Fort Frye’s Gavin Rauch (11) works his way into the end zone as teammates Terry Tompkins (60) and Zavier Springer (66) block during Friday’s game against Greenbrier West. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

BEVERLY — There are so many facts about the 2025 Fort Frye Cadet defense through their first six games that it would be hard to choose which one is most impressive.

The Cadets have blanked their opponents three times in six games and have limited them to seven points or fewer in all but one.

Going into Friday night’s home game against Greenbrier West, the Cadets had not allowed a single point in their last 14 quarters of play.

That number swelled to 18 Friday night as the Cadets rolled to a 55-0 win over the Cavaliers to kick off homecoming weekend.

Fort Frye scored 35 points in the opening quarter and never looked back as they dismantled the Cavaliers in every facet of the game.

“These guys have been working hard all week and it showed,” said Fort Frye head coach Eric Huck. “With homecoming and everything it’s an exciting week but they stayed focused and came out ready to play.”

The Cadets got a big special teams play by Ethan Wagner on the opening kick as he laid a huge hit on the Cavs’ return man, forcing the ball free and onto the ground where the Cadets recovered deep in Greenbrier West.

A Fort Frye penalty backed them up 10 yards but they got that amount of yards back and more as Gavin Rauch rambled 22 yards for a touchdown on the first Cadet play from scrimmage.

Tytan Waller’s point after kick was good, giving the Fort a 7-0 lead.

Greenbrier West went three-and-out on their opening possession and were forced to punt the ball back to the Cadets.

Just like their first possession the Cadets would find the end zone on their very first play as quarterback Grady Hesson flipped a screen pass to Rauch who sprinted 42 yards for the second touchdown of the opening quarter.

Fort Frye wouldn’t even need a play from scrimmage to score once again as after another three-and-out Hesson returned the punt 52 yards for a touchdown and a 21-0 lead.

The Cadet defense stopped the Cavs yet again on three plays and on their next possession Tyce Beardsley got in on the act with a 44-yard touchdown run to shove the lead to 28-0.

Once again GW went absolutely nowhere on their next drive and the Cadets made them pay when Kainan Bradford scored the fifth touchdown of the opening quarter on a 29-yard run.

All told it took the Cadets just six plays from scrimmage to score five touchdowns and turn the game into a laugher before the first quarter was over.

“I think our starters only ran about 13 plays so they were very efficient,” said Huck. “They executed very well.”

With the running clock not coming into play until the second half, the Cadets scored twice more in the second quarter to take a 48-0 lead into the intermission.

Rauch scored his second touchdown of the game on a 37-yard run and later Hesson connected with freshman Clayton Tulius on a 16-yard pass to push the lead to 48 at the break.

With the running clock in motion to start the second half the Cadets scored for the final time when Blake Wheeler scored on a 5-yard touchdown run early in the second half.

From that point on the only question that remained was whether the Cadet defense could come up with yet another shutout.

That answer would be a resounding yes as the FFHS defense allowed the Cavs to get virtually nothing for the rest of the game.

Greenbrier West gained just 7 rushing yards on 32 carries in the game, accumulated just 53 total yards and gained just three first downs.

The Cadets used a whole slew of young players defensively down the stretch and they managed to hang in there much to the delight of the Fort Frye starters on the bench.

“We told our younger guys they need to leave it where they found it or better,” said Huck of his second-string defense. “We wanted to keep that zero up there and they did a nice job.”

Fort Frye rushed for over 300 yards and totaled just shy of 400 yards in the game on a grand total of 31 plays from scrimmage.

Hesson was a perfect 5-for-5 passing for 89 yards and two touchdowns while Beardsley topped the 100-yard mark on just two carries.

The win was the fifth in a row for Fort Frye (5-1) as they prepare to begin Twin State League play next Friday night at Don Drumm Stadium against the Tigers.

“It’s exciting to get league play going. They are big schools and good football teams so we are going to have a challenge each week,” said Huck. “It’s nice to stay healthy heading into league play and our guys are going to keep working hard at practice because they want to make it something special this year.”