Rally comes up short

WAPAKONETA, Ohio — Caleb Marin had just orchestrated an 81-yard scoring drive to help the Indians get within two points.
Three yards separated the Tribe from a two-point conversion and a tie ball game.
Martin took the snap from center Chris Link and rolled to his right looking for an open receiver.
As he neared the sideline, he threw back over to the middle of the field toward Ryan Braun.
The pass fell short, just like the Indians.
Fort Recovery High School’s football team put up a furious comeback but fell 3 yards short Saturday in a 35-33 loss to the Minster Wildcats in the Division VII Region 28 championship at Wapakoneta’s Harmon Field.
“They just made a ton of plays throughout the course of the game,” said FRHS coach Brent Niekamp, whose team failed to defend its state title in finishing the season 8-5. “We answered well, it just wasn’t well enough.
“That’s the ball game, you know. We did that back and forth for four quarters and we came up two points short.”
Trailing 35-27 with 2 minutes, 8 seconds, left in the fourth quarter, a Minster punt gave Fort Recovery the ball at its own 19-yard line. Martin connected with Will Homan for a 20-yard strike, then hit Cade Wendel over the middle for a 33-yard gain to get the Indians to the Minster 28.
Back-to-back incomplete passes made it third-and-10 with 1:32 remaining before Homan rushed for six yards to the Minster 22. Niekamp called his third and final timeout with 1:28 left.
Facing fourth-and-4, Martin found Jason Roessner on the right side of the field for a 14-yard gain.
As the clock ticked away, Martin dropped back to pass, wasn’t able to find an open receiver, scrambled to the right side of the field and dived for the pylon for the score.
“It was a really good football game,” said Minster coach Geron Stokes said. “We’d go make a play, they’d go make a play. Just a fun football game to be a part of.”
But it was the Wildcats who came up with two big plays. The first was solid defense on the potential game-tying two-point conversion. The second was on the ensuing onside kick, when Homan’s squib bounced high into the air and Bryce Schmiesing made a one-handed grab to secure the football.
Martin completed 11 of his 19 pass attempts for 195 yards, including a 41-yard touchdown Andrew Stocker, who broke two tackles inside the 30-yard line and sprinted down the right sideline for the score early in the fourth quarter. It was Stocker’s only catch of the night, and it cut Minster’s lead to 28-20.
The Wildcats pushed their advantage back to 15 two drives later. Minster quarterback Jared Huelsman capped a three-play, 42-yard scoring drive with a 2-yard run. It was his fourth touchdown of the day, as he had a rushing score in the second quarter and connected with Jonathan Niemeyer for passing TDs of 33 and 41 yards respectively. His second touchdown came with 4:36 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Huelsman led the Wildcats with 119 rushing yards, while also completing nine of his 19 pass attempts for 201 yards.
Martin and the Indians needed just 39 seconds to get back within one possession. Three passes — to Roessner for 11 yards, Payton Jutte for a dozen and Wendel for 15 — got the Tribe to the Minster 26, and Homan went the rest of the way for his second score of the evening.
Homan, who rushed for more than 230 yards in each of the last two games, finished with 129 yards on 22 carries. Roessner caught five passes for 69 yards, and Wendel had two catches for 48 yards.
“I was proud of the way they came back,” Niekamp said. “I’m proud of the seniors and their career and the expectations that our program has now that those guys helped put into place.
The senior class finished with 31 victories, more than any other in program history.
“Now we expect to be in games like this, on fields like this, against opponents like this. This is normal for us now and it needs to stay that way.
“That is a special group of kids. They gave it all they had tonight, just not enough plays.”