Fort Loramie’s Kaleb Bergman, bottom, brings down a Crestview ball carrier as Griffin Mescher gets ready to pounce at Fort Loramie on Friday.
SIDNEY — Fort Loramie got its first win as a member of the Northwest Conference as it knocked off the Convoy Crestview Knights 28-21.
Coach Spencer Wells was very pleased with his team beating a good team and bringing themselves to 2-2 on the year and 1-0 in the NWC.
Fort Loramie got out to an explosive start on Friday, scoring 13 points in less than four minutes of game time.
Quarterback Gabe Hart had four touchdowns in the game, his first two being touchdown passes to Carter Eilerman and Maxwell Maurer respectively.
Hart’s final two scores of the game came in the second half on short rushes.
Fort Loramie’s defense was a great asset to the team, especially early in the game when they blocked a Crestview punt leading to a touchdown on the very next play.
Fort Loramie never trailed in the game, but nearly gave Crestview a chance to tie late in the fourth quarter when the Knights forced and recovered a fumble at midfield with just over a minute to play.
On Friday, Fort Loramie will take on Lima Central Catholic who has given up an average of just over 15 points per game this season while scoring an average of 23 points and going 3-1.
LCC will enter Friday’s game on a three-game winning streak with recent dominant wins over Carey and Allen East.
“We’re still not playing our best football,” Wells said. “This week has to be a great week of practice because Lima Central Catholic, as we’ve known from playing them the last couple of years, will be very good for sure.”
Sidney aiming to start winning streak
Sidney evened its overall record to 2-2 with a 10-point win on the road at Fairborn on Friday and will look to start a winning streak when it hosts West Carrollton this Friday.
The Yellow Jackets had their best defensive half this season in the first half against the Skyhawks. Fairborn got running more in the second half, which Sidney coach Dave Taynor attributed to fatigue, injuries and Fairborn’s physicality.
But Sidney made enough plays and always stayed ahead by double digits in the second half. The defense sealed the win by stopping a run on a two-point conversion try with under two minutes left, which would have cut the gap to to eight points.
“In the first half, I though defensively we played really well,” Taynor said. “They got one little throwback, deceptive, that led to a touchdown. And they’re a really physical football team, so they wore on us a little bit towards the end, but I was happy with how our guys responded.”
West Carrollton (0-4, 0-3 MVL Valley Division) has lost each game in lopsided fashion. The Pirates lost 48-7 to Troy last week and 42-6 to Fairborn the previous week; it was shut out in its first two games.
West Carrollton is allowing an average of 372 yards and 46 points per game. The team ranks last in the MVL in offensive yards (138.5) and points (3.3).
If victorious on Friday, Sidney would have an opportunity to stretch its winning streak to three games on Sept. 27 when it travels to Greenville, which like West Carrollton is also winless and has lost every game in lopsided fashion.
Sidney’s offense got back to form against Fairborn and will try for similar performances the next two weeks.
Senior quarterback Ethan New, who was injured in the first half in Week 3 against Xenia and missed the rest of the game, completed 14-of-16 passes for 261 yards and three TDs against Fairborn. He ranks second in the MVL in passing yards (836) and has thrown for nine TDs with one interception.
Anna Rockets can’t contain Coldwater
Anna was unable to get much going offensively on Friday, as it fell 34-18 to Coldwater.
After trailing 7-0 at the end of the first, quarterback Alex Shappie found Noah Aufderhaar for a 16-yard touchdown. The Rockets missed the PAT and would trail by eight points at the half.
After giving up another Coldwater touchdown in the third, Anna got on the board again with a short Zach Osborn run, but it was unsuccessful on the two-point conversion.
The Rockets got another touchdown with around three minutes to play and were yet again unable to convert two points.
On Friday Anna takes on Midwest Athletic Conference rival St. Henry at Booster Field at 7 p.m. who is also 2-2 on the season.
St. Henry is coming off of a dominant 48-14 victory over Fort Recovery but has also taken some substantial losses on the season.
The Rockets trail St. Henry in the MAC standings by one game as Anna is still winless in conference play.
Lehman Catholic stays hot against Milton-Union
The Cavaliers won for their third consecutive week as they knocked off the Bulldogs 35-27 in Three Rivers Conference play.
Lehman fell behind early in the game 7-0 before exploding for a 21 point second quarter that tied the game at halftime.
The Cavaliers held Milton-Union to just six-second half points while scoring 14 of their own.
Lehman has outscored opponents by a combined 50 points over their last three contests with the largest margin being a 28 point victory over Southeastern in Week 2.
The Cavaliers have the longest winning streak in the Three Rivers Conference at the moment but they have a tough matchup next week against conference rival Miami East.
Miami East entered last week on a three game winning streak of their own before falling to Northridge in a three possession game.
WEEK 5 AREA SCHEDULE
All games scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday unless otherwise noted.
West Carrollton at Sidney
St. Henry at Anna
Lima Central Catholic at Fort Loramie
Miami East at Lehman Catholic*
Coldwater at Minster
New Bremen at Marion Local
Versailles at Parkway
Riverside at Northridge
*Game scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday at Sidney Memorial Stadium.
Harless is the assistant editor of the Sidney Daily News and can be reached at [email protected]. Billing is the editor and can be reached at [email protected].
