Saturday, October 8th, 2022
Hanging on for the win
Coldwater holds off New Bremen to remain unbeaten
By Gary R. Rasberry
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
Coldwater's Marcel Blasingame tries to break a tackle by New Bremen's Ben Sailer (23) in the open field as the Cardinals' Troy Homan readies for a hit at Cavalier Stadium on Friday. Blasingame rushed for 147 yards and threw for 167 in the Cavaliers' win.
COLDWATER - Defense was the main attraction in the first half of Friday night's New Bremen-Coldwater football contest.
The offense stole the show in the second half, but the Cavaliers had a big defensive stop in the final minutes, preventing the Cardinals from tying the game, to hold on for the 35-28 victory at Cavalier Stadium.
The win keeps the Division V top-ranked Cavaliers perfect at 8-0 and 6-0 in Midwest Athletic Conference play. The Cardinals drop to 6-2 and 4-2, with the losses coming to the top-ranked teams in Division V (Coldwater) and Division VI (Marion Local).
"(New Bremen) is a really good team, to hang in there and be efficient," Coldwater coach Chip Otten said. "We went through some adversity out here tonight and the kids hung in there and showed that mental toughness to keep playing."
The teams shut out each other on the respective first drives of the game. New Bremen went with a ground attack for most of its opening drive and worked down to the Cavalier 28, where David Homan could not connect with Dylan Bambauer on fourth-and-2. Coldwater looked ready to strike on a long pass play from Marcel Blasingame to AJ Harlamert, but a holding call moved the Cavs back to their 35, and New Bremen held tough and forced a punt.
New Bremen marched 88 yards on 10 plays, with Homan hitting Bambauer for a 13-yard strike to get inside the 30. Two plays later, Homan connected with Hayden Zeller for a 23-yard score with 2:24 remaining in the first quarter.
The Cavaliers, shut out in the first quarter for the first time this season, punted on the ensuing possession. After forcing a Cardinal punt, Coldwater finally broke through by going through its playbook. A jet sweep by Braylen Harlamert got 14 yards to put the Cavaliers in Cardinal territory, and Blasingame connected with AJ Harlamert for a 26-yard strike to the Cardinal 1. On the next play, Jack Ebbing punched through to tie the score with 8:07 left in the half.
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
New Bremen's David Homan looks for running room as Coldwater's Shane Ontrop (68) and Sam Obringer try to get off their blocks at Cavalier Stadium on Friday.
Coldwater forced New Bremen to punt on the ensuing drive, setting up the Cavaliers for a 71-yard scoring drive. Blasingame continued to mix the run and pass to get down to the 1 once again, and this time he called his own number for the punch-in to give Coldwater a 14-7 lead with 36.5 seconds left in the half. New Bremen got into Cavalier territory on a last-second drive, but could not connect on a Hail Mary to end the half.
The Cavaliers got the ball to start the third quarter, as a solid kick return and a Cardinals personal foul set them up at the New Bremen 45. Blasingame engaged the Harlamert twins for big passes, hitting AJ for a 10-yard strike and Braylen for a 29-yard pass to get down to the five. Blasingame got into the end zone three plays later from a yard out.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Cardinals fumbled and Coldwater recovered at the New Bremen 26. Three plays later, Ebbing scored his second TD of the night as the Cavalier lead ballooned to 27-7 just three minutes into the half.
New Bremen, however, was not ready to concede. On second-and-4 from its 21, Homan went deep to Grant Dicke for a 79-yard pitch-and-catch. The point-after by Hunter Schaefer cut the margin to 27-14.
The next three drives all ended with punts before New Bremen got the ball back at its 31. Homan drove the Cardinals all the way to the Cav 3 before punching it in with 31.5 seconds remaining in the third quarter to get within a touchdown at 27-21.
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
Coldwater's Evan Harlamert (1) works to stay inbounds after making a catch against New Bremen on Friday.
"We got down in a hole early in the second half and continued to fight back," said New Bremen coach Chris Schmidt. "We told them to have faith in the work they put in and trust one another. You have to keep playing. You're going to have adversity in the course of the game and you have to play through it."
But the Cavaliers had a big-play at the ready, as Blasingame broke free of the defense and rambled 52 yards for a touchdown with 10:34 to play. The two-point pass to AJ Harlamert was good to make it a 14-point margin again.
The Cardinals came right back with a 12-play drive spanning 74 yards in four minutes. Homan hit Zeller for a 10-yard strike to get to the Cavalier 4, then ran it in on the next place to make it 35-28 with 6:32 to play.
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
Coldwater's AJ Harlamert (6) keeps focused on catching the ball during Friday's game with New Bremen at Cavalier Stadium.
Coldwater looked to gain first downs and drain the clock, but had to punt after stalling at its 46. New Bremen got the ball up to its 27 but on a third-and-10, Homan was picked off by Blade Buschur.
The Cavaliers again tried to run clock, but turned the ball over on downs. New Bremen moved the ball quickly on its final drive, but Homan slipped on a third-down play and lost yards, and a deep heave on fourth down was batted down, allowing Coldwater to take two knees to close out the game.
"We called time out (on fourth down) to get everybody set," said Otten. "You try and get some pressure and knock it down."
"I was proud of our kids," said Schmidt. "I told them before the game to go out and play without fear and leave it all out there. It's not that we didn't make mistakes and (Coldwater's) obviously a good team. Blasingame is really good."
Blasingame rushed for 147 yards and three scores and was 17-of-24 passing for 167 yards. AJ Harlamert had six catches for 71 yards.
Homan rushed for 74 yards and went 15-of-28 for 246 yards. Schaefer rushed for 81 yards.
"David Homan is a tough dude," said Otten. "We had (former Coldwater quarterback) Myles Blasingame work on the practice squad this week and Marcel working with the practice squad. That's as close as you can get to him around here to give our guys a good look and feel that speed and quickness."
The Cavaliers travel south to take on Versailles next Friday at H.B. Hole Field. New Bremen returns home to host Minster in the Battle of Route 66.
SCHMIDT REMEMBERS BRUNSWICK
Schmidt, a Bellfontaine graduate, played baseball for Mark Brunswick, the son of longtime Coldwater baseball coach Lou Brunswick, who died last Friday night.
"Lou was one of our assistant coaches," said Schmidt. "One time, Lou told me he thought I'd make a good coach someday. Coming from him, that meant a lot and still means a lot. I'm sure my story is one of hundreds of stories. He impacted young people. My thoughts and prayers has been with the Coldwater community the last couple of weeks."
