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Fort Recovery's Brodie Hart (22) tackles St. Henry's Landon Schwartz.
FORT RECOVERY - After coming ever so close to upsetting Marion Local a week ago, St. Henry came to play on the road at Fort Recovery in a battle of 2-1 teams.
After playing to a 6-all tie in the first half, the Redskins picked up the pace and beat the hometown Indians 33-13 at Barrenbrugge Park.
After both teams forced quick three-and-outs, it was the Redskins who found the end zone first. Charlie Werling threw a 32-yard pass to Tate Boeckman to put the visitors on the doorstep of scoring. Werling took the snap in the shotgun, and ran the seven yards needed to take a 6-0 lead with 4:10 left in the quarter. The conversion was denied by Fort Recovery's defense to keep it 6-0.
Three more punts forced by both defenses kept the score at 6-0 at the end of the first quarter. St. Henry got close to scoring, but a field goal was missed to give the ball to Fort Recovery at their own 15 yard-line. Reece Wendel then had the highlight play of the first half, with a 79-yard run to make it first and goal from the one yard line. Breaker Jutte then took the direct snap and fought his way into the end zone to tie the score at 6-all, after the missed extra point.
Both teams then traded interceptions to end the half. Alex Gaerke's pass was intercepted by St. Henry's Jack Huelsman, who put the ball on the doorstep for the visitors. Landon Schwartz then gave it right back a few plays later. Reece Wendel jumped in front of a pass with under 30 seconds left to give Fort Recovery a shot at a Hail Mary. Gaerke was sacked to end the half, and both teams went to the locker room with the score at 6-all.
"We had missed opportunities in the first half," St. Henry coach Josh Werling said postgame. "We had a couple of turnovers and didn't finish in the red area."
St. Henry's Carter LaGuire goes over Fort Recovery's Anthony Roessner for the reception during Friday's game at Barrenbrugge Park.
Locked in a tight game at the break, the St. Henry defense forced a punt to give the offense the ball. Will Speck took a handoff for 46 yards before catching a swing pass from Werling to put the visitors on top 13-6. Another Fort Recovery punt later, and St. Henry had the ball inside its own ten.
Werling hit the hole on a first-down run and took it the full 91 yards for a touchdown to silence the Fort Recovery faithful. With under four minutes to go in the third, St. Henry had flipped the script of the game, taking a 19-6 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Indians were not ones to back down however. A solid, 75-yard drive was capped off by a Breaker Jutte jump-pass to Brody Barga from just over 20 yards out. The once quieted crowd was now sensing a comeback, as the Indians trailed just 19-13 after the extra point by Gaerke.
St. Henry did not let the crowd get too comfortable though. Wanting a hat-trick of scores, Werling's three yard run wrapped up a drive that started at midfield after a good kickoff return. The extra-point was good, and the Redskins jumped back up 26-13 with 6:42 left.
St. Henry's Charlie Werling (12) gets some room to run during Friday's MAC football game against Fort Recovery at Barrenbrugge Park.
"(Charlie Werling) made good decisions in our read game...he made the proper read in the swing route, got our guy in space, just really good decision making." Coach Werling said.
Jack Huelsman then jumped in front of another Gaerke pass and took it 70 yards for a pick-six, signaling the end of the Fort Recovery rally. It was Huelsman's second interception of the game, and his fourth over the previous two games. The Indians had no response, and a fourth down stop by the Redskin defense ended the game in a rather fitting way.
"At halftime, we asked our seniors and captains, 'Hey this is the moment where you guys need to lead us,' " Coach Werling said. "This is where we get over the hump and they did, capped off by Jack Huelsman's pick six at the end."
The Redskins now sit at 3-1 on the year and now have their first Midwest Athletic Conference win. They will head back home next week to take on the Anna Rockets in another MAC contest. Fort Recovery drops to 2-2 and will look for its first conference win next Saturday with a 1:30 p.m. matinee at Delphos St. John's.
