Fort short of upset

COLDWATER, Ohio — The Indians were chasing history.

In 20 tries, they had yet to beat the Cavaliers.

The Tribe had a six-point lead in the third quarter quickly turn into an eight-point deficit in less than four minutes.

A Regan Martin touchdown pass from Clay Schmitz got the Indians within two nearing the midway point of the final period. The potential game-tying 2-point conversion pass fell incomplete, and the Indians were never able to reach enemy territory again.

Fort Recovery High School’s football team pushed top-ranked Coldwater to the brink but came up short of the upset bid in a 28-26 loss to the host Cavaliers in the Division VI Region 24 quarterfinal Saturday at Cavalier Stadium.

“What we asked our guys to do in terms of effort and preparation and intensity, they did this game,” said FRHS coach Brent Niekamp, whose team never really challenged the Cavaliers in the second half of a 51-37 loss Sept. 11. “They did it for four quarters.

“We were just a little bit short.”

Coldwater, which moves to 8-0, advances to the regional semifinal and hosts No. 4 seed West Jefferson on Saturday. West Jefferson took down No. 5 seed Covington 55-20.

“I thought it was a great game,” said Coldwater coach Chip Otten. “We told the kids, fortunately or unfortunately, when you don’t play in any fourth-quarter games, guys are a little stressed. Coaches are a little stressed.

“(Fort Recovery is) a good football team. We had a tough time on some of the run stuff and when teams can do that to you, you can keep trying different things, but if you can’t get them stopped it makes it tough. Finally we got a few stops.”

Coldwater quarterback Myles Blasingame scored his third rushing touchdown and fourth overall with 10:43 remaining in the fourth quarter, and the ensuing PAT made it 28-20 Cavaliers.

After six consecutive runs to start the next drive, Schmitz faked a handoff to FRHS senior running back Derek Jutte and lofted a pass to a wide-open Martin over the middle of the field for a 37-yard score.

On the potential game-tying 2-point conversion, Jutte took a Schmitz handoff to the left, and after getting to the edge, the lefty threw a pass back across the formation to Schmitz. The high-arching pass got to Schmitz right as he took contact from a Cavalier defender and the ball fell to the ground.

After forcing Coldwater into its fourth punt of the night, the Indians took over for a potential game-winning drive at their own 20, holding on to three timeouts with 5:45 to go on the clock.

On fourth-and-4 from the Indian 26, Schmitz dropped back to pass and couldn’t find an open receiver. He scrambled up the middle out of the collapsing pocket. Jay Muhlenkamp tackled Schmitz at the 27 for the turnover on downs.

Coldwater then gained two first downs, and with the ball on the Indian 2, Blasingame took a knee three times to run out the clock.

“It comes down to so many huge plays,” Otten said. “A blocked extra point. On their 2-point play, our corner, it was a quarterback throw-back (and) he happened to see it.

“I guess there are so many big plays in there. Obviously, a very evenly matched game and we made, I guess, one more play than they did.”

Jutte started the night’s scoring, taking a screen pass from Schmitz 77 yards down the right sideline to the end zone. Cobe Wendel’s PAT gave the Indians a 7-0 lead with 4:50 to go in the opening period.

Coldwater responded on Blasingame’s only TD pass of the day, a 20-yard toss to Muhlenkamp with 2:23 to go in the half.

Fort Recovery answered when Jutte, who had 149 yards on 21 carries, scored on an 8-yard run and the Indians went into halftime leading 14-7.

Blasingame, who also had 149 rushing yards on one fewer carry than Jutte, bruised his way to a 2-yard score after an 11-play drive and the Cavaliers tied the game.

The Indians orchestrated their own 11-play scoring drive with a heavy dosage of Jutte, who rushed eight times including a 13-yard TD. Coldwater’s Jesse Meyer pushed through the middle of the line and blocked Wendel’s PAT.

On the third play of the next drive, Blasingame rushed up the middle for a 50-yard score, and the PAT gave Coldwater the lead for the first time, 21-20, with 39.6 seconds left in the third quarter.

Fort Recovery went three-and-out on its next possession, and Justin Hartings blocked Schmitz’s punt. Coldwater started from the FR 12, and Blasingame scored from the 7 as the Cavs took a 28-20 advantage.

Fort Recovery out-gained Coldwater 377-330. Schmitz completed seven of his 15 pass attempts for 168 yards and a first-quarter quarter interception. The Indians also lost a fumble in the second quarter.

But Niekamp was most pleased with the way his offense ran the ball — the Indians racked up 185 rushing yards — against a team that was allowing just 95.2 yards per game on the ground.

“It was super physical,” he said. “Our line, those guys ate, man. Pushed the line of scrimmage, controlled the line of scrimmage really well. We could tell Coldwater was getting frustrated with the amount of yards we could get at will just moving the line.

“Derek and Gavin (Thobe) did a great job of running the ball hard. All the way around those guys played their butts off.

“We were just two points short.”