“I’ve never been a part of anything quite like this,” Fenwick coach Joe Snively said. “I’m just so happy about our kids and their tenacity and their ability to overcome a lot of distractions. We showed up here about 29 hours ago, and here we are celebrating a great win.
“It’s a huge win, and right now we’re feeling very good. But I told the kids, ‘Week 2 is not the end of your season. If we’re going to be a great team, we have to play great teams and beat great teams and then move on to the next game.’ The coaches will get right back to it tomorrow morning.”
Michael Sheridan ran 25 times for 120 yards and a touchdown for the Falcons (2-0). Jimmy Gephart also ran for a TD, Nathan Jeffers gained 62 yards on 18 rushes, and Matthew Hirko booted a 28-yard field goal.
Fenwick’s defense was spectacular most of the day, limiting Owls quarterback David Montgomery to 43 yards on 18 carries.
“He was incredible,” said Falcons outside linebacker Ben Hinton, who had seven tackles and two sacks. “It came down to everybody flying to the ball at once and getting on that tackle. We were just playing Fenwick defense.”
Fenwick led 10-0 when the long delay began with 3:40 left in the third stanza, and on the first play back, Ethan Arcuri picked off a Montgomery bomb.
Sheridan’s 1-yard TD plunge with 5:52 remaining made it 16-0, but the extra point failed after a botched exchange, keeping it a two-score game.
Montgomery broke free for a 19-yard scoring run with 3:20 on the clock and also crossed the goal line for the conversion. Mt. Healthy (1-1) got one more possession and drove 52 yards, getting as deep as the FHS 30 before the game ended.
“In the end, I had faith in the defense,” Hinton said. “I don’t think it was hard to stay focused through everything because everybody really wanted this game. It’s a great feeling knowing we’re going to be 2-0. We just want to keep on scooting all the way to 15.”
Montgomery gained 50 yards on seven runs after the weather delay. He was 12 of 37 for 134 yards through the air.
“I’ve never seen so many mistakes, and I don’t know if it was the heat or what, but we’ve got to get it fixed,” Owls coach Arvie Crouch said. “The kids didn’t quit, and that’s the positive I’m taking out of it. That’s something to carry over to next week.
“I’m not taking anything away from Fenwick. They played awesome. Their philosophy was this: Our five guys in the middle are better than your five guys in the middle, and they were. Their defensive guys were better than our offensive guys. I think we made a good adjustment in the lightning delay that helped us move the ball. We just showed up too late. We ran out of time.”
Mt. Healthy’s final drive included two fourth-down conversions. One was a pass interference flag on the Falcons.
“Hats off to the defense because they were really taking a lot of stabs at us right there,” Snively said. “Montgomery is a special, special player. He reminds me a lot of Spencer Ware. He’s a linebacker body-wise. There’s no doubt that he was the strongest, fastest player on the field. If you had asked me yesterday if I thought we could hold him to 43 yards, I would’ve laughed. Our defensive performance today was … wow.”
Brett Schneider recovered a fumble for Fenwick. Hinton recorded 2.5 tackles for loss and Vince Durham notched two.
Fenwick will visit Monroe on Friday. Mt. Healthy hosts Glen Este on Thursday.
Fenwick 7-3-0-6—16
Mt. Healthy 0-0-0-8—8
F: Jimmy Gephart 2 run (Matthew Hirko kick)
F: Hirko 28 field goal
F: Michael Sheridan 1 run (Run failed)
M: David Montgomery 19 run (Montgomery run)
About the Author