Cadets cruise past Redstreaks in regional quarterfinals, 37-0
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BEVERLY -- After a much-deserved bye last week in the opening round of the playoffs, it would have been understandable if the Fort Frye Cadets showed a little bit of rust Friday night in the early going of their D-V, Region 19 quarterfinal at Fort Frye High School against the Piketon Redstreaks.
Instead the No. 2 seeded Cadets came out clicking on all cylinders as they rolled to a 37-0 win over the No. 10 Riders to punch their ticket to next week’s regional semifinal back at the friendly confines of Fort Frye High School.
The Cadets scored 15 points in each of the first two quarters and never looked back as they improved to 10-1 on the season.
Quarterback Grady Hesson fired a pair of touchdown passes and Gavin Rauch ran for a pair to lead the way for the Cadets.
"We were a little worried about how we would come out after having that week off," said Fort Frye head coach Eric Huck. "I thought our guys really came out focused and we played well on both sides of the ball and special teams too."
Piketon won the opening kick-off and elected to defer to the second half giving the Cadets the football to begin the game.
The Fort Frye offense went right to work as they ran almost six minutes off the clock on a nine play, 54-yard drive capped by a 4-yard touchdown run by Rauch.
The Cadet defense forced the Redstreaks into a three-and-out on their first possession of the game and then went right back to work with the ball back in their hands.
A pair of long runs by Rauch and Hesson moved the ball into the red zone where Hesson connected on a bubble-screen to Wyatt Erb that the Cadet junior took all the way to the house for a 19-yard touchdown reception.
Hesson completed nine passes in the game to six different receivers.
"I thought Grady (Hesson) did a nice job of controlling the game at quarterback," said Huck. "That's what's special about our system is that a lot of different guys can touch the ball and I think Grady does a nice job of distributing the ball around in our passing game."
The Redstreaks moved the ball into Fort Frye territory for the first time on their next possession but a fumble caused by Cadet defensive back Kylor Beardsley was recovered by Fort Frye to put an end to the drive.
Fort Frye was unable to take advantage of the turnover but they would manage to get a pair of scores in the final minutes of the half to break things open.
Rauch's 54-yard run would set up his own 1-yard touchdown run with 2:25 to play in the half to give the Cadets a 22-0 lead.
Fort Frye came up with its second turnover of the half when Clayton Tullius intercepted a Redstreak pass to give the Cadets the ball at the Piketon 16-yard line.
Four plays later Erb would score on a 2-yard touchdown run and a two-point conversion pass from Hesson to Tullius would increase the Cadet lead to 30-0.
The Cadet defense was great all game long as they limited Piketon to just 153 total yards in the game.
With the 30-point lead, the second half was played under a running clock with the Cadets also electing to chew up as much game clock as possible before snapping the ball on each play.
They would add a final touchdown in the final quarter when Hesson connected with Sam Bricker on a 1-yard touchdown pass for the final score.
Rauch led the Cadets in rushing with 94 yards on just 12 carries.
"Gavin ran the ball really well and our offensive line blocked really well," said Huck. "When you can control the ball and get up early like that it makes a huge difference."
Hesson completed 9-of-12 pass attempts for 117 yards and the two touchdowns.
Fort Frye piled up 356 yards of total offense in the game including 239 yards on the ground.
Tanner Loar led Piketon with 50 yards rushing on 11 carries while quarterback Noah Childers completed 10-of-19 pass attempts for 96 yards and a pick.
Perhaps the only negative on the night for the Cadets was the 110 penalty yards they were assessed due to being flagged for 11 penalties.
"That's not something that we are used to and something we will have to clean up," said Huck of the penalties. "You can't continue to win ballgames with that many penalties so we've got to fix it."
The win ensured the 10 seniors on the Cadet roster one more game on their home turf as they will host No. 3 Columbus Academy next Friday night.
"No matter who you play at this point it's going to be a really tough opponent," said Huck. "It's good that we are going to be playing back here again next week and that's an advantage for us so we need to have a good week of practice and be ready."
The Redstreaks' season comes to a close with a 7-5 record.
Division V Region 19 Quarterfinal
at Fort Frye High School
No.2 Fort Frye 37, No. 10 Piketon 0
PHS (7-5) 0 0 0 0 - 0
FF (10-1) 15 15 0 7 - 37
FF: Gavin Rauch 11 run (Tytan Waller kick) 6:55, 1st
FF: Wyatt Erb 19 pass from Grady Hesson (Clayton Tullius from Hesson) 3:00, 1st
FF: Rauch 1 run (Waller kick) 2:25, 2nd
FF: Erb 2 run (Tullius from Hesson) :28, 2nd
FF: Sam Bricker 1 pass from Hesson (Waller kick) 10:30, 4th
Team Stats
Piketon: First downs: 10, Rushing: 18-57, Passing yards: 96, Total yards: 153, Passing: 10-19-1, Penalties-yards: 3-20, Punts-avg: 1-24.0, Fumbles-lost: 1-1.
Fort Frye: First downs: 15, Rushing yards: 32-239, Passing yards:117, Total yards: 356, Passing: 9-12-0, Penalties-yards: 11-110, Punts-avg: 2-30.0, Fumbles-lost: 0-0.
Individual Stats
Piketon: Rushing: Tanner Loar 11-50, Nolan Childers 3-5, Marquis Rebinson 1-2, Noah Cooper 1-0, Bravien Oliver 1-0, Maddox Stevens 1-0. Passing: Childers 10-19-1, 96 yards, Receiving: Cooper 2-44, Loar 1-11, Stevens 1-10, Tristen Boddiker 2-10, Jacob Bryant 1-9, Imond Leslie 1-7, Cadence McDowell 2-5.
Fort Frye: Rushing: Gavin Rauch 12-94 2 TD's, Sam Bricker 6-41, Cooper Hellinger 3-36, Grady Hesson 4-27, Tytan Waller 3-23, Hunter Brady 1-8, Ethan Buckey 1-6, Wyatt Erb 2-4 (TD), Passing: Hesson 9-12-0, 117yds, 2 TD's, Receiving: Rauch 2-73, Erb 3-25, Clayton Tullius 2-14, Ethan Wagner 1-8, Bricker 1-1 (TD), Luke Phillis 1-(-4).
Next Game: No. 3 Columbus Academy at No. 2 Fort Frye, 7 p.m. Friday (Regional Semifinal)