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Coldwater's Sam Rismiller (54) sacks Tri-Village quarterback Trey Sagester during Friday's game in New Madison.
NEW MADISON - Going on the road in the playoffs and winning is supposed to be hard. Coldwater is making it look easy after picking up over 500 total yards in a 48-29 win against Tri-Village to continue its postseason run.
The win puts the Cavaliers in the Division VI Regional Final, where they will take on an Anna team fresh off a 28-8 win over Springfield Northeastern. It will be a rematch of last year's Regional Final, where Coldwater ran away victorious en route to a state title.
After forcing a quick three-and-out on defense, Coldwater took over at their own 20. Four plays and 80 yards later, it was 7-0. Most of the yards came on a 64-yard pass from Karysn Homan that was right in the breadbasket of Cadin Obringer, who broke a tackle and found the end zone.
Tri-Village's high-powered passing attack looked to respond on the next possession, which began on the 15. The Patriots used two huge pass plays to get into Cavalier territory, but a Derek Dues sack on fourth down ended the drive at the 34.
"We got some huge early stops," Coldwater Coach Chip Otten said. "We mixed things up a lot and we blitzed a lot, so that put some pressure on them."
Coldwater's next possession had a rough start. Homan was sacked by lineman Dominic Black to set up a second-and-18 which turned into a third-and-18 after an incompletion.
Homan got some help from his offensive line, and found Caleb Schroer for 14-yards and made it a more manageable fourth down. Homan picked it up himself with an eight yard run to give the Cav's sideline a little bit of juice.
Two plays later, Homan found the end zone from eight yards out to increase the lead, but a blocked extra-point held the score at 13-0 with two minutes to go in the first. Another punt was in order for the Patriots on their next drive as a holding call dug too deep of a hole for the home team to climb out of.
Coldwater took over at midfield, and easily picked up a first down via two outside run plays. Homan found Karter Freed for a 30-yard gain through the air, which set up a first-and-goal from the 10.
Coldwater's Karsyn Homan (15) pushes away Tri-Village's Lathen Wehr.
Another quarterback run was called, and another six points hit the scoreboard as Homan dashed in. The two-point conversion was no good but Coldwater was more than happy with a 19-0 lead as the clock read 10 minutes left in the half.
In desperate need of a response, Tri-Village went three-and-out after a sack from Sam Rismiller. Coldwater could not turn the momentum into points, but did run 10 plays and took the clock down to the two minute mark. A great punt by Bryce Couchot forced the Patriot's offense to start at their own two yard-line.
Tri-Village went on a drive that would have made the New England Patriots happy. In a matter of one minute, quarterback Trey Sagester caught fire and hit on three passes of 10 or more yards.
All of a sudden the Patriots were at Coldwater's two yard-line with 30 seconds left. Sagester took a sneak up the middle and powered his way into the end zone with 25 seconds left to put the home team on the board, 19-7.
Coldwater was able to get in position for a Hail Mary, but the pass was intercepted with zeros on the clock. Despite the early dominance from the Cavs, it was just a 12-point game at the break. The good news for Coldwater was that the offense was still hot despite the late interception.
Opening the second half with possession, Coldwater decided to get more physical. Six straight run plays and over 60 yards later, Dues found pay dirt. It was a 21-yard outside run that gave the Cavs a 25-7 lead, and Obringer hauled in the conversion to push the lead to an even 20-points.
Tri-Village was not done on offense however. Another fast-paced, high flying and quick drive put the Patriots on the scoreboard again. The highlight was a 44-yard pass from Sagester to Kingston Shafer, and it was Staley Colston who got over the pylon from the one yard-line to cap off the drive.
It took four plays and just over one minute of game time for the Patriots to cut the lead to 27-13.
Coldwater could sense that the high pace wasn't going to work for their offense, who put a more controlled drive together on the next possession. A 27-yard run by Homan, in which he got low and ran through a defender, got the offense in motion.
Four plays after the run, Homan got in from five yards out and the lead was back to 34-13. While the seven points were celebrated, the bigger deal was the clock. Coldwater used up five minutes and Tri-Village got the ball back down 21 with just under three minutes left in the third.
"(Homan's) a tough kid. In some ways he's build like a running back," Otten said. "Between him, Derek Dues and Karter Freed, all three of them had at least one score. I'm just proud of our guys."
The ensuing Patriot's drive took up the rest of the quarter after three chunk passing plays got the ball down to the red zone. The quarter ended after a Sagester run on third-and-12 picked up nine.
To open the fourth, Sagester took the snap and quickly fired the pass toward a receiver, but great coverage by the Coldwater secondary made the passing window small. The ball hit the turf incomplete and the Cavs took over.
While Tri-Village was playing like a team possessed by an air-raid playbook, Coldwater's running attack did the trick for their offense. An 11-play, 96-yard drive ended after Freed got into the end zone again from 24-yards out. 10 of the 11 plays were runs, including another 25-yard gash by Homan that put the Cavs into enemy territory. The Coldwater lead sat at 41-13 with just under six minutes left.
"I thought Rudy Kramer was as good a center as anybody in the league as our best. On the line, the other guys undersized, scrappy dudes that took the challenge on tonight," Otten said.
Chaos soon followed. The Patriots took the kickoff all the way down to the Coldwater 29 and two plays later points were on the board. It was running back Teddy Miller who scored from 10-yards out, and the two-point conversion was good. Coldwater's lead was cut to 41-21, but not for long.
Coldwater's Derek Dues (23) breaks free for some yardage against Tri-Village.
After three straight 10-yard runs, Dues broke a run outside for 44-yard and another Cav score. With just under three to play, Coldwater led 48-21 and could taste the Regional Final game.
Sagester used his elusiveness to find receivers down the field on the next drive, which resulted in another touchdown. This time it was Griffen Richards who hauled in a 10-yard pass. While the touchdown is nice, a 48-29 lead is better, and that's what Coldwater had.
"It's hard because they protect well, and once (Sagester) gets out of the pocket he's really accurate on the scramble," Otten said.
An onside kick was easily recovered by the Cavs, who ran out the clock to end the game and advance. All-in-all, the teams combined for 30 points in the final quarter, but the previous three were all Coldwater.
It marks another win for the Cavs, who will look forward to another matchup with conference foe Anna. The Rockets won the regular season meeting 14-7 in Anna. The location was not yet been determined for next week's game.
"Good rematch. We talked about getting another chance at them. (Anna's) improved all year and I think we have too," Otten said.
