'The Streak' is over

ST. HENRY - A night of football ended with fireworks at Wally Post Athletic Complex.

Zach Niekamp rushed for 218 yards and four touchdowns as St. Henry ended a 22-game losing streak to Coldwater with a 28-10 victory.

"This win means a lot," said Niekamp, who had TD runs of 45, 2, 28 and 4 yards. "We weren't too worried about the streak coming in. There was so much talk about the streak and we didn't want to let it faze us. We knew we could get the job done - and that's what we did."

A brief fireworks show to the south took place as the teams lined up to shake hands. It was St. Henry's first win over Coldwater in the Backyard Battle since 1996.

"This means a lot to a lot more people than me," St. Henry coach Brad Luthman said. "This means a lot to every assistant on my coaching staff - the guys who have been coaching here for a long time like Craig Dues and Denny Wendel have worked their butts off for 14 or 15 years to experience this. The kids have been growing up with us and they put it all out there tonight. For them to have this experience, I couldn't be more happy."

The 13th-ranked Redskins extended their winning streak to three games as they improved to 7-2 overall. The third-ranked Cavaliers lost for the second straight week and dropped to 7-2 on the season.

St. Henry ended the streak by winning the battle on the line of scrimmage, controlling time of possession, getting after the Coldwater quarterback and catching a few good bounces along the way.

Trailing 14-10 midway through the third quarter, the Cavaliers forced the Redskins to punt from deep in their own territory. The punt hit off a Cavalier, though, and Niekamp recovered at the Coldwater 45. Shortly after, St. Henry faced a fourth-and-five from the 28 when Niekamp took a pitch, made a cut and dashed to the end zone.

The Cavaliers took their following drive inside the Redskin five-yard line, but a fumble gave back the ball to St. Henry. Niekamp added his 4-yard touchdown with 3:57 to play in the game.

"St. Henry played well," Coldwater coach Chip Otten said. "They do what they do. It's a matchup of their power run and our 'D,' which isn't physically stout. Our 'D' plays hard. We make some plays, but Niekamp made some good runs and had a couple of long touchdowns. When they needed to, they made a couple of big catches on some second-and-longs and third-and-longs. They made some plays. Unfortunately, some of those things didn't go well for us. They deserved to win."

The Redskins went 61 yards in five plays on the opening drive of the game. Niekamp covered the majority of the distance with a 45-yard score. Ethan Thieman's extra point made it 7-0 at the 9:58 mark of the first quarter.

The Cavs went three-and-out on their first series, but Jake Wenning flipped the field in their favor with a 72-yard punt that pinned the Redskins inside their five. St. Henry went three-and-out and was forced to punt into the wind. The Cavs took over at St. Henry's 38-yard line but had to settle for a 22-yard field goal by Blake Dippold with 3:03 remaining in the first.

The Cavs took their only lead with a 12-play, 60-yard drive midway through the second quarter. Jake Wenning caught a 10-yard TD pass from Jake Hemmelgarn on a third down. Coldwater completed three third downs on the series and benefitted from a sideline unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

The Redskins followed with a seven-play, 63-yard drive to go back in front before halftime. They faced a fourth-and-short from at the Cavalier 40 when the Cavs jumped offsides. Niekamp followed with a gain of 31 yards before punching in for his second score.

St. Henry finished with a 321-193 advantage in total offense.

"It took five months of work to get this done," Luthman said. "These kids have been showing up and going to the weight room at 6 a.m. They were running their tails off at 5 a.m. in July. We were the bigger and more physical team tonight. That's what won us the game."

Coldwater was held to a season-low scoring output. Hemmelgarn - the area's leading passer - finished 16-of-26 for 115 yards, not bad stats considering he was under duress from a heavy blitz for most of the second half. Coldwater amassed 78 rushing yards on 29 carries.

"They got their blitz game going and continued to bring it," Otten said. "They got some good pressure on us later on. You get behind a couple of scores, then they know you're going to throw. They did a good job of mixing it up and things like that. They deserved to win with the bad breaks we had and them playing well."

Niekamp needed 31 carries to get his yards. Sam Lefeld completed 7-of-9 passes for 75 yards and Jay Knapke added four catches for 45 yards.

"Four weeks ago against Marion, we didn't complete our first pass until the last drive of the game," Luthman pointed out. "Tonight I think Sam was 7-of-8 in the first half. He played a great game - all of our seniors played a great game. The offensive line and everybody on that defense gave a great effort."

The streak may be over, but this may not be the last time St. Henry and Coldwater meet this season. Both will be participants in the Division VI Region 24 playoffs.

"The big thing is we can't get too high or too low, because from what I've been seeing, we're going to be playing these guys again in Week 11," Luthman concluded.