Cavs rally past Tribe

FORT RECOVERY — The Indians were on the verge of history.

There was 4:05 left on the clock, and they were ahead of the top-ranked team in the state by 10 points.

A mere 72 seconds later the lead was just a field goal.

Then they were behind with less than 80 seconds to play, and went another year with a loss to the Cavaliers.

Coldwater, which is ranked No. 1 in Division VI, scored 14 points in the span of 1:35 Friday to hand the Fort Recovery High School football team a 35-31 loss, its second in as many weeks. 

Fort Recovery (2-3, 0-3 Midwest Athletic Conference), which is now 0-18 in program history against Coldwater, gave the ball back to the Cavaliers (5-0, 3-0 MAC) with 2:53 to play after chewing nearly eight minutes off the clock on a 14-play drive.

It took the Cavaliers just five plays to march 73 yards, which Jake Hemmelgarn capped with a 48-yard touchdown to Ben Wenning.

The Indians went three-and-out on their next possession, all the while Coldwater used all three of its timeouts.

Then with the ball on the Fort Recovery 48 and 2:19 remaining, Hemmelgarn threw the ball six times, the first two incomplete, and hit Cole Frilling for the go-ahead 30-yard score with 1:18 left.

Hemmelgarn completed 22 of his 30 pass attempts for 339 yards and four scores, including TD passes to Mitch Niekamp and Wenning in the first quarter. Wenning finished with 173 yards on eight catches.

Derek Jutte was the workhorse for the Tribe offense as he carried the ball 37 times for 218 yards, both career highs. He had a 1-yard touchdown in the first quarter and a 14-yard score in the second.

Niekamp ran for a touchdown to put Coldwater out front, 21-14, early in the second. Fort Recovery, which plays the Parkway Panthers (1-4, 0-3 MAC) in Rockford on Friday, scored 17 straight points. Robby LeFevre scored on a 2-yard run, and Clay Schmitz threw a 28-yard TD pass to Gavin Thobe.

Cobe Wendel nailed a 22-yard field goal to make it 31-21.

Schmitz was 8-of-17 passing for 77 yards.