Saturday, September 12th, 2026
Cavs get past Cardinals
By Gary R. Rasberry
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
Coldwater's Braxton Taylor looks for running room against New Bremen. Taylor rushed for five touchdowns and 245 yards in the Coldwater win.
COLDWATER - Just when it looked like Coldwater would jump out to a big lead early, New Bremen got its defense rolling and made it a ballgame.
The Cardinals fought back after trailing 10-0 4 1/2 minutes into the contest and got to within two points midway through the fourth quarter before the Cavaliers recovered thanks to Braxton Taylor's record-tying performance and pick up the 37-22 win at Cavalier Stadium on Friday night, putting Coldwater at 4-0 and 2-0 in the Midwest Athletic Conference as New Bremen drops its second straight game to go to 2-2 and 0-2.
Coldwater took the ball first to start the game and paid dividends right away. After an incomplete pass on the first play from scrimmage for the Cavaliers, Hugh Hemmelgarn handed off to Taylor, who ran around the end and never slowed down until hitting the end zone for a 51-yard scoring run to put Coldwater in front 7-0 just 24 seconds into the ballgame.
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
Coldwater's Charlie Stammen carries the American Flag as team prepares to take the field before Friday's game with New Bremen.
The Cardinals' first drive was halted when Taylor picked off a Gavin Dicke pass at the New Bremen 40. Coldwater stalled out its drive at the 14, setting up a 31-yard field goal from Andrew Myers to make it 10-0 with 7:42 to play in the first quarter.
But after that, the Cardinal defense picked up. On the next Cavalier possession, a pass from Hemmelgarn to Jonah Gruss picked up 25 yards, then three Taylor runs got the ball to the one-yard line before the Cardinal defense stopped two straight runs to get the ball.
On the next Cavalier possession, Coldwater moved the ball to the one again, only to have a bad snap take the ball back to the five. After an incomplete pass, Myers came on to try a 22-yard field goal, only for the New Bremen special teams to get the block.
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
New Bremen's Jacob Kelly (4) tries to avoid Coldwater defender Conner Tobin.
Taking over at their 16 with 7:31 to play in the first half, the Cardinals put together a big drive as Jacob Kelly started to pick up yards on the ground and Dicke finding several big passes to get the ball down to the Cavalier four, where Kelly punched in with 3:36 to play in the half to cut the Coldwater lead to 10-7 as neither team could add a score before the halftime whistle.
"Really frustrating," said Coldwater coach Chip Otten. "We ended up having 10 points and could have had probably 28 points. We were at the one-yard line twice and ended up with nothing on those drives."
After stopping New Bremen on its first drive of the second half, Coldwater needed just three plays to score again, with Taylor taking the ball and rumbling 44 yards to the end zone. Five minutes later, Taylor capped off a 49-yard drive with a seven-yard run-in to make it 24-7 Coldwater with 4:23 to play in the third quarter.
That last score seemed to wake up the Cardinals. After two plays resulting in no yards, Dicke went to the air to Jacob Kelly, who got the ball in the open field and took off for a 77-yard scoring pass on the ensuing possession. Dicke then found Levi Grevenkamp for the two-point conversion to make it 24-15.
After getting the ball back from Coldwater, New Bremen drove 72 yards on nine plays, with Dicke running in from 10 yards out. The AJ Rismiller kick was on the mark to make it a 24-22 game with 8:01 to play in regulation.
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
Coldwater's Karter Freed (16) tries to break free from a New Bremen defender during Friday's game at Cavalier Stadium.
Coldwater punted and pinned the Cardinals deep. Trying to punt from out of the end zone, a high snap forced punter Eli Cathcart to try and get the ball out of the end zone to prevent the safety. He made it to the one-yard line before being tackled. Two plays later, Taylor had his fourth TD of the night to make it 30-22 with 4:44 to play.
New Bremen tried to rally, but Dicke was sacked at the Cavalier 30-yard line to turn the ball over with just under a minute to play. Two plays later, Taylor scrambled 63 yards for the final score of the night.
"We're feeling good about the wins, but, man, we are beat up," said Otten, a reference to both Homan and Derek Dues being banged up and Nolan Gruss being injured late in the game.
Taylor carried the ball 23 times for 245 yards, third-best all-time in Coldwater history, and all five touchdowns, tying Dylan Thobe (2016) and Kevin Hoyng (2002) for most in a game. Hemmelgarn, starting at quarterback as Karsyn Homan focused on defense, was 11-of-21 for 145 yards.
Kelly finished with 161 yards on 12 carries and two scores. Dicke rushed for 51 yards and passed for 133 yards.
Coldwater heads to Auglaize County next Friday to take on undefeated Minster. New Bremen will try and snap its skid next week with a home game against Delphos St. John's.
