Indians pull away from Parkway in fourth

ROCKFORD, Ohio — After watching a 10-point lead vanish in the waning moments last week, the Indians made sure to put Friday night’s game away.

The Fort Recovery High School football team scored four fourth-quarter touchdowns to pull away from the host Parkway Panthers for a 42-21 victory.

The win halted a three-game losing streak for the Indians that included a 28-22 defeat to Division VII No. 1 Minster and a 35-31 setback last week to Division VI No. 1 Coldwater in which the Cavaliers scored twice in the final 4:05.

FRHS (3-3, 1-3 MAC) led just 14-7 after three quarters Friday, but Derek Jutte reached the end zone on a 4-yard run on the first play of the fourth. After getting the ball back on a fumble, the visitors pushed their lead to 21 points on a 33-yard scoring run by Robby LeFevre.

A three-play Parkway scoring drive cut the gap to 28-14, but then the Indians needed just one play — a 43-yard pass from Clay Schmitz to Mitchell Pugh — to extend the advantage again. Another fumble led to LeFevre’s second touchdown, this time on a 29-yard jaunt, to complete the run of four Fort Recovery TDs in nine and a half minutes.

Jutte was the workhorse, running 21 times for 101 yards, while LeFevre recorded a few big plays to finish with 95 yards on nine carries. Three of Schmitz’s seven completions went for touchdowns — he had TD tosses of 78 and 15 yards to Gavin Thobe in addition to the pass to Pugh — as he totaled 181 yards through the air.

Quarterback Eli Rich led the Parkway attack, going 9-of-16 for 158 yards while running 19 times for 68 yards. Nick Hawk added 43 rushing yards for the Panthers (1-5, 1-3 MAC).

Fort Recovery will be on the road again Friday as it visits Anna.