The Daily Standard
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If Friday's Fort Recovery-Marion Local playoff football game needed a theme song, the old Guy Lombardo tune "Seems Like Old Times" would do.
For the second straight season, and fourth time since 2014, the Flyers and Indians will face off for the second time in a season as the teams meet at Booster Stadium in the Division VII regional semifinals.
For Fort Recovery fans, the road trip will be a much closer and familiar course. The Indians opened the playoffs at Finneytown High School in Cincinnati to face Cincinnati College Prep, a 34-8 win. Last week, the buses made a three-hour one-way trip to Beaver, located between Chillicothe and Portsmouth, to take on undefeated Eastern. The trip home was happy with a 38-6 win.
The two wins increased Fort Recovery's record against non-Midwest Athletic Conference playoff opponents to 11-0 dating back to the Indians' first playoff appearance in 2014.
It will be the fourth time Fort Recovery faces Marion in the postseason. The first two meetings came in 2014 and 2017. Last year, the match was made after three teams above the Indians in the regional standings opted out of playing Marion Local in the opening round of the playoffs. After beating Fort Recovery 62-0 in the regular season in Maria Stein, the Flyers came away with a 68-0 win in the playoffs at Booster Stadium.
Much has changed since last season. Fort Recovery graduate Wes Wenning, who played on the Indians' 2015 state championship team, took as head coach, taking a 2-9 team to a 5-5 record in the regular season and are ensured of a winning season with the two postseason run.
Fort Recovery's Alex Gaerke is coming off a five-touchdown pass effort to advance the Indians to the Division VII regional semifinals on Friday.
The win over Eastern was highlighted by Fort Recovery quarterback Alex Gaerke's big night. The senior was 9-of-15 passing for 262 yards and five touchdowns. Four of the touchdown passes went to Colson Post, who finished with 169 yards on five receptions.
Gaerke has complete 52% of his passes this season, throwing for 1,106 yards and 11 touchdowns. Post's big night against Eastern raises his season total to 471 yards with six touchdowns.
Reece Wendel, who had 90 yards in the win over Eastern, has rushed for 1,271 yards and 14 touchdowns. Gaerke adds 680 yards and eight scores. Breaker Jutte has been the Swiss army knife for Fort Recovery, rushing for 254 yards, catching 17 passes for 260 yards and throwing three touchdown passes on 3-of-3 passing.
Brodie Hart leads the Indians with 116 tackles. Wendel adds 112 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, five sacks and three interceptions.
After getting a week off in Week 11 for being the top seed in Region 28, the Flyers got back to what they do best, winning.
Marion extended its long winning streak with a 42-12 win over Lehman at Booster Stadium. The Flyer defense slowed down Lehman quarterback Turner Lachey, who entered having thrown for over 5,000 yards, by holding him to 189 yards and both Cavalier touchdowns.
Marion Local's Kamden Eifert has averaged over 100 yards rushing the past six games and leads the rushing game with 16 touchdowns.
Kamden Eifert continues his dominant second half of the season. After rushing for just 198 yards and three touchdowns after five games, Eifert has rushed for 621 and 13 touchdowns the past six games, leading the Flyers with 819 yards and 16 touchdowns while Ben Meier adds 577 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Quarterback Brennen Hess has thrown for 1,601 yards and 18 touchdowns this season. Brayden Mescher (629 yards, seven touchdowns) and Cale Nagel (542 yards, eight touchdowns) are on the receiving end of most of the catches.
The Flyers defense has been stout, albeit having been challenged more than last season when the team gave up 49 points in 16 games. After allowing double digits once last season, a 56-14 playoff win over Tri-Village, Marion has allowed four double-digit games this season, including 19 to Versailles in a 20-19 Flyer win, then 27 to Anna in double overtime. Marion does have four shutout wins, the most recent on Oct. 17 in a 42-0 win at Minster.
Seth Heitkamp leads the Flyers with 74 tackles. Jacob Muhlenkamp and Oliver Huelsman have combined for 15 sacks while Mescher, the MAC co-Defensive Player of the Year, has a team-high five interceptions.
GETTING TO KNOW YOU
Friday will be the first-ever meeting between the Cavaliers and Patriots. Tri-Village lost to Marion Local 56-14 last season in the Division VII playoffs before moving up a division this season.
PUTTING UP THE NUMBERS
The Patriots, coached by Matthew Hopkins, have rolled through the season, going 10-0 in winning the Western Ohio Athletic Conference championship. Tri-Village has scored 600 points this season and allowed just 88 as all 11 of its games have gone to a running clock at some point in the second half.
The closest game this season heading into Friday came last week in beating Portsmouth West 54-22. Five wins have come by a margin of 52 or more points, including a 70-7 win over Mississinawa Valley.
PITCH AND CATCH
The offense for the Patriots flows through the passing combination of quarterback Trey Sagester and wide receiver Griffin Richards. The two shared the WOAC Offensive Player of the Year honors along with Preble Shawnee quarterback Brody Morton, whose squad lost to Indian Lake last week in the playoffs.
Sagester, a standout in basketball as the state Division VI Player of the Year last season, is 124-of-170 (72.9%) for 2,234 yards and 34 touchdowns to just four interceptions this season. Richards has been the favorite target, recording 53 receptions for 1,239 yards and 22 touchdowns.
