Redskins beat Indians

ST. HENRY - On Wednesday, St. Henry football coach Brad Luthman and wife Mindy welcomed the birth of a baby girl.

Two days later, Luthman's Redskins locked up their first playoff berth since 2012 with a 35-21 victory over defending Division VII state champion Fort Recovery at Wally Post Athletic Complex.

"If I wouldn't have had a little girl two days ago in the hospital, this would have been the best moment of the week," Luthman said. "This is special. These guys worked their butts off. We told them at the beginning of the year - we made them very, very aware - that if we didn't get in the playoffs, they'd be the first class since 1986 not to experience it. They made sure it didn't happen. Hats off to our seniors."

The Indians had won the last two games in the rivalry series by a grand total of eight points, and this one appeared headed for more late-game drama when the teams went into halftime tied at 14-apiece. But the Redskins locked in defensively and scored 21 unanswered points to start the second half to secure their first victory over the Indians since 2013.

Blake Hoyng and Jaren Fishbaugh scored two rushing touchdowns each for St. Henry. Daylon Lange completed 11-of-14 passes for 212 yards and ran for a score and Tyler Schlarman hauled in seven passes for 151 yards.

"There were a lot of storylines going into this one. At the end of the day, though, it was Fort Recovery versus St. Henry," Luthman said. "It's becoming a budding rivalry and they've got us the last two years, so it was special for that reason."

Fort Recovery's Chris Link recovered a St. Henry fumble at the 28-yard line two plays into the game. Fort Recovery covered the distance in five plays. Facing a fourth-and-goal from the six, Caleb Martin dumped a pass in the flats to Will Homan, who bullied his way into the end zone less than three minutes into the first quarter.

St. Henry responded with a five-play, 64-yard drive. The highlight play was a 49-yard pass completion from Lange to Schlarman. Fishbaugh punched in from one yard out on the next play to even to score at 7-all.

The Indians had three third down conversions on their next series. Martin capped a seven-play, 65-yard drive with a 30-yard touchdown scamper to put Fort Recovery back in front with 2:55 left in the opening quarter.

With 2:55 remaining in the half, Hoyng scored his first touchdown with a one-run run to finish off a St. Henry series that covered 62 yards. Fishbaugh advanced the ball into Fort Recovery territory with a run of 21 yards. Later, Hoyng kept the chains rolling with a six-yard run on a third-and-two and then caught a 20-yard reception to set up his game-tying TD run.

Paul Wourms intercepted Martin's deep shot on the Indians' opening series of the second half, giving the Redskins the ball at their own 15. St. Henry faced a third-and-long when Luttmer took a screen pass from Lange and rumbled 34 yards. Lange then hooked up with Schlarman for a gain of 33 yards on another third-and-long to set up St. Henry inside the red zone. Hoyng concluded a seven-play, 85-yard drive with a five-yard TD run that put St. Henry ahead for good.

Martin completed a pass to Cade Wendel for a gain of 49 yards on Fort Recovery's next drive, moving the ball to the Redskin 14. Martin threw an incompletion on a fourth-and-six from the 11 but a pass interference call on the Redskins looked to give the Indians new life. However, it only moved Fort Recovery five yards (a pass interference call isn't an automatic first down in high school football) and St. Henry stuffed Homan for a loss on fourth down to end the drive.

After forcing a St. Henry three-and-out, Fort Recovery again moved into Redskin territory, marching down to the 25 before facing a fourth-and-four. The Redskins brought pressure and forced Martin to overthrow his intended target.

The Indians still had a chance early in the fourth quarter before Martin was intercepted in his own territory by Connor Bruggeman, who returned it 20 yards to the Fort Recovery five-yard line. Fishbaugh ran for a five-yard touchdown on the first play for a 28-14 lead with 6:17 left. Lange added his two-yard score for the exclamation point with 1:30 to go.

"We know Fort Recovery prides itself on its defense," Luthman said. "We came out on a mission. Daylon got cleared after having a health scare last week and he came out and played big like he's been doing all year.

"Tyler Schlarman made some crazy catches. I don't know what his final yardage was, but he made some catches that really loosened it up."

St. Henry held Homan, the MAC's leading rusher, to just 44 yards on 18 carries. Robby LeFevre was Fort Recovery's leading rusher with a 65-yard TD run late in the game. Martin finished 15-of-30 for 148 yards with one TD and two interceptions and added five carries for 34 yards. Jason Roessner added six receptions for 53 yards for the Indians, who totaled 307 yards of total offense.

"We had a tough time blocking them in the second half," Fort Recovery coach Brent Niekamp said. "They were being really aggressive. They sold out to stop the run game and we weren't able to stay balanced. When we couldn't stay balanced, then they could really come after us in the passing game and then we kind of got into that two-touchdown mode where we had to throw. That was just like feeding the sharks for those guys. They were going to pin their ears back and go after us."

Fort Recovery (6-4) is scheduled to open its Division VII title defense on the road next Saturday at Ada (7-3).

"We've got to handle adversity like men and move forward and hopefully we can this week," Niekamp said.

The Redskins (7-3) will play at Spencerville (8-2) in the opening round of the Division VI playoffs next Friday.