and Evan is close behind with 48. The latter also has a team-leading 5.5 tackles for a loss. Nick Link and Tony Keller have two sacks apiece.
Nathan Locthefeld has two interceptions and a fumble recovery, and Mitch Stammen has recovered two fumbles and picked off one pass.
“I think every week they’re understanding their responsibilities defensively better,” Niekamp said. “They’re able to play faster. They take a lot of time preparing. They watch a lot of film, and they try to get to a point where they have a good idea what they’re going to see when the other team lines up.
“If you watch us, we’ve gotten a lot of guys to the ball pretty consistently defensively, and that’s pretty key to playing good defense.”
Despite surrendering more than 230 yards of offense per game, Fort Recovery has kept opposing teams out of the end zone, only allowing an average of 13.6 points. The Indians have held four of their five opponents to fewer than 20 points, including a shutout of state-line rival Jay County Sept. 5. Anna was the only team to eclipse 20 points, in a 34-20 defeat of the Tribe on Sept. 12.
On the other side of the ball, Fort Recovery is racking up nearly 350 yards of total offense and scoring 31 points per game. The Indians have compiled 929 rushing yards, while throwing for 811.
“I think we have a pretty good balance in that we’re pretty comfortable being able to run the ball or throw it depending on when we feel like we see opportunities as far as the other team’s defense,” Niekamp said. “I think any time you have the ability to do both that helps you so much offensively.”
Senior running back Cole Hull is the Indians’ leading rusher with 564 yards on 77 carries. He has also hauled in five passes for 123 yards. The 5-foot, 9-inch running back has scored nine total touchdowns — seven on the ground, one through the air and another on a kick return.
Sophomore quarterback Caleb Martin has thrown for 765 yards so far this season, tossing eight touchdown passes compared to five interceptions.
“It doesn’t mean we’re going to be 50/50 every night, but we feel we can be,” Niekamp said of the balanced attack.
Hull, who had 146 rushing yards and three total touchdowns against Jay County, said the Indians are having fun this season as they push for the playoffs.
“We’re a lot louder than we have been in years past,” he said of the atmosphere in practice, in the locker room and on the sideline during games. “We have Seth Riegle and a few guys that are … hyped. I guess that’s the only way I can describe it.”