Noah Finkbine adds 424 yards on 30 receptions and four scores with Kingston Shafer making 19 catches for 325 yards and four scores.
When Tri-Village runs, they'll give much of the handoffs to Staley Colston and Colt Camacho. Colston leads the Patriots with 860 yards and 12 touchdowns while Camacho adds 659 yards and 11 scores. Finkbine will get handoffs as well, averaging 16.3 yards per carry (33 carries for 539 yards) with eight scores. Sagester can also run, tallying 265 yards and five scores.
Finkbine, the WOAC Defensive Player of the Year, has 153 tackles, 15 1/2 tackles for loss and 2 1/2 sacks to go with a fumble recovery touchdown. Linebacker Landen Moore adds 122 tackles. Teddy Miller has six sacks with Ryker Marshall tallying 5 1/2 sacks. Camacho and Aaron Bruner each have four interceptions with both recording pick-sixes.
CAVS ON A ROLL
After the tough 7-6 loss to Marion Local in Week 10, Coldwater has been dominant in its two playoff games. The Cavaliers shut out Covington 48-0 at Cavalier Stadium in Week 11 before traveling to St. Bernard to get a 38-0 win over St. Bernard-Elmwood Place.
Coldwater now has seven wins with 34 or more points scored this season. The two playoff wins also mark the first two shutouts by the Cav defense this season, marking the 22nd back-to-back shutout performance in program history and first since 2018 when the Cavaliers blanked New Bremen and St. John's in respective weeks.
If the Cavaliers can pull the hat trick this week, it will be the first since 2014 when Coldwater shut out Marion Local, Versailles and St. John's.
Coldwater's Derek Dues has become a potent backfield threat for the Cavaliers in the second half of the season.
DUES PAYING OFF
After Braxton Taylor went down with injury, Derek Dues has stepped up his game on the offensive side of the ball.
Already a strong defender, earning first team All-MAC honors at linebacker with 84 tackles and seven sacks, Dues got his first carry of the season in Week Four. Since Week Five, Dues has rushed for 520 yards and 11 touchdowns to add the second running option in the backfield with quarterback Karsyn Homan.
ON THE HORIZON
The winner of Tri-Village-Coldwater will play the winner of Springfield and Anna. The Regional finals will be the first week of neutral site play after three weeks of higher seeds hosting.
IT'S BEEN AWHILE
The Indians and Redskins have played five times, all coming in the playoffs. The first meeting came in 1986 with the most recent coming in 1998. St. Henry has won all five meetings by a combined score of 151-33. All five wins came under the guidance of Hall of Fame coach Tim Boeckman, whose grandson Tate Boeckman is a standout at receiver and defensive back for the Redskins.
COMING ON LATE
After a 40-30 loss at Madison Plains on Oct. 10 to drop to 3-5, Cedarville has been on a tear, winning their final two regular season games over Springfield Catholic Center and South Charleston Southeastern, then picking up playoff road wins at Portsmouth Notre Dame and Cincinnati Country Day to head to St. Henry on a five-game winning streak.
The Indians, who finished 2-3 in the Ohio Heritage Conference South Division, will rely on the arm of Will Mossing. The senior has passed for 2,953 yards with 32 touchdowns and just five interceptions on 211-of-349 passing (60.5%). Mossing was 19-of-22 for 234 yards and a passing touchdown and three rushing scores in the Indians' 49-21 win over Country Day.
Running back Isaiah Christian is a dual threat out of the backfield. In addition to 1,167 rushing yards and 10 scores, Christian has 49 receptions for 523 yards and five touchdowns. Derek Orr leads Cedarville with 783 yards on 46 receptions and six scores.
REDSKINS ROLLING
After the Week Three loss to Marion Local, St. Henry has been dominating, allowing just 54 points with three shutouts. The closest game during the run was last week's 14-7 win in the rematch with New Bremen.
Charlie Werling has been potent rushing and passing for St. Henry this season.
Quarterback Charlie Werling, the MAC Offensive Player of the Year, had both touchdowns against New Bremen last week via the run, raising his season total to 1,472 yards with 26 touchdowns to go with 1,159 passing yards and 10 touchdowns.
Landon Schwartz (295 yards, two touchdowns) and Brayden Heath (217 yards, three touchdowns) have become the main go-to receivers for the Redskins.
St. Henry's defense has recorded 19 interceptions this season. Jack Huelsman leads the team with five, including two pick-sixes.
WHO'S NEXT?
The winner faces the winner of Marion Local and Fort Recovery. Of interest, Cedarville was one of the three teams that opted out of the playoffs rather than play the Flyers last year in the opening round of the playoffs.
Colson Post, WR, Fort Recovery
Josh Schroer, LB, ColdwaterNo. 5 Rocky River (10-2) at No. 1 Medina Buckeye (11-0)
No. 6 Toledo Central Catholic (8-4) at No. 2 Wapakoneta (11-0)
No. 5 Coldwater (8-4) at No. 1 Tri-Village (11-0)
No. 6 Anna (9-3) at No. 2 Spring. Northeastern (10-1)
No. 12 Fort Recovery (7-5) at No. 1 Marion Local (11-0)
No. 11 Cedarville (7-5) at No. 2 St. Henry (10-1)
All games start at 7 p.m.
