FR will rebound from loss

The Indians are no strangers to this situation.
In 2014, the Fort Recovery High School football team was left licking its wounds after a 48-19 loss to the Marion Local Flyers. The defeat dropped the Indians to 5-3 with two games left in the regular season. They split the final two contests and earned the program’s first playoff berth in history.
Last year, the Flyers walked over the Tribe for a 28-0 victory. It was the second loss in as many games for the Indians, who were 6-2 heading into the final two weeks. Fort Recovery bounced back with wins against St. Henry and Versailles to finish 8-2 for the most overall wins (eight) and Midwest Athletic Conference victories (six) in school history.
The season culminated with a trip to Columbus and the state championship.
With a pair of games left on the regular-season schedule, the Indians are yet again coming off a loss to Marion Local. The Flyers, who are ranked second in Division VI by the Associated Press, dismantled the Division VII No. 10 Indians to the tune of 42-0.
Still, coming off the team’s third-worst loss in history to Marion Local, Fort Recovery is poised to finish the season strong.
“We have to push harder through lifting and practice,” said Chris Link, a senior center. “We have to really strive to make ourselves better even when we’re losing like we did last week. We just have to make sure we learn something from last week and not hang our heads and quit.”
What can they learn from such a deflating loss, their third in the last five games after starting the season 3-0?
“We have to find our identity,” Link said. “Right now you can see it, we’re not totally synced up.”
Both coach Brent Niekamp and Link mentioned the adversity the team has faced this season — Caleb Martin, the team’s starting quarterback and University of Toledo commit, missed two games because of an appendectomy; starting senior lineman Tyler Acheson tore his ACL in the season opener and has since been limited to kicking duties; and standout running back Will Homan, a junior, has been hampered by a hamstring injury, to name a few.
But chats with senior Jason Roessner, Homan, Link and Niekamp make one word come to mind in terms of exactly how Fort Recovery can find that identity and bounce back from a debilitating defeat to end on a high note.
Trust.
“Just trusting what we do,” Roessner said. “Trusting what we practice all week. When we get in games and things get a little crazy you have to focus on what you’re taught; do what you know is right.”
Niekamp offered a little more insight, saying “it’s easy to trust when things are going well. When you’re rolling through, playing well, the game is going well, it is easy to do the things the coach tells you to, it is easy to trust that your teammates are going to make plays.”
When things start to go awry, however, it’s easy to lose that trust.
Will the guy next to me make a block? Will he make a play to help the team win?
When teams do not work as a cohesive unit, it’s easy to point fingers.
But that’s not what the Tribe is doing. They’ve simply gone back to work, looking to put Marion Local in the rearview mirror and focus on the final two games — tonight vs. New Bremen and next week at St. Henry. It’s a mindset that is no different than last season after losing to the Flyers 28-0.
“I think if you were to look back to that point in the season last year we were searching for answers, we were looking for ways to get better,” Niekamp said. “I think the difference this year is having that experience (of) trying to settle down and play better position by position. Just be patient in the process because it will come. We just have to have faith that it will come.”
Niekamp has stressed all season long to get better day by day, week by week, no matter what the scoreboard says. Showing improvement continually throughout a 10-week season should have a team playing at its best come tournament time.
“We have a chance to finish things out on a good note against New Bremen and St. Henry, and hopefully see what the postseason has for us,” Niekamp said.
New Bremen is 2-6, with its only victories against non-MAC opponents. Fort Recovery is 6-15 all-time against the Cardinals, including wins in the last three meetings. The Indians are 3-18 against St. Henry (6-2, 5-1 MAC), and all three wins have come in the last five years including each of the last two.
Two more games. Two more chances for the Indians to bounce back, move on, finish strong and make a push toward the postseason.
“We just have to learn what we can from that game,” Roessner said. “It is what it is. We didn’t play like we wanted to. We have to move forward and keep getting better.
“It’s all we can do.”