Martin shines at the ’Shoe

COLUMBUS, Ohio — There is no better time, and no better place, to have a coming out party.
Caleb Martin used the state’s biggest stage to put on the performance of a lifetime.
The Fort Recovery High School junior quarterback threw for a career-high 385 yards and tossed five touchdowns Friday.
This wasn’t just any game, in any stadium.
It was the Division VII state championship game. At Ohio Stadium. At The Ohio State University.
The perfect time. The perfect place.
Kids envision themselves having this type of performance. They dream of being the one to lead a team to a title.
Not Martin. He knew he had to enter The Horseshoe and get to work.
“I didn’t really envision playing this well,” he said. “I just knew that I needed to get the ball in the hands of our playmakers and I did.
“They just made a lot of stuff happen. Everybody just made plays.”
Martin completed 25 of his 39 passing attempts, more than double his average for the season.
He found open receivers all over the field — in the flats, short near the sideline, deep down the sidelines and over the middle.
FRHS coach Brent Niekamp said it was his game plan to throw more than usual, but as Martin methodically picked apart the Mogadore defense Friday night, he continued to get the ball.
“I’ve had confidence all year,” Martin said. “The whole coaching staff has had confidence in me.
“My teammates, they know that I can do this, and I know once I get the ball to them they make the stuff happen.
“My job is to get them the ball.”
He did it early, and often, and occasionally before getting drilled.
Midway through the second quarter, Martin took the snap from the Indians’ 25 yard line, dropped back and hit Brandon “Speedy” Schoen in stride for a 75-yard touchdown pass. Moments after letting go of the football he got blasted by Mogadore defensive lineman Kyle Callihan.
That’s the sign of a good quarterback, staying in the pocket, waiting for the receivers to get downfield and delivering a strike to a teammate before absorbing contact.
Niekamp, too, said he didn’t think Martin would have such a breakout game in the biggest stage of his life, but knew it was possible.
“I don’t know if I necessarily envisioned it, but we knew that he could play this well,” Niekamp said. “The opportunities were there as far as coverages and matchups, so we kept going to it and he kept making plays throughout the game.”
That included missing a drive in the third quarter with a leg cramp. Martin scrambled on a broken play, and then had his calves tighten up after being brought to the turf. He was taken out for the remainder of the series — it stalled after a handful of positive running plays from backup quarterback Jason Roessner.
When he returned, he continued to get down to business, staying on the same page with his receivers as he had all game. On multiple occasions throughout the contest when Fort Recovery pass catchers turned to look for the ball, it was already approaching with zip behind it and was placed so only they could catch it.
“It is a lot of off-season work,” said senior Wes Wenning, who had eight catches for 121 yards. “We worked out a lot, along with a bunch of other guys. We worked really hard on that timing. We got to know each other really well.
“We knew that if they gave us cushion we were going to capitalize on that. That’s what we did.”
Martin threw passes to four different teammates — Tanner Koch, Darien Sheffer, Schoen and Wenning. Koch caught five passes for 49 yards and two touchdowns, Sheffer had 79 yards on five catches with a 15-yard score, and Schoen finished with 125 yards, the bulk of which on the long scoring play.
The five of them worked in unison, dismantling the No. 2 Mogadore defense that was allowing 8.25 points per game in each of its last four contests.
It’s what the signal-caller said was the product of putting in the time during the summer.
“In the off-season we worked really hard at getting our timing down on our routes,” he said. “We knew that if we just came in and did our jobs and we did everything right like we’ve been practicing all year, we knew we would have a lot of success at whatever we did.”
Know what else came from those countless hours working together in the off-season?
The drive to get to week 15. And win.
“Ever since our first workout in early May we knew this was the goal from the start,” Martin said. “Our goal was to get here, and we knew once we did we were going to be good enough to win the game.”
The Indians weren’t just “good enough.”
They were almost flawless.
Martin, he wasn’t too bad either.
It was the perfect time. It was the perfect place.
When Martin jogged through the tunnel of Ohio Stadium into the home locker room, he carried the weight of the village on his shoulders.
And a state championship, too.