Indians drop to 0-6

FORT RECOVERY — The Indians trailed by just seven at halftime.

They were down by seven again heading into the fourth quarter.

The final 12 minutes did not go their way.

Fort Recovery High School’s football team gave up three fourth-quarter touchdowns Friday night as it dropped to 0-6 with a 35-7 loss to the New Bremen Cardinals.

The Indians (0-6, 0-4 Midwest Athletic Conference) pulled within a single score when Reece Wendel reached the end zone on a 10-yard run with 37 seconds left in the third quarter. But it took New Bremen just 1:35 to reclaim the advantage on a Roger Muether 15-yard TD run.

The Cardinals (3-3, 2-2 MAC) got two Aaron Thieman touchdown runs — 9 and 29 yards — in the last seven minutes for the final margin.

Thieman’s 59 yards on seven carries led a multi-faceted running attack for New Bremen. Trevor Schaefer added 52 yards on 16 attempts and Keaton Puthoff had 45 yards on 15 carries.

Puthoff also completed six passes for 128 yards, including a 43-yard touchdown to Muether in the third quarter. (The only points of the opening half came on a Hayden Zeller 10-yard return after he intercepted FRHS quarterback Troy Homan.)

The Indians finished with 174 yards of offense compared to 314 for New Bremen, with Reece Wendel totaling 80 on just seven carries. Homan was 9-of-18 passing of 68 yards.

Ethan Hartnagel powered the Fort Recovery defense with 11 tackles and a forced fumble. Alex Gaerke and Wendel added nine tackles apiece.

The Indians will be back at home Friday for another daunting MAC task as they take on the Division VII No. 1 Marion Local Flyers, who remain undefeated after knocking off Division VI No. 1 14-13 Friday.