By LYLE KITTLE
Standard Correspondent
COLDWATER — Alex Hoyng threw for 338 yards and four touchdowns
as Coldwater celebrated its homecoming and improved to 5-0 with
a 42-21 win over St. Henry in a Midwest Athletic Conference
game. The Cavaliers are 3-0 in the conference, while St. Henry
dropped to 2-3 on the year and 1-3 in the MAC.
Craig Wellman pulled in 10 of Hoyng’s passes for 192 yards
and touchdowns of 50, 52, and five yards. Ross Homan caught
Hoyng’s other scoring toss and later ran 62 yards for
a score while Josh Fullenkamp had a 10-yard run for a score.
Coldwater’s offensive line gave Hoyng more than enough
time to identify the coverages and sort out his receivers. St.
Henry’s defense sacked Hoyng just once and the Cavaliers’
receivers had enough time to slip behind the secondary.
“Our offensive line is the most inexperienced part of
our football team,” Cavaliers coach John Reed said. “They’re
committed to improving. We almost have two practices each day.
We work as a team and then when we’re done, the linemen
go off and work some more. Nobody knows what Zach Schwieterman
or Tony Homan or Kyle Uhlenhake or Brian Brunswick or Joe Huwer
or Andrew Wenning did, but the coaches know. The game isn’t
won by the guys on the outside, it’s won by the guys in
the trenches.”
“That was huge (the lack of pressure),” said St.
Henry coach Jeff Starkey. “We thought we could put a little
pressure on him, but their offensive line obviously played a
great game.”
Hoyng had a potential fifth touchdown pass go by the wayside
on Coldwater’s first possession. Fullenkamp caught a 44-yard
pass from Hoyng, but had the ball stripped away by the Redskins’
defense on the one-yard line.
Coldwater got its first score on the next possession when Hoyng
hit Wellman for a 50-yard strike.
After St. Henry’s Jeremy Schwieterman returned a punt
for a score for the second consecutive game, Coldwater got its
second score on Fullenkamp’s 10-yard run. Trevor Stromblad
added the point after for a 14-7 Cavaliers’ lead.
Coldwater’s next series resulted in another Hoyng TD pass,
this one to Homan for 11 yards.
St. Henry added another score before the half when Nathan Stahl
hit Schwieterman in the left corner of the end zone for a 24-yard
score.
Wellman caught another score from Hoyng in the third period,
this one for five yards. The extra point missed and Coldwater’s
lead was 27-14.
St. Henry cut the lead to six early in the final period when
Stahl hit Steve Sutter for a 30-yard pass for a score.
Coldwater effectively put the game away with 4:01 left in the
fourth when Hoyng found Wellman streaking down the middle of
the field and hit him in full stride for a 52-yard score.
“We try to find matchups, and it’s really hard for
someone to match up with Craig,” said Reed. “He’s
so quick that he’s by you before you can get to him. At
this level, it’s hard to find four people to match up
with our receivers and we’re blessed to have four burners
out there.”
The Cavaliers added an insurance score later when Homan broke
through the middle and outran the Redskins for 62 yards and
the final score of the game.
“The strength of their team is their defense,” Starkey
said. “They get off blocks, they get to the ball and they
have a difference maker out there in 25 (Homan).”
Coldwater travels to Parkway on Friday, while St. Henry returns
home for Homecoming to host Lima Central Catholic.
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