Tribe drops tight opener

HAVILAND, Ohio — The Indians had dominated the second quarter.

The Raiders, though, were able to salvage the period from disaster with a Kyle Stoller touchdown pass to Tucker Antoine in the final minute of the half.

The momentum carried over.

Fort Recovery High School’s football team allowed two more touchdown passes to Stoller in the third quarter and could not recover Friday in a 32-30 loss to host Wayne Trace.

It marked the second year in a row that the Tribe had dropped a tight game to the Raiders following an 18-14 defeat last season at Barrenbrugge Athletic Park. The loss last year was the first non-Midwest Athletic Conference defeat for Fort Recovery since 2019 and its first opening-night loss since 2009.

After giving up a pair of TDs in the opening quarter, the Indians (0-1) rallied with 22 consecutive points in the second. But Stoller’s 5-yard pass to Antoine close Wayne Trace’s deficit to 22-18.

Stoller found Dylan Hildebrand for a 10-year TD less than a minute and a half into the second half and then connected with Jude Stoller for a 56-yard score to push the Raiders lead to 32-22.

Fort Recovery had a chance after pulling to within two points on an Ethan Hartnagel 7-yard touchdown run and 2-point conversion early in the fourth quarter but couldn’t muster any more points.

Kyle Stoller completed 14-of-24 passes for 215 yards and three TDs while added 53 yards on seven carries for Wayne Trace. Jude Stoller (70 yards), Brady Miller and Antoine all had three receptions, and Antoine chipped in a team-high 56 rushing yards on 13 attempts.

The Raiders (1-0) scored their first two TDs on the ground. Antoine toted in a 4-yard TD for the first points of the game and Jordan Lotz added a 4-yard scoring run with one second remaining in the first period.

Fort Recovery’s second-quarter comeback featured Troy Homan, who made the move from running back to quarterback this year. He recorded the Tribe’s first points of the season on a 1-yard run at the 9:41 mark of the second quarter and added a 2-point conversion. He scored again on a 2-yard run less than a minute and a half later and then hit Reece Guggenbiller with a 2-point conversion pass. The visitors pushed their lead to 22-12 with a Homan 11-yard TD pass to Reece Wendel before getting outscored 20-8 the rest of the way.

Homan ran for 96 yards on 25 attempts and was 18-of-28 passing for 181 yards, one touchdown and a pair of interceptions. Gavin Evers had seven catches for 60 yards. Owen Knapker’s nine tackles led the FRHS defense.

The Indians will return home Friday to take on Urbana.