ANNA — Anna scored three touchdowns in the first half to pull away early from New Bremen in a 45-0 victory in a Midwest Athletic Conference opener on Friday in Anna.
Senior running back Riley Huelskamp ran for 101 yards and two touchdowns, including a 4-yard run and 32-yard run in the second quarter. Senior quarterback Bart Bixler ran for 64 yards and three touchdowns and completed 7-of-10 passes for 62 yards. He opened the game with a 1-yard score and scored on runs of 47 and three yards in the third quarter.
Zach Ambos hit a 22-yard field goal for Anna in the fourth quarter after the game resumed following a lightning delay, and Hayden Davies capped off the game’s scoring with a short run late in the fourth.
Kamren Steward caught five passes for 50 yards and had one interception. Hayden Schmidt recovered a fumble for the Rockets. Malachi Minnich led the squad with seven tackles.
The Rockets had 373 yards of offense while New Bremen had 94. Mitchell Hays led New Bremen with 57 rushing yards on 15 carries while Zach Bertke gained 48 yards on 10 carries.
Anna (3-0, 1-0 MAC) will travel to St. Henry (1-2, 1-0) this Friday while New Bremen (2-1, 0-1) will host Fort Recovery (1-2, 0-1).
Fort Loramie 34, Miami East 0
Fort Loramie had featured a stout passing attack in its first two games.
The only thing that filled the air in a Cross County Conference opener on Friday in Casstown was lightning. Fort Loramie mostly opted to stay grounded on offense — and had good results.
The Redskins needed just one half to pull away from Miami East to a victory in a game that was called at halftime due to lightning.
The Miami Dolphins relied on a two running back combo in its famous undefeated season in 1972 nicknamed the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Show. The Redskins had their own version of that Friday with Nick Brandewie and Max Hoying.
Miami’s Butch Cassidy was Larry Csonka. He was a big, bruising runner who always seemed to be running on a down slope with strength. Sundance was Jim Kiick, a powerful 215-pound running back with speed who was a goal line and short yardage specialist.
Brandewie was Fort Loramie’s Cassidy on Friday and Hoying was Sundance. Brandewie scored two touchdowns and unofficially had 73 rushing yards on 12 carries while Hoying had scored one touchdown and unofficially had 77 rushing yards on 10 carries.
Miami East quickly had to punt on its first possession and the Redskins quickly went on an 8-play drive that covered 62 yards with Brandewie and Hoying rushing for all of them. Brandewie scored the TD on a 3-yard run after Hoying gathered 25 yards on the previous two plays.
On Miami East’s next offensive series, QB Tyler Kirby was intercepted by Brandewie, who returned it the 8-yard line. Nate Barhorst ran it in on the next play to give the Redskins a 14-0 lead with 4:32 left in the first quarter.
The Vikings’ Nick LeValley and Austin Francis found holes in Loramie’s defense and got the team inside the 8-yard line before holding penalties pinned them back on the 30.
They turned the ball over on downs, and Brandewie ran 26 yards for a first down on the next play. The Redskins soon followed with one of their few passing attempts in the game, as junior QB Collin Moore threw a 54-yard TD pass to Mark Seger to increase the advantage to 21-0 early in the third quarter.
Miami East was forced to punt on tis next drive, and Fort Loramie started on its own 46. After three big runs by Hoying, Brandewie took it in from a yard out to extend the lead to 27-0 after a missed extra point.
After another Miami East punt, Fort Loramie drove 52 yards on seven plays and scored on a 3-yard run by Hoying.
The game was delayed as Miami East was preparing to kick off in the second half. School officials opted to call the game after about five minutes.
Moore finished 5 for 7 passing for 96 yards with one TD and one interception and had 24 rushing yards on two carries. Seger led the squad with three receptions for 77 yards.
For Miami East, Francis unofficially carried the ball four times for 23 yards, LeValley ran eight times for 29 yards and Kaleb Nickels rushed five times for 16 yards. Kirby was 3-of-6 for 37 yards.
The Redskins (2-1, 1-0 CCC) host Covington (2-1, 1-0) this Friday in a key early-season CCC game.
Minster 41, Fort Recovery 20
Minster pulled away late from the Indians in a MAC opener on Friday in Fort Recovery.
After the start of the game was delayed by weather for nearly two hours, the teams traded early scores to a 13-13 tie. Alex Schmitmeyer scored on a 3-yard run with 22 seconds left in the first half to give the Wildcats a 20-13 lead.
Minster (3-0, 1-0 MAC) put the game away quickly in the third quarter. Jacob Niemeyer scored on a 9-yard run with 8:39 left and then added a 6-yard TD run with 6:07 left to put Minster ahead 34-13.
Schmitmeyer finished with 263 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 33 carries while Niemeyer finished with 105 rushing yards and two TDs on 12 carries. Niemeyer also completed 3-of-3 passes for 46 yards.
The Wildcats had 414 total yards of offense while the Indians had 256.
Minster hosts undefeated Coldwater this Friday.
Indian Lake 42, Riverside 0
After a lengthy lightning delay, the Lakers pulled away from Riverside in a nonconference game on Friday in Lewistown.
The Pirates (1-2) managed 95 yards of offense while Indian Lake racked up 348. The Lakers led 7-0 when the game was delayed for hours in the first quarter. After play resumed, they added three touchdowns before halftime.
Kale Long completed 6-of-13 passes for three yards for Riverside and ran for 46 yards on nine carries. Justin Thompson ran for 44 yards on six carries.
The Pirates will host Lehman Catholic (0-3) this Friday in a Northwest Central Conference opener.
Coldwater 42, Versailles 7
After the start of the game was delayed nearly two hours, the Cavaliers pulled away fast from the Tigers in a MAC opener on Friday in Coldwater.
The Cavaliers had 382 yards of offense while Versailles had 160. Ryan Martin completed 14-of-34 passes for Versailles for 160 yards while Landon Henry ran for 63 yards on 18 carries. Henry scored the team’s touchdown on a 17-yard run.
The Tigers (1-2, 0-1) will host Parkway (2-1, 0-1) this Friday.
