Indians cruise past Redskins

FORT LORAMIE - There's a first time for everything ... that time was Saturday for Fort Recovery.

In a season filled with big victories and record-breaking performances, Saturday night's accomplishment took the cake.

Cole Hull rushed for 134 yards and two touchdowns and Kyle Schroer added a pair of scores as the Indians put 28 unanswered points on the scoreboard to defeat Fort Loramie in the Division VII, Region 26 quarterfinal for their first postseason victory in program history.

"It's pretty awesome," Fort Recovery coach Brent Niekamp said. "Coming off the field, I ran into two of the guys who coached me in high school and were two of the guys who were on our first coaching staff here and another guy that I played with. That was pretty awesome. I know for those guys who have watched this program for a long time to see us have success like this, I know it's a big deal to them and it's a big deal to our community.

"I'm really proud of these kids. They stepped into a big game tonight and played well and took care of business."

The Indians advance to the regional semifinal to face three-time defending state champion and top-seeded Marion Local at Harmon Field in Wapakoneta on Saturday, a rematch they have been hoping for ever since the Flyers handed them a 48-19 loss during the regular season. The Flyers defeated Triad 40-0 Saturday at Booster Stadium.

"The level that those guys play at is a hard level to match," Niekamp said. "They're used to being in these kinds of games. They've got great players all over the place, so we've just got to try to rise to the occasion. You know, we made some plays the last time we played them, but we weren't able to play at that level as much as they were, so that's got to be our goal."

"I always like a rematch," said Hull, who ran for the most yards against the Flyers this season. "The first time we played Marion, I rushed for 201 yards and it's going to take more than that, because we still lost by 29 points ... but I'm excited to play them."

After surrendering an early touchdown to Fort Loramie, the Indians' defense took control and didn't allow much the rest of the way. The Redskins faced a third-and-long inside their own territory on the opening series of the game, but quarterback Andy Grewe completed a pass to Grant Olberding, who carried it all the way down to the 10-yard line. Seconds later, Josh Siegel ran for a 4-yard touchdown to give Loramie its only lead of the game.

The Redskins tallied 175 yards total - 61 rushing, 114 through the air.

Fort Recovery fumbled deep in Redskin territory on its initial series and then got the ball at its own three-yard line to start the second drive. Fifteen plays later - after a big completion to Wes Wenning and key first down runs by Kyle Schroer - Hull tramped in from nine yards out, one of his two second quarter touchdowns.

The Indians forced two three-and-outs on the final two Loramie possessions. Following the first, Mitch Stammen took a bubble screen from quarterback Caleb Martin 38 yards down to the 29-yard line. Hull juked, jived and pounded his way to the paydirt from 29 yards away and the Indians led 14-7.

Fort Recovery got the ball back with just over a minute in the half following Fort Loramie's second three-and-out and Martin hooked up with Wenning for a gain of 35 on the the first play. Soon after, Stammen threw a 2-yard scoring pass to Schroer with 17 seconds to spare - finishing off a 20-point surge in a four-minute span.

"We've been doing that all season," said Hull on the slow start. "I don't know what our problem is, but I don't think we have ever scored on our first drive. After we see what the defense is doing, we can adjust and just fix everything."

The purple and white scored on their fourth consecutive possession to start the second half. Evan Schoen's leaping 29-yard reception in double coverage highlighted the drive and set up Schroer's second touchdown, a nine-yard rush. Hull went into the end zone untouched for a two-point conversion to put the icing on the cake.

"We adjusted a little bit defensively to what they were doing," Niekamp said. "Then we felt pretty confident that we could keep them under control. Offensively, we were kind of hit and miss but we put together a couple good drives there. (The 97-yard drive to tie the game) was good just to execute the way down the field the way that you want to."

Martin finished the night an effective 10-of-17 passing for 201 yards and Wenning had five receptions for 108 yards. Stammen added three receptions for 51 yards and tossed a touchdown pass.