Indians upset No. 1 Covington

PIQUA, Ohio — The Buccaneers gained momentum by taking an interception to the house for 60 yards and the game-tying score with 39 seconds left before half.
They left too much time on the clock.
Caleb Martin, Will Homan and the Fort Recovery High School football team took over, scoring 28 straight points — including driving the field in just 30 seconds to close the half — in upsetting top-ranked Covington 42-14 in the Division VII Region 28 semifinal Saturday night at Piqua Alexander Stadium.
“That was a huge response on Caleb’s part,” said FRHS coach Brent Niekamp, whose fifth-seeded team advances to the regional semifinal against Midwest Athletic Conference foe Minster. The No. 3 seed Wildcats beat seventh seed Upper Scioto Valley 41-8 in the other semifinal. The site for the regional rematch will be announced Sunday. Fort Recovery defeated Minster 33-21 at home on Sept. 23.
“I loved the fact that we were able to go right back to what we wanted to do in that situation,” Niekamp said. “He stepped up and made some sharp throws. Maybe that stretch was the sharpest he’s looked throwing the ball all year. I loved to see that come out tonight when it really mattered.”
Martin shook off the interception, which Zach Parrett stepped in front of Payton Jutte on an out route in near the FRHS bench and sprinted down the sideline for the score.
The Indians (8-4) got the ball back with 34 seconds left on their own 34-yard line, and Martin immediately hit Ryan Braun down the right sideline for a 25-yard gain. Martin — he was 6-of-12 passing for 124 yards and a touchdown while adding 32 yards on six carries — connected with Will Homan over the middle for 20 yards, then found Jason Roessner on a crossing route and he went up the field for a 22-yard touchdown with nine seconds left in the second half.
It was the second of three touchdowns for Roessner, who added a 2-yard score earlier in the second quarter and found the end zone from the 5-yard line during the fourth. Each of Roessner’s rushing TDs came out of the wildcat formation.
“Jason is just an all-around ball player,” Niekamp said. The senior also came up with an interception in the fourth quarter. “He just runs so hard. It is great when we can give (Homan) a breather and it gives our offense a different dimension when you have that true wildcat-style quarterback.”
Fort Recovery got the ball to start the third quarter, and was forced to punt. A three-and-out gave the Tribe the ball back at the Covington 48-yard line, and Homan scampered 41 yards for a touchdown two plays later.
Homan was again his typical self, juking defenders and using his speed to cut through and around the Covington defense.
During the second quarter, he set the Fort Recovery single-season rushing record to surpass Cole Hull’s total of 1,456 from 2014. The junior, who a week prior became the school’s career rushing leader, finished with 230 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries. He also caught two of Martin’s passes for 44 yards. Roessner had three receptions for 53 yards.
“He’s playing great,” Niekamp said of Homan, who reached 230 yards on the ground in back-to-back games after putting up 275 against Ada in the regional quarterfinal.
“Biggest time of the season,” said Homan, who has racked up more than 1,300 yards in seven playoff games dating back to last season. His 31-yard score in the second made it 14-7 Fort Recovery, and he added TD runs of 41 and 37 yards respectively in the third and fourth quarters to help put the game out of reach.
“You know you like to win, so I just go out there and run the ball as hard as I can,” he said.
Covington coach Ty Cates knew his defense was going to have to try to slow down Homan, but the Buccs just weren’t able to do so even after filling holes at the line of scrimmage.
“He’s a great back,” said Cates, Covington’s first-year coach. “He is very shifty and he is more powerful than he looks.”
Covington (11-1) needed just five plays to score on the game’s opening drive, as quarterback Nathan Blei threw a touchdown pass to Zane Barnes over the middle of the field less than four minutes into the game.
The Buccaneers weren’t able to muster up much offense after that, as they totaled 122 yards the first half and finished with fewer total yards than Homan had by himself.
“I call the offense so that’s my fault,” Cates said. “They mixed up some different things, some different blitzes and some different coverages. We got behind on the sticks and we weren’t able to execute.
“Tip the hat off to their defense, they played well.”
Covington spent most of the season as the top-ranked team in Division VII, but the unranked Indians were just too much for the Buccs.
“I feel good because we played against a very quality team and we made plays throughout the game to put it out of reach like a good team does," Niekamp said.