Tribe rolls in season opener

FORT RECOVERY — Stifling defense.

Four forced turnovers.

Spectacular field position.

Efficient offense.

Fort Recovery High School dominated its season opener Friday night, smacking the visiting Ponitz Tech Golden Panthers 44-0 in a game in which the clock was running throughout the second half.

The first possession for each team set the tone for how the rest of the game would play out. The Golden Panthers lost one yard on three plays and punted. Fort Recovery, in its first game under new head coach Wes Wenning, responded with a one-play drive — a 59-yard Reece Wendel touchdown run.

Ponitz proceeded to finish the first half with negative-7 total yards, while giving up the ball on downs twice, punting once and then coughing up the ball leading to a touchdown return for Alex Gaerke.

The Indians (1-0) scored on all but one of their first-half drives, with Wendel adding a 6-yard scoring run and Gaerke reaching paydirt on carries of 1 and 7 yards for a 36-0 halftime lead.

Gaerke provided a facet that Fort Recovery mostly missed last year, completing all seven of his passing attempts for 55 yards. 

(The Indians had just 30 completions for 314 yards in all of 2024.) He covered 24 yards on his four rushing attempts. Isaac Roessner caught three passes for 37 yards.

Wendel finished with 39 yards, and Braylon Dilworth ran five times for 32 yards.

With the clock running after the intermission, Ponitz (0-1), which has won just once in its last 21 games, still failed to find any traction as it fumbled the ball three more times. It managed just 34 yards on 38 rushing attempts — Cardair’e Johnson was responsible for the bulk of them — and never put the ball in the air.

Jake Meyer led the dominant defensive effort with seven tackles, while Brodie Hart and Josh Evers notched six apiece. Gaerke, Roessner, Brady Evers and Josh Evers each had a fumble recovery.

Fort Recovery put the final points of the game on the board on a 5-yard Brady Evers run with less than two minutes to play.

The Indians will go on the road Friday to Harrod to take on Allen East (1-0), which opened with a 29-26 victory over Newark Catholic.