Area football roundup: Anna earns 4th running clock win of season

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ST. HENRY — Anna ran away fast to its fourth consecutive running-clock victory of the season with a 48-7 win on Friday at St. Henry.

Bart Bixler scored on two long touchdowns runs, Riley Huelskamp scored on two runs and Jeffrey Richards hauled in a 12-yard TD pass from Bixler to help the squad amass a 34-7 halftime lead. Huelskamp scored on a 35-yard run in the third quarter and Brandon Axe scored on a 10-yard run in the fourth to finish Anna’s scoring.

Huelskamp finished with 213 rushing yards on 12 carries while Bixler finished with 146 yards on eight carries and completed 4-of-7 passes for 47 yards. Malachi Minnich had two tackles for loss and one sack while Isaac Egbert and Owen Jankowski each had one sack. Egbert led the squad with seven tackles.

The Rockets had 475 yards of offense while St. Henry had 205.

Anna (4-0, 2-0 Midwest Athletic Conference) hosts Marion Local (3-1, 2-0) next Friday.

Fort Loramie 19, Covington 14

Friday’s huge Cross County Conference showdown between Covington and Fort Loramie turned into an instant classic from the opening kickoff to when the outcome was decided on the final play — where the Redskins held off the Buccaneers two win.

Kleyton Machino picked off a Fort Loramie pass to give the Buccaneers the ball at their own 17 with 1:57 left in the game — which set up an amazing finish.

With time a huge factor, Covington quarterback Cade Schmelzer led the Buccaneers down the field with quick passes to Andrew Cates, Kleyton Maschino and Kadin Presser to keep the chains moving. Once across the Fort Loramie 50, Schmelzer connected with Maschino on a deep ball to the Redskin one with 24 seconds left on the clock.

Still holding a timeout in their pocket, the Buccaneers attempted to run the ball on the next play, but were stuffed just inches short of the goal line by the Redskin defense. After using a timeout, Covington tried running the ball again and came up just short of the goal line on second down.

As the clocked continued to tick away, Covington snapped the ball with eight seconds left and attempted a pass in the left corner of the end zone — which was ultimately the final play of the game.

That final play will have fans from both sides arguing about the result as the ball fell to the ground.

For Covington — fans, players and coaches were screaming for pass interference as Kadin Presser appeared to be taken to the ground before the ball arrived. Many argued there was still 0.8 seconds left on the clock and there should have been one more play.

For Fort Loramie, it appeared as though the defensive back didn’t impede the Buccaneer receiver — the receiver stumbled to the ground on his own as he attempted to adjust to the ball and the official was in position to make the correct call.

Schmelzer threw a 56-yard touchdown pass Cates, who made a beautiful cut to avoid a Redskin defender for the score late in the first quarter.

Fort Loramie responded with a drive of its own and had the ball inside the Buccaneer 40 on a fourth-and-eight. A pass from Collin Moore to Mark Seger went for 12 yards to the Buccaneer 21 for a first down.

On the next play bruising fullback Max Hoying broke loose around the left end and bulled his way in from 21 yards out to tie the score at 7-7 as the first quarter came to a close.

The Redskins scored in the second quarter when Hoying scooped up the fumble for Fort Loramie and raced 65 yards for the score. The extra point attempt was blocked by Presser, leaving the score at 13-7 in favor of the Redskins with 1:18 left in the half.

Covington linebacker Brayden Wiggins made a huge play by forcing a Fort Loramie fumble early in the fourth. Trentin Alexander stopped up the fumble and scooted untouched 20 yards for the score to give Covington a 14-13 lead with 10:04 left in the game.

But like it had done throughout the contest, Fort Loramie’s offense responded to Covington’s momentum-changing plays. Moore connected with Damon Mescher on a huge pass play to the Buccaneer 4 and two plays later Moore finished off the drive with a three-yard scoring run. The run for two points failed, making the score 19-14 in favor of the Redskins with 8:10 left in the game.

Fort Loramie (3-1, 2-0 CCC) will travel to Bradford (0-4) next Friday.

