Local Sports

The strong survive: Cadets find a way vs. Ridgewood, 19-14

BEVERLY -- Fort Frye head football coach Eric Huck predicted before Friday evening's season opener at home against Ridgewood that his team would need to rely on their defense in the early season while their young offensive line looks to find its way.

The 19th-year Cadet coach’s insight was right on the money as the defense shined and the offense did just enough to get by as Fort Frye survived a wild fourth quarter to down the Generals 19-14.

The Cadet defense had to come up with three stops in the closing minutes of the game thanks to a couple of unfortunate penalties, but in the end held the Generals at bay to post the victory and notch an all-important first win against a playoff-team from a season ago.

"Our defense was really good last year and even though we lost some key pieces we felt like we had some really good guys to replace them," said Huck. "We knew our defense would really need to step up and they did against a really good team."

Early on it seemed like the Fort Frye defense might be in for a bit of a struggle as it took the Generals just two plays from scrimmage to take an early 7-0 lead.

After the Cadets went three-and-out on their opening possession, a 21-yard punt return by Maverick Lockard gave Ridgewood possession of the ball inside Fort Frye territory at the 32-yard line.

Logan Wince got the first carry from scrimmage for Ridgewood and lost a pair of yards but on his second attempt he took a direct snap and raced untouched 34 yards into the end zone to give the Generals the lead with less than three minutes off of the clock.

The Cadets were unable to move the ball again on their second possession but an outstanding 58-yard punt by quarterback and punter Grady Hesson was downed inside the 1-yard line by the Cadets special team.

That swap of field position would prove to be huge as the Generals were unable to capture a first-down on their next possession and their first punt of the game went just 20 yards giving Fort Frye possession of the football inside the Ridgewood 30-yard line.

Five plays later Cadet senior wing-back Gavin Rauch raced 3 yards into the end zone to pull the Fort to within a point.

The Cadets attempt to pass for the two-point conversion was unsuccessful leaving them trailing Ridgewood 7-6 at the end of the first quarter.

The Generals moved the ball deep into Cadet territory but the first of what would be several key stops by the Cadet defense forced them to turn the ball over on downs at the Fort Frye nine-yard line.

Fort Frye picked up a first down on a 12-yard completion from Grady Hesson to Tytan Waller but had their drive stall deep in their own territory forcing them to punt the ball back to Ridgewood.

Hesson's punt this time was not quite as good as the one before as Ridgewood took possession at their own 38-yard line.

Once again the Fort Frye defense rose to the occasion as they forced the Generals to turn the ball over on downs at the Cadet 30-yard line.

The next Cadet drive appeared to be going nowhere as they faced a third-and-11 at the 29-yard line before Hesson fired a ball deep down the middle that landed perfectly in the arms of receiver Clayton Tullius who then out-ran the Generals defenders into the end zone for a 71-yard touchdown pass that gave Fort Frye their first lead of the season.

"That was something we have been working on and those two have a pretty good connection," said Huck of the explosive play. "We've got some other skill guys that we are excited about too but Tullius is a special player for a sophomore and everybody knows what Grady(Hesson) can do."

That touchdown came with four minutes to play in the half giving Ridgewood plenty of time to answer but once again it would be the Fort Frye defense making the statement.

The Generals moved the ball all the way down to the Cadets 21-yard line but a punishing hit on Wince by several Fort Frye defenders popped the ball loose where it was recovered on the ground by Hesson to secure the 13-7 Cadet lead at the half.

After Fort Frye's first drive of the second half stalled and they punted the ball to Rigewood, the Generals put together perhaps their best drive of the game which culminated in a 5-yard run by Christian Horstmann that put them back in front by a point at 14-13 with three minutes to play in the third quarter.

Fort Frye put together their longest drive of the game early in the final period as they took advantage of three off-sides penalties against Ridgewood to move the ball to the 4-yard line.

Hesson would take care of things from there as the senior used a quarterback sneak on a third-down play and powered his way back into the end zone to put the Cadets back in front with 7:12 to play in the game.

Ridgewood would spend the next six minutes of game clock trying to get the ball back into the end zone for the game-winning score.

Twice the Cadets appeared to stop them on fourth down but both times they were whistled for personal fouls giving the Generals new life.

The Generals put the ball in the end zone twice in the final two minutes of the game but both times they were whistled for penalties of their own to erase the scores.

Finally, with Ridgewood facing a fourth-and-14 from the Cadets' 20-yard line, quarterback Wyatt Marlatt's pass fell incomplete, turning the ball over on downs to the Cadets to secure the victory.

"That was about as dramatic as it gets," said Huck of the final quarter. "I was proud of the way our kids kept battling and the resiliency they showed when we needed it the most."

Fort Frye managed to win despite compiling an uncharacteristically low 167 total yards of offense including just 72 rushing yards on 28 totes.

"We need to get better at running the ball and I think we will," said Huck. "We've got a young line and that will come."

Getting a win against a quality opponent such as Ridgewood was something the Cadets had in focus as they prepared to open the season.

"I could tell through two-a-days and all the way through camp how hard they were working and how bad they wanted this," said Huck, whose team will host West Muskingum next Friday. "It was all about Ridgewood and they were really focused and I'm really proud of the way they played."

At Cadet Field

Fort Frye 19, Ridgewood 14

RHS (0-1) 7 0 7 0 - 14

FFHS (1-0) 6 7 0 6- 19

R: Logan Wince 34 run (Jadon Smoulder kick) 9:17, 1st

FF: Gavin Rauch 3 run (Pass failed) 2:24, 1st

FF: Clayton Tullius 71 pass from Grady Hesson (Tytan Waller kick) 4:07, 2nd

R: Christian Hortstmann 5 run (Smoulder kick) 3:09, 3rd

FF: Hesson 4 run (Pass failed) 7:12, 4th

Team Stats

Ridgewood: First downs: 11, Rushes-yards: 38-169, Passing yards: 79, Total yards: 248. Passing: 7-16-0, Punts-avg: 1-20.0, Penalties-yards: 6-45, Fumbles-lost: 3-2.

Fort Frye: First downs: 7, Rushes-yards: 28-72, Passing yards: 95, Total yards: 167, Passing: 4-9-0, Punts-avg.: 5-37.0, Penalties-yards: 8-95, Fumbles-lost: 1-0.

Individual Stats

RHS: Rushing: Logan Wince: 19-104, Wyatt Marlatt 8-40, Maverick Lockard: 6-11, Bryce Tolliver 4-9, Christian Hortsmann: 1-5, Passing: Marlatt: 7-14-0 79yds, Drake Angle 0-2-0., Receiving: Angle 2-33, Wince 2-23, Lockard 2-10, Andrew Kinsey: 1-3.

FF: Rushing:Sam Bricker: 10-27; Gavin Rauch: 7-23, Tytan Waller: 5-12, Grady Hesson:6-10, Passing: Hesson: 4-9-0, 95 yards, TD, Receivers: Clayton Tullius: 2-77, Waller: 1-12, Bricker 1-6.

Next Game: West Muskingum at Fort Frye.