Cards get big win

FORT RECOVERY - The New Bremen football team had a big letdown last week against Anna.

The Cardinals followed with their biggest win in recent memory on Friday.

Bryce Blickle hauled in the go-ahead 30-yard touchdown pass from Nolan Bornhorst with 1:49 to play and then Bornhorst intercepted a Fort Recovery pass with less than a minute to play as New Bremen held on for a 19-15 victory at Barrenbrugge Park.

"When you're trying to turn the corner and get things moving in a certain direction, you need these types of wins to build off of," New Bremen coach Chris Schmidt said. "This type of win makes you believe that what we're doing is working. When you beat a team like Fort Recovery, it's a good feeling because you know it's not easy to come in here and do. Hopefully we can take this and keep getting better."

A week after having suffered a 42-7 loss to Anna at home, Bremen won for a third time this season and gave its playoff resume a nice boost. Fort Recovery, which entered the week ranked 20th in Division VI, fell to 2-2.

"Anna was one game," said Blickle, who finished with three catches for 80 yards. "We knew we were still good. We just had to go out and continue getting better everyday. We got this 'W.' We're going to move forward and get ready for St. Henry next week."

The Indians faced a 12-7 deficit when they got the ball at their own 20-yard line with eight minutes left in the game. Clay Schmitz had a third-down run to move the chains and then Schmitz dumped off a pass in the flats to Robby LeFevre for a gain of 18 to move the ball near midfield. A couple of plays later, Schmitz was sacked for a big loss, but he stepped up and delivered a dart to Riley Pearson for a 50-yard gain on the next play. A 15-yard touchdown pass from Schmitz to Gavin Thobe gave Fort its first lead of the game. A two-point conversion pass to Le- Fevre made it 15-12 with five minutes left.

New Bremen started at its own 24 wth 4:50 to play. Early in the drive, quarterback Nolan Bornhorst completed an 11-yard pass to Nicholas Wells. Bornhorst then ran for a 14-yard pickup. A pass interference call on Fort Recovery put the Cardinals at the 28-yard line. The Cardinals faced a third-and-12 from the 30 when Bornhorst threw a deep pass to Blickle, who dove and made the catch just inside the pylon for the go-ahead score.

"I tried to get outside of him so the safety wouldn't come there," Blickle said. "I ended up getting past the corner and I got up and grabbed it. Nolan made a great throw. It was a helluva play. It was a great way to end a game."

"It starts with our quarterback," Schmidt said. "Nolan, as a junior and a three-year starter, we were kind of waiting for him to win us a game. I thought he took hold of it. The guys ran the plays and blocked. Bryce made a heckuva a catch on the side there. You've just got to play until the end and see what happens."

The Indians advanced the ball to midfield with 55 seconds left, but a couple of incompletions soon made it fourth-and-20. A desperation heave by Schmitz was corralled by Bornhorst for the game-ending pick.

"New Bremen deserves a lot of credit," Fort Recovery coach Brent Niekamp said. "They came in with a really good game plan. They played hard. They executed well. They made more plays than we did in key stretches of the game."

Bremen got the ball to open the game, and Bornhorst had a 36-yard run into Indian territory. It led to a 39-yard boot through the uprights by Ryan Bertke with 8:59 left in the first.

Bornhorst led the Cardinals down the field again on their second drive, gaining 22 more yards on the ground and hitting Grant Selby for a 23 yards on a third-and-long to advance the ball to the Fort Recovery 10. Bremen had a touchdown taken off the scoreboard due to a holding call, but Bertke knocked down a 27-yard field goal to make the score 6-0 late in the first.

Fort Recovery went three-and-out on its next series. The Indian punt was blocked by Jacob Rindler. He continued to chase the ball after his helmet had fallen off and the ball rolled out of the end zone for a safety.

Then a flag was thrown, and mass confusion ensued.

Rindler was flagged for an illegal participation penalty (a player can't continue to actively participate when his helmet comes off). The safety wiped away, and Fort Recovery was given 15 yards and a new set of downs.

The Indians benefitted from a pass interference call on a third down, Jacob Acheson picked up three yards on a fourth-and-1 from the 29 and Clay Schimtz hit Clayton Pearson for a 21-yard touchdown pass. Cobe Wendel's extra point made it 9-7 with 46 seconds to go in the half.

The first-half scoring wasn't over, though.

Bornhorst ripped off a couple big-chunk runs, he then found Blickle for a 24-yard gain and Fort Recovery was flagged for a personal foul. Bertke hit a 25-yard field goal as time expired to make it 12-7.

"Ryan did a great job - you could see it in warmups tonight that he was just feeling it and booting it," Schmidt said.

New Bremen outgained Fort Recovery 175-77 in the first half and 343-220 for the game. The Cardinals also held a 29:58-15:55 edge in time of possession.

Bornhorst had a game-high 109 rushing yards on 19 carries. He also completed 11-of-16 passes for 164 yards.

"He's really good and they did a really good job with him in terms of finding different ways to attack," Niekamp said. "They gave us a few different looks that we had to adjust to. Of course, by the time you've adjusted to it, they've made a play or two with it. … I've got to give them a lot of credit. We're not good enough yet. We're not doing things well enough, consistently enough. That was the message in the locker room."

Schmitz completed 12-of-25 passes for 205 yards with two touchdowns for the Indians.

Next Friday, New Bremen hosts St. Henry while Fort Recovery hosts Coldwater.