Defending champs beat Fort Recovery

MARIA STEIN, Ohio — Back-to-back games against defending state champions have resulted in back-to-back losses for the Indians.
The Division VII No. 9 Fort Recovery High School football team, which opened 6-0 for the first time in school history, suffered its second consecutive defeat Friday, 28-0 to the host Division VI No. 1 Marion Local Flyers.
The Tribe fell 14-12 Oct. 9 to the Minster Wildcats, who won the Division VI state title last season.
The Flyers (8-0, 5-1 Midwest Athletic Conference), who earned their fourth straight Division VII state title in 2014 before bumping up to Division VI this year, took control early against the Indians. They first converted a third-and-5 play on their opening drive and then on fourth-and-7 Cole Griesdorn connected with Matt Kahlig for a 38-yard touchdown pass.
Fort Recovery (6-2, 4-2 MAC) responded by driving deep into Flyer territory, but did not have the same success on fourth down. Their try on fourth-and-7 from the 9-yard line resulted in a Griesdorn interception.
A Griesdorn keeper on the final play of the first quarter went for 52 yards, setting up a 7-yard Aaron Nietfeld scoring run on the opening play of the second for a 14-0 lead.
The Indians’ next three drives ended in punts while Griesdorn added a 25-yard TD pass to Hunter Wilker for a 21-point advantage at the half.
Marion Local scored the only points of the second half on a 1-yard TD run by Jack Homan while the Tribe never crossed midfield.
The Indians were limited to just 126 yards of total offense, most of which came from quarterback Caleb Martin. He ran 11 times for 54 yards and completed six passes for 60 yards.
Griesdorn was also a do-it-all quarterback for the Flyers, running five times for 138 yards and completing 10 passes for 142 yards. Nietfeld ran 19 times for 80 yards, and Kahlig caught three passes for 69 yards.
Fort Recovery will try to get back on track Friday when it hosts St. Henry (5-3, 3-3 MAC), which will be coming off a tough 24-21 loss to Minster.