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Long before Fort Recovery’s football team would venture where it had only dreamed about, players mugged for selfies in the middle of Ohio Stadium. They took turns lying in the middle of the Block “O” at midfield, faking snow angels. They hugged, laughed and looked starry-eyed at each other.
And who could blame them. Fort Recovery had just one winning season to lean on — last year — and here they were, a taped ankle away from playing in a state championship football game.
“It didn’t really hit us until (Friday),” assured standout receiver Wes Wenning. “We came out of that tunnel and it was like, wow, we’re here. Now, let’s finish it.”
Fort Recovery did more than that. The Indians cemented their place in Midwest Athletic Conference history and reset all its season records by dominating Megadore 33-14 to win the Division VII high school football state championship before nearly 8,000 spectators.
The Indians (13-2) became the seventh of 10 MAC teams to win a state football title. Earlier, MAC rival Coldwater won the D-V state title and another MAC heavyweight, Marion Local, will be after the D-VI state title this morning.
That’s a lot of MAC football firepower and includes an unprecedented showing by Fort Recovery.
“They’re first-timers in here, but they’ve played some state-caliber teams this year,” Recovery coach Brent Niekamp said. “We’re used to that level of competition.”
Mogadore (13-2) sure wasn’t used to Recovery junior quarterback Caleb Martin. With Mogadore committed to stop the run, Fort Recovery went vertical with its passing game. Mogadore didn’t know what kept hitting it.
Martin was magnificent, completing 25 of 39 passes for 385 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions. Wenning had eight catches for 121 yards and a score. Brayden Schoen added five catches for 125 yards and another score on a 75-yard catch and mostly run.
“We took what they gave us,” said Martin.
Recovery struck 94 seconds into the game on Martin’s 15-yard TD strike to Darien Sheffer. By halftime is was 27-7, which had Fort Recovery’s sizable crowd buzzing. Martin also had two TD strikes to Tanner Koch.
It was a workmanlike winning effort that looked every bit as formidable as Coldwater’s win.
“I’ve been dreaming of this since I was a kid,” Martin said. “I had cousins and family that went through this program and had tough times. And we knew that. We knew if we won this championship, it would feel just as great for them as it does for us.”
Niekamp kept glad-handing well-wishers and adoring family long after the trophy presentation.
“I don’t think it has hit me yet, to be honest,” he said. “This is beyond what I could have expected. I’m so proud of those guys. They really stepped up in a big way on a big stage.”
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