Friday’s game
What: Carroll (5-4, 3-3 GCLC North) at Fenwick (9-0, 6-0 GCLC North), 7 p.m.
Where: Krusling Field, 4855 Ohio 122, Middletown
Last meeting: Fenwick won 40-7 in 2014
Fenwick High School’s football season has been a relentless march to perfection.
Nine down. Six to go?
The Falcons are compelling. Their opponents have fallen by a combined margin of 327-62. They’re ranked second in the Associated Press Division IV state poll behind Steubenville. They’re first in the Region 14 playoff race.
“I know it’s happened, people are talking, but it hasn’t settled in my mind that we’re one of the best teams in Fenwick history,” senior defensive tackle Matt Davenport said. “Since the senior class has been here, we haven’t been at the top yet, so we’re trying to get there. No matter how many wins we have, we’re still hungry to get another one.”
Friday’s Senior Night game against Carroll might be filled with conflicting emotions under normal circumstances, 25 seniors in their last home game. Except it’s not their last home game.
Fenwick has already clinched a first-round home game in the playoffs. So the Falcons will be back at Krusling Field next Saturday after attempting to become the first 10-0 team in school history.
“If the kids want that piece of history, they’ve got to beat a good team,” Fenwick coach Joe Snively said. “They’re locked in and know what this game means for them and their legacy. But Carroll is good enough to beat us, no doubt about it.”
Ben Rulli appreciates those words. His Patriots are 5-4 in a nice bounce-back season. There’s even a mathematical possibility of a Division III, Region 10 playoff berth with a win.
But Rulli knows what Carroll will line up against Friday.
“What jumped out at us on film wasn’t a single player, but how they’re a machine as a team,” he said. “I like to use the term businesslike. They’re actually fun to watch because that’s what you want to be when you have that many seniors.”
The Patriots will bring some offensive firepower. Quarterback Jacob Severt has thrown for 1,223 yards, and Corey Hastings (193 carries, 1,195 yards) is a powerful running back.
The not-so-good in the matchup with two-platoon Fenwick is the fact that Carroll generally has six guys going both ways.
“We went toe to toe with Badin for a half. We went toe to toe with Alter for three quarters. We just wear down,” Rulli said. “The boys play hard. We’re getting there. We’re just not there yet.”
The Falcons have won their last three games 160-13, and they’re mostly healthy. Senior quarterback Jimmy Gephart hasn’t played since Week 5 thanks to a broken collarbone, but he’s been going through non-contact drills at practice.
Snively said he’s not sure when Gephart will be cleared, and junior Alan Nix has done a fine job in his absence. What happens when/if Gephart is able to return to live action?
“We’ll cross that bridge when it comes,” Snively said.
Alter has been the Greater Catholic League touchstone for years. The Knights have won or shared the last 13 North Division titles.
Fenwick, a 24-0 winner over Alter in Week 4, can end that streak and win the outright championship Friday. The Falcons expected to be very good this year, but what’s actually transpired has surpassed those expectations.
“When we came into the season, parents were asking us if we could go 7-3 or 8-2 because we went 6-4 the last two years and didn’t make the playoffs,” Davenport said. “We all knew we could do better. We just didn’t know how the season would turn out.”
Snively said the Fenwick program is built on competition. Having a lot of seniors is great. Having a lot of driven seniors is special.
“We create the culture of competing all the time,” Snively said. “From goal-line periods to jokes we tell, you name it. We compete nonstop.”
The experience factor has pushed the Falcons to the point where they recognize their mistakes before the coaches have to point them out.
“We try to promote to our kids to become students of the game,” Snively said. “They’ve become almost like tradesmen in a sense. It’s really fun to watch, going from sophomores and freshmen who might have smirked or whined about getting corrected to seniors who are correcting themselves.”
One more bit of history is at hand. Fenwick is on a 13-game winning streak. If the Falcons can reach 14, that will be a school record.
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