ANNA — Anna started the season with a dominating 48-14 home victory over Middletown Bishop Fenwick in a nonconference football game on Friday.
The Rockets had 402 yards of offense and held Fenwick to 276 in the running-clock win. They built a 34-14 lead by halftime and added two touchdowns in the third quarter to secure the victory.
Senior quarterback Bart Bixler completed 8-of-10 passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a team-high 124 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries. He scored on a 39-yard run and 11-yard run in the first half and also threw a 45-yard TD pass to Jeffrey Richards and a 29-yard TD pass to Riley Huelskamp.
Huelskamp, a senior, finished with 100 rushing yards and three TDs on 14 carries. He opened the game with a 14-yard TD run and scored on runs of 1 and 7 yards in the third quarter.
Richards led the team with 108 receiving yards on three catches. Will Luthman intercepted a pass for the squad on defense.
The Rockets will travel to Brookville (1-0) on Friday.
Fort Recovery 35, Lehman Catholic 0
The Cavaliers struggled in a season opener on Friday at Fort Recovery. They finished with minus-12 yards of total offense, including minus-39 on the ground.
The Indians received a 20-of-26 passing day from Clay Schmitz for 269 yards and five touchdowns: three to Gavin Thobe (18, 24 and 14 yards), a 13-yarder to Riley Pearson and a 7-yarder to Regan Martin. Martin caught eight passes for 112 yards and Thobe caught six passes for 103 yards.
Drew Barhorst led Lehman with four rushing yards on 15 carries. RJ Bertini completed 3-of-7 passes for 16 yards.
The Cavaliers will host Miami East (0-1) on Friday.
Ansonia 22, Riverside 14 2OT
The Pirates couldn’t score in double overtime and came up short in a season opener on Friday in Ansonia.
Hunter Buckingham threw a 58-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter to Isaac Barga to put the Tigers up 6-0 after a missed extra point. Riverside scored on a 1-yard run by Kaden Burk with 14 seconds left but missed a two-point conversion try, which resulted in a tie score at halftime.
Jackson Shellhaas ran for a 2-yard TD run late in the third quarter, and the Tigers ran for a two-point conversion to take an eight-point lead. But Riverside tied it 14-14 after a 27-yard touchdown pass from Kale Long to Levi Godwin and a two-point conversion pass from Long to Jeff Wren early in the fourth.
Neither team scored in the first overtime. Ansonia scored in double overtime on a 1-yard run by Reece Stammen and then made a two-point conversion to take an eight-point lead. The Tigers then held Riverside scoreless in its double overtime possession.
“I’m beyond proud of how my guys battled and never gave up,” Riverside coach Bryce Hodge said. “I told them they have nothing to hang their heads about. We will learn from our mistakes this game and become a better team because of it.
“Like I said, can’t explain how proud I am of our boys for the effort they gave today. They represented their school and community well tonight.”
Long completed 12-of-28 passes for 107 yards and had one interception. He led the team with 91 rushing yards on 15 carries. Burk finished with 71 rushing yards on 21 carries.
Ethan Burrows led the team with 20 tackles, two of which were for loss. He also had a sack. Long and Godwin also had 10 tackles each and Jeffrey Wren had nine.
The Pirates will host Mississinawa Valley (1-0) on Friday.
New Bremen 51, Ada 21
New Bremen outgained Ada 438-223 in a besting of the Bulldogs in a season opener on Friday.
The Cardinals ran for 420 yards on 39 attempts, led by Wyatt Dicke’s five carries for 138 yards and two scores (61 and 10 yards). Mitchell Hays had three touchdown runs (44, 2 and 1 yards) and Zach Bertke had 1-yard scoring run and 85-yard punt return. Owen Gable kicked a 23-yard field goal.
Bertke finished with 95 rushing yards while Hays finished with 70. Quarterback Nolan Bornhorst completed one pass for 18 yards.
New Bremen led 13-0 at the end of the first quarter but scored four touchdowns in the second quarter to pull away by halftime.
The Cardinals will host Ansonia (1-0) on Friday.
Celina 28, Versailles 27
The Tigers couldn’t complete a comeback try in a season opener on Friday in Versailles.
Ryan Martin threw a 10-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter to bring the Tigers within 28-21 and ran for a 15-yard TD with 4:35 left in the fourth which brought the Tigers within one point after a missed extra point.
The Bulldogs went three-and-out and punted to the 50 with 2:30 left. Versailles got two first downs after converting one fourth down and having a penalty called on a fourth-down try. Martin fumbled at the 12-yard line with 59 seconds left, though, and Celina’s Drake Lagenkamp recovered. The Bulldogs then ran out the clock.
Celina had 322 yards of offense while Versailles had 221.
Martin completed 12-of-24 passes for 157 yards and ran for 25 yards on 12 carries. Landon Henry had 31 rushing yards on nine carries.
Eli McEldowney had two kickoff returns for touchdowns for Versailles in the first half. He gained 176 yards on both and also returned three punts for 109 yards.
Celina’s Jaxson Sillman ran for 132 yards and one touchdown while Cooper Jones ran for 108 yards and one TD and threw for 78 yards and one TD.
The Tigers will travel to Delphos Jefferson (0-1) on Friday.
