COLDWATER — Anna took advantage of three Coldwater turnovers and earned its biggest win of the season, knocking off previously undefeated and state-ranked Coldwater 21-20 on Friday in a Midwest Athletic Conference game.
The Cavaliers fumbled at Anna’s 1-yard line with 21 seconds left, which the Rockets recovered to clinch the win.
Bart Bixler threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Isaac Lininger with 1:36 in the fourth quarter, then Justin Murray ran in for a two-point conversion to put the Rockets ahead by one.
Mitch Niekamp scored on a 79-yard run with 11:42 left in the fourth to put Coldwater up 13-7 after a missed extra point. Bixler scored on a 2-yard TD run with 9:14 left, and a two-point conversion try failed.
Niekamp scored on a 14-yard touchdown run with 6:15 left to give the Cavaliers a 20-13 lead.
Bixler scored on a 7-yard run and Coldwater quarterback Jake Hemmelgarn threw a 6-yard pass to Cole Frilling in the first quarter.
Bixler completed 2-of-5 passes for 53 yards with one touchdown and one interception and ran for 135 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries. Riley Huelskamp ran for 176 yards on 35 carries for Anna.
Brandon Shannon intercepted a pass for Anna, while Justin Murray recovered a fumble.
The Rockets had 363 yards of offense, while Coldwater had 335. The Cavaliers lost two fumbles and had one interception, while Bixler’s interception was Anna’s only turnover.
Coldwater (7-1, 5-1 MAC) is ranked No. 1 in Division VI in the state Associated Press poll.
The win makes Anna a near-lock for the playoffs according to Drew Pasteur’s Fantastic50.net. The Rockets have a 99 percent chance at making the postseason and can completely clinch a playoff berth with wins the last two weeks.
Anna (6-2, 5-1) will return home to host Parkway (1-7, 1-5) on Friday.
Fort Loramie 69, Tri-Village 6
The Redskins rolled in a road Cross County Conference game on Friday and clinched a first-round home playoff game according to JoeEitel.com.
The Redskins — which had already secured a playoff berth — are currently No. 1 in Division VII, Region 28 playoff Harbins computer rankings. They’ll easily maintain their No. 1 ranking with wins the last two weeks of the season.
Collin Moore threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Mason Kemper early in the first quarter, then Nate Ratermann recovered a fumble for a touchdown with 7:53 left to put the Redskins up 14-0.
Nick Brandewie scored on a short touchdown run, Moore threw a 21-yard TD pass to Devin Wehrman, Max Hoying scored on a 52-yard run and Brandewie returned an interception 37 yards for a touchdown to put Fort Loramie up 42-0 by the end of the first quarter.
Brandewie scored on a 17-yard run and Hoying scored on a 15-yard in the second quarter to boost the lead to 56-0 at halftime. Nate Meyer and Sam Barhorst scored on touchdown runs in the second half to finish Fort Loramie’s scoring.
Fort Loramie (7-1, 6-0 CCC) will travel to National Trail (4-4, 2-4) on Friday.
Lehman Catholic 52, Upper Scioto Valley 6
A week after a disappointing loss to Waynesfield-Goshen, Lehman rebounded with a big Northwest Central Conference win over Upper Scioto Valley. The Cavaliers built a 35-6 lead by halftime and cruised in the second half.
Lehman quarterback Elliott Gilardi — who missed most of last week’s game while in concussion protocol — returned and completed 9-of-10 passes for 121 yards with three touchdowns. Junior Tyler Sollman led Lehman’s ground attack with 120 rushing yards on 21 carries and scored one touchdown. Gilardi also rushed for a touchdown.
RJ Bertini led Lehman’s receiving corps with five receptions for 91 yards with two touchdowns. Brendan O’Leary had a 1-yard touchdown reception.
Lehman had 215 yards of offense while Upper Scioto Valley managed 28. The Rams had four turnovers while the Cavaliers had one.
Senior kicker Michael Denning made 5-of-5 extra points and 2-of-2 field goals, the longest of which was 40 yards.
Lehman (5-3, 4-1) will travel to Lima Perry (6-2, 4-1) on Friday.
