SHHS is too much for the Indians

ST. HENRY, Ohio — Less than four minutes into the game, the Indians struck first against their Ohio 119 rivals.

By the time they found the end zone again, the home team had poured on 34 points.

Fort Recovery High School’s football team was unable to do much to slow down host St. Henry on Friday, giving up more than 400 yards of offense in a 48-14 defeat.

The Indians (1-3, 0-2 Midwest Athletic Conference) took the opening kickoff, marched 65 yards in eight plays and scored on a 1-yard Ethan Hartnagel run. Caden Grisez’s run gave them an early 8-0 lead.

FRHS didn’t see the end zone again until beyond the midpoint of the third quarter.

St. Henry, meanwhile, tallied 27 points in the final 14 minutes of the first half, including two Charlie Werling touchdowns and two Michael Gonzalez field goals (37 and 42 yards).

Jack Huelsman’s 6-yard TD pass to Carter Laguire on the opening drive of the second half pushed the home team to a 34-8 lead.

The Indians finally broke the St. Henry scoring blitz on a 41-yard pass from Reece Wendel to Gavin Evers with 4:41 left in the third quarter, but the damage had been done.

St. Henry (2-2, 1-1 MAC), which added two fourth-quarter touchdowns for the final margin, racked up 411 yards of total offense. 

Huelsman was 16-of-25 for 240 yards passing as he also connected with Laguire on a 45-yard TD pass in the second quarter. Werling picked up 15 yards on 103 rushing attempts and scored three times.

Fort Recovery was limited to 209 yards, with Reece Wendel accounting for 112 of those on his 22 rushing attempts. He completed the only two passes he attempted — both to Evers — for 46 yards.

Wendel also paced the defense with 11 tackles, including a sack. Brodie Hart followed with seven tackles, and Josh Evers and Grisez each had an interception.

The Indians will be back at home Friday to take on St. John’s (1-3, 0-2 MAC).