To the finals

LIMA, Ohio — Bend but not break.
That was how Friday night went for the Fort Recovery defense in the Division VII Region 26 semifinal against Lehman Catholic at Lima Spartan Stadium — don’t fret about giving up big plays and lots of yardage, just keep the points to a minimum.
Fortunately for the eighth-ranked Indians, the offense provided enough cushion.
Fort Recovery, which is seeded third, scored on its first two possessions, allowed only a field goal and added breathing room in the fourth quarter in a 20-3 victory against the No. 7 seed Cavaliers.
“We gave up some yards, but we didn’t give up very many points and I’m happy with that because we made some plays when we needed to,” said FRHS coach Brent Niekamp, whose team advances to the regional title game for the first time in school history and a rematch with fifth-ranked and top-seeded Minster. The Wildcats, who won the Division VI state championship last year, defeated Riverside 21-6 in their regional semifinal matchup.
The Tribe suffered one of its two losses this season to Minster, 14-12.
At Lima Spartan Stadium on Friday, Lehman Catholic (7-4) actually out-gained Fort Recovery, 298-283. But it was the Indians who cashed in for points while keeping their opponents out of the end zone.
Fort Recovery (10-2), which with each victory continues to build on its record for wins in a season, marched 65 yards in nine plays on the game’s opening drive for its first score.
After a Kyle Schroer run on first down yielded 5 yards, back-to-back Caleb Martin passes to Tanner Koch and Brandon “Speedy” Schoen got the Indians to the Lehman Catholic 34-yard line. Six plays later from the Cavalier 8, Martin rolled to his right and hit tight end Ryan Braun streaking across the field for a touchdown.
After the extra point attempt was blocked — Schroer, the holder, left the game after injuring his ankle on the play — the Indians had a 6-0 lead less than three minutes into the contest.
Lehman Catholic turned the ball over on downs on its own 39-yard line when Owen Smith was stuffed at the line of scrimmage on fourth-and-1.
On the next play, Martin was chased from the pocket and threw off his back foot toward Wes Wenning in the middle of the field.
Wenning, who finished with five catches for 85 yards, leaped over two defenders to grab the ball, and as the pair of would-be Lehman Catholic tacklers fell to the ground, Wenning pranced into the end zone for a 39-yard touchdown, breaking three school records on the play. He became the school’s all-time leader for receiving touchdowns (15), receiving yards in a season (920) and career receiving yards (1,667).
But after the two scoring drives, the Indians’ offense stalled, turning the ball over twice — once on an interception and again on a fumble — and had to punt twice as well.
“I thought in the first quarter we started off strong, but later in the half we just didn’t execute,” said Martin, who completed nine of his 17 pass attempts for 128 yards and a pair of touchdowns. “We had some miscues. We had some turnovers. The second half we still struggled but later on we got the touchdown and that sealed it for us.”
Lehman Catholic quarterback Stephen Monnin, who had a team-high 108 rushing yards, orchestrated a 13-play drive to start the third quarter. Monnin, who also threw for 75 yards, called his own number seven times, as the Cavaliers got down to the Fort Recovery 6-yard line before settling for a 23-yard field goal from Ian Smith.
“That Monnin kid, he is a great football player,” said Niekamp, who noted the Cavaliers improved greatly since the Indians defeated them 36-0 to open the season. “He had great command of their offense and was able to keep us off-balance defensively.
“You could tell in the first game when we played him he was a little jittery and uncomfortable — we could make him uncomfortable. We had a hard time making him uncomfortable tonight. He was a physical runner. He wasn’t afraid of anything. That made it really hard to handle him.”
Fort Recovery sophomore running back Will Homan, who scored four times in the Indians’ 62-34 victory last week against Miami Valley, shouldered the responsibility in the backfield after Schroer got hurt.
The speedster had 51 rushing yards at halftime, but exploded for 120 in the second half, including a 25-yard touchdown run nearly two minutes into the fourth quarter.
“He runs so hard,” Niekamp said of Homan. “He trusts his offensive line and they take a lot of pride in allowing him to be able to operate that way.
“That is a group effort. We have to be able to do all the things well for him to get those kinds of yards. He’s an animal.”