Coldwater 38, Minster 20

The Wildcats trailed 25-7 by halftime and couldn’t make a comeback in a MAC loss to undefeated Coldwater on Friday in Minster.

Minster (3-1, 1-1 MAC) pulled within 12-7 on an 8-yard touchdown run by Alex Schmitmeyer with 1:43 left in the second quarter, but the Cavaliers ran the next kickoff back for a touchdown and then added another touchdown on a short pass with eight seconds left.

Jacob Niemeyer scored on a 4-yard run early in the third quarter to pull Minster within 25-14 but the Cavaliers scored the next two touchdowns to put it away.

Coldwater had 449 yards of offense while the Wildcats had 263.

Niemeyer completed 12-of-16 passes for 104 yards for Minster and ran for 59 yards on 18 carries. Schmitmeyer gained 90 yards on 21 carries and finished with two TDs, including a 1-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Coldwater quarterback Jake Hemmelgarn completed 18-of-25 passes for 237 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions and ran for 151 yards and two TDs on 17 carries.

Minster travels to Parkway (2-2, 0-2) next Friday.

New Bremen 34, Fort Recovery 27

The Cardinals earned a big MAC win on Friday in New Bremen.

Mitchell Hays scored on an 8-yard run with 8:48 left in the fourth quarter to break a 27-27 tie and put New Bremen ahead.

Hays led the squad with 130 rushing yards and two rushing TDs on 21 carries. Zach Bertke rushed for 55 yards and 1 TD on 10 carries and Wyatt Dicke ran for 43 yards and 1 TD on nine carries. Nolan Bornhorst scored the team’s other TD on a short run.

Hays completed 6-of-11 passes for 71 yards. Bertke led the squad with 7.5 tackles and 1.5 sacks. He also had an interception.

The Cardinals had 357 yards of offense while Fort Recovery had 325.

New Bremen (3-1, 1-1 MAC) travels to St. Henry next Friday.

Versailles 30, Parkway 27

The Tigers scored 16 points in the fourth quarter to rally from a 27-14 deficit and earn its first MAC win of the season on Friday in Versailles.

The Panthers took their two-touchdown lead early in the third quarter after a punt attempt by Eli McEldowney was blocked and recovered by Corey Walls in the end zone for a touchdown.

McEldowney started the Tigers’ comeback with a 41-yard touchdown catch on a pass from Ryan Martin with 8:10 left in the fourth quarter to cut the gap to 27-21. McEldowney scored on a 2-yard run with 3:08 left, but the extra point attempt was no good, leaving the game tied 27-27.

The Tigers got the ball back and scored on a 20-yard field goal by Wes Bruns with nine seconds left to complete the rally.

Marin completed 16-of-29 passes for 195 yards and one touchdown while McEldowney ran for three TDs and gained 11 yards on eight carries and also caught five passes for 72 yards and one TD. Landon Henry led the team with 119 rushing yards on 17 carries. Jacob Carman caught four passes for 72 yards.

Versailles had 414 yards of offense while Parkway had 174.

The Tigers (2-2, 1-1 MAC) travel to Delphos St. John’s (1-3, 0-2) next Friday.

Riley Huelskamp
https://www.sidneydailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/47/2019/09/web1_DSC_4714-5.jpgRiley Huelskamp
Fort Loramie holds on for big CCC win over Covington

By Bryant Billing

[email protected]

WEEK 4 AREA FOOTBALL SCORES

Piqua 29, Sidney 0 F

Anna 48, St. Henry 7 F

Fort Loramie 19, Covington 14 F

Lehman Catholic 27, Riverside 20 F 3OT

Coldwater 38, Minster 20 F

New Bremen 34, Fort Recovery 27 F

Versailles 30, Parkway 27 F

Ben Robinson of GoBuccs.com contributed to this article.

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Bryant Billing has worked as the sports editor of the Sidney Daily News since 2017. He worked as a reporter and later as an editor for a weekly newspaper in Springfield from 2007 to 2012, managed a Springfield-based website called TopBillingSports.com from 2012 to 2016 and then worked as a freelancer for Cox Media Group Ohio newspapers (including the Dayton Daily News) from 2016 to 2017 before joining the SDN.

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