’Cats drop FRHS to 0-4

FORT RECOVERY — The Indians had a solid plan offensively, and they stuck to it in the first half, but sometimes a team just beats you.

The offensive explosiveness of the Minster Wildcats was too much to handle for the Fort Recovery High School football team Friday as the Indians fell 41-20.

“They’re a nice team,” FRHS coach Brent Niekamp said. “They’ve got a lot of weapons offensively that gave us some trouble tonight. It’s tough to match up with all those guys.”

Four of the Wildcats’ players — running back Connor Schmiesing (132 yards on seven carries), quarterback Brogan Stephey (190 yards passing and 89 yards rushing), and wide receivers James Niemeyer (64 yards receiving) and Kole Richard (95 yards receiving) — put up big offensive numbers.

They also scored all six of the touchdowns for Minster (3-1, 1-1 Midwest Athletic Conference). Schmiesing rushed for two, while Stephey rushed for three and connected with Richard for another.

The first Wildcat touchdown came on a 65-yard run by Schmiesing on the second play of the game.

Despite the quick deficit, the Indians’ (0-4, 0-2 MAC) offense executed their game plan well on the first drive. They slowed the game down and left things up to senior quarterback Troy Homan to make a read and the correct play.

“Offensively, I thought we played a pretty good game,” Niekamp said. “Troy Homan did a great job of managing things. We gave him several options on each play, spread everybody out, let him look at what was open and then he could hand it off, he could run or he could throw it out there. He did a great job with it.”

That first drive for the Indians lasted 15 plays, featuring Homan keeping the ball six times, handing it off three and passing six. The drive ended with a 1-yard rushing touchdown for Homan with 3:28 left in the first quarter.

Minster didn’t take long to score on its second drive either. It started with a 10-yard pass to Niemeyer. The next two plays featured Stephey dropping back in the pocket and looking to throw before deciding to run the ball himself, picking up 30 yards and a 16-yard touchdown.

Following the score, the Wildcats punched Fort Recovery in the mouth with a short kick off to Troy Post, who fumbled the ball on the Indians’ 39-yard line and set Minster up for another quick score. Stephey busted out with a 30-yard rush for the touchdown.

“I think where things turned a little bit was the fumble kickoff we recovered,” Minster coach Seth Whiting said. “We’re able to jump up by two scores and that messed with what they were doing (offensively).”

The Indians fired back with a 13-yard drive that was capped off with a 3-yard rush by Homan, but the defense wasn’t able to hold the Wildcats, giving up another rushing touchdown to Stephey to put Minster back up by two scores going into the half.

The Minster defense recalibrated for the second half, stopping three straight drives while scoring twice in the third quarter — once on a 17-yard pass to Richard and again on a 55-yard run by Schmiesing.

The Indians scored one last time in the fourth quarter on another 13-yard drive. Reece Wendel got the call this time, and answered with a 3-yard rushing touchdown.

Time ran out on Fort Recovery, as it was unable to move down the field fast enough to score again before the end of the game.

Despite the loss, Niekamp liked what he saw from his guys, especially on the offensive side of the ball, and the fight they had all throughout the game.

“It’s hard when things aren’t going well for guys to keep their heads up and keep battling,” Niekamp said. “They guys are doing that and I really appreciate it.”