Loramie football beats Miami East on senior night
The Fort Loramie Redskins improved to 3-0 with a 47-0 shutout of fellow Cross County Conference member Miami East (1-2) on Sept. 13, also senior night for fall sports and 16 members of the football team.
“(I’ll remember) how great of leaders they are,” said Redskins third year head coach Spencer Wells on his senior class. “This is my third year in a row of having a special group of seniors. These guys, a lot have been playing for three years but there’s some that are getting their first crack at it. The way they come together and root for each other, I’m excited to see what were going to do (this season).”
By halftime, the Redskins held a 28-0 lead and a touchdown on the opening drive of the second half put the game into running clock per OHSAA rules.
On their first drive of the game, the Redskins scored after four plays, starting from their own 46-yard line. With a first and goal on the 9-yard line, Redskins senior quarterback Collin Moore rolled out to his left and found senior wide receiver Nick Barhorst in the back of the end zone to put them up 7-0.
With 1:36 remaining in the first quarter, Loramie senior running back Nate Meyer capped off a seven-play drive with a six-yard carry for the score to make it 14-0.
Carrying over a drive that started at the end of the first quarter, the Redskins drove 61-yards for another touchdown. It was Moore again, rolling out to his left and passing 23-yards to senior wide receiver Lucas Puthoff. A missed extra point still had them leading, 20-0.
“I thought Collin did some really good things with his progression tonight,” said Wells. “He runs the football great and makes great decisions in the run game. But tonight, that one boot when he was rolling to his left and they brought pressure off the edge and had to pull up and throw it, he put it on the money. That was a pretty special play.”
“Coach has been really riding me about going through my progressions,” said Moore, who came into the game with five passing touchdowns and finished with four against the Vikings. “I think I did better than the past two games. I’m just getting more comfortable back there. We have a new offensive line and they really stepped up tonight to give me plenty of time to throw the ball.
On their last possession of the half, it took just one play to score again. After forcing another three and out on defense to back the Vikings up deep in their own territory, they got the ball at the Vikings 34-yard line.
Moore then tossed a screen to senior tight end Brock Ruhenkamp; who caught his first pass of the year, weaved across the field and took it to the end zone with 2:39 in the first half. A Moore two-point conversion run put the Redskins up 28-0 and that would be the score at halftime.
“I had a bunch of good blocks from my teammates, Logan Eilerman threw a great block to get me in the end zone,” said Ruhenkamp. “Didn’t know if I would be able to get it but I was lucky to have good blocks from my guys to let me get in there.”
“All week we were focusing on reading our keys and getting down the line,” added Ruhenkamp on the defensive preparation for the wing T offense of the Vikings. “make sure we contained the run and stopped that. All in all, think it worked out really well for us.
Getting off the field on third down was a focus for the Redskins after their first two games and they did that against the Vikings. In eight first half possession for the Vikings, the Redskins forced six punts and a turnover on downs, giving up just two first downs. The eighth possession ended the first half.
“I just liked how fast we were playing,” said Wells. “Defensively, we did a great job of flying to the football and pursuing hard. We told them that in the pregame, ‘let’s play fast tonight’ and I thought they did an excellent job of that.”