Marion Local 7, Minster 6
Like many other area teams, Minster and Marion Local’s offenses sputtered in rainy conditions on Friday. Unlike most other teams, though, both the Flyers and Wildcats rarely found the end zone.
A missed extra point in the first quarter proved to be the difference, as Marion Local held on to hand the Wildcats their second consecutive MAC loss.
Nolan Habodasz ran for 74-yard touchdown with 8:08 left in the first quarter to put the Flyers up. Jacob Niemeyer scored on a 72-yard run with 1:31 left in the quarter, but Bryan Falk’s extra point attempt was no good.
The teams struggled from there. Both were 3-of-12 on third-down conversions, while Marion Local was 0-of-1 on fourth down and Minster was 1-of-2.
Marion Local had 199 yards of offense while Minster had 263.
Alex Schmitmeyer ran for 138 yards for Minster while Niemeyer ran for 98. Habodasz ran for 130 yards for Flyers. Niemeyer completed 7-of-14 passes for 27 yards for Minster while Nathan Bruns completed 4-of-17 passes for 57 yards for Marion Local. Each threw one interception.
Minster (5-3, 2-3 MAC) will travel to Versailles (2-6, 1-4) on Friday.
New Bremen 14, Versailles 7
New Bremen senior quarterback Nolan Bornhorst scored on an 8-yard run in the third quarter and threw a 50-yard TD pass to Grant Selby in the fourth quarter to help the Cardinals come back and beat Versailles in MAC action on Friday.
Versailles took a 7-0 lead in the second quarter on a 50-yard pass from Ryan Martin to Michael Stammen but couldn’t hold on after halftime.
Bornhorst completed 5-of-16 passes for 105 yards and ran for 19 yards on 13 carries. Martin completed 10-of-26 passes for 118 yards and ran for 27 yards on 13 carries. Selby led New Bremen with two catches for 54 yards and Stammen led Versailles with five receptions for 76 yards.
The Cardinals had 175 yards of offense and Versailles had 187.
New Bremen (5-3, 3-3 MAC) will travel to Delphos St. John’s on Friday. Versailles (2-6, 1-4) will host Minster.
Riverside 20, Lima Perry 18
With Friday night’s cold and wet weather conditions, Riverside’s wing-T attack proved to be fatal for Perry.
Riverside took the lead for the first time in the third quarter and then controlled the clock, en route to a Northwest Central Conference victory over the host Commodores.
Perry’s loss creates a three-way tie atop the NWCC, with one loss apiece for Perry (6-2, 4-1 NWCC), Riverside (5-3, 4-1 NWCC) and Lehman (5-3, 4-1 NWCC). Perry hosts the Cavaliers next week, while Riverside plays at Lehman in Week 10.
After falling behind 18-13 by the halftime break, Riverside came out in the second half, took the lead and shut down the Perry offense the rest of the way.
After rolling up 251 offensive yards in the first half, Perry managed just 95 yards in the second half.
Riverside claimed its first lead of the night late in the third quarter. The Pirates mounted a 12-play, 62-yard scoring drive, capped off with a 2-yard run by quarterback Joel Cotterman. With the extra point, Riverside led 20-18.
Luke Roby scored on a 3-yard run in the second quarter that cut Perry’s lead to 12-7 and added a 30-yard run in the second quarter that cut the lead to 18-13.
Roby led all rushers with 180 yards on 33 carries.
In the fourth quarter, Perry struggled to move the football against Riverside’s defense.
The Pirates held off the Commodores in the final minute of the game, as Perry got the ball inside the 10-yard line and was unable to score.
“Lima Perry is one heck of a football team,” Riverside coach Tim McGill said. “We knew coming in that they have incredible athletes, and they are well-coached. We felt like we had to shorten the game. We felt like we had to keep the ball — run the ball and chew up the clock — and give ourselves an opportunity to win at the end.”
Riverside recorded 231 total offensive yards.
The Pirates will look to tune up for the Week 10 showdown with Lehman against Ridgemont (1-7, 0-5) on Friday in De Graff.
