Redskins earn first round win over SCC
FORT LORAMIE — The Fort Loramie Redskins earned a first round win over Springfield Catholic Central on Saturday night, 38-16.
Fort Loramie struggled early on its opening drives, with penalties pushing the Redskins back. The first drive ended when Caleb Maurer’s pass intended for Logan Eilerman was picked off by SCC’s Trey King.
The Redskins were able to force a punt however and got the ball back with great field position, starting at SCC’s 24-yard line.
It didn’t take long for Fort Loramie to find paydirt, as Maurer connected with Eilerman for a 6-yard touchdown. Maurer’s pass was complete to Owen Pleiman for the two-point conversion to make it 8-0.
Turnovers hurt the Redskins, early on anyway, in the first half as they turned the ball over four times in the opening two quarters including an interception on a deep ball to Eilerman and a muffed punt early in the second quarter.
Springfield was able to capitalize on the muffed punt as Darrien Stapleton was able to run one in from 17 yards out and a good two-point conversion made it 8-8.
But Fort Loramie answered on their next drive, going down the field and capping it off with a 1-yard rush by Will Holland. Pleiman again was on the receiving end of the two-point conversion pass and the Redskins led 16-8, which would prove to be the halftime score.
The Redskins attempted an onside kick to begin the second half, but it was unsuccessful, and SCC capitalized on the good starting field position.
Ty Myers capped off their drive with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Ashton Young, who also scored the two-point conversion, making it 16-16.
But that’s all the closer SCC would get on Saturday as the Redskins found
their stride offensively and turned up the pressure on the defensive side.
Late in the third, Maurer connected with Pleiman on a wide receiver screen play and Pleiman broke it open, running in for the 12-yard score to make it 22-16.
SCC punted on its next drive and Fort Loramie took over at SCC’s 39yard line.
It only took a couple of plays before Maurer threw a deep ball to Damon Mescher, who ran the ret of the way for a 43-yard score, making it 30-16.
The final scoring play on the night was a 24-yard touchdown by Will Holland.
“I think early on, getting your first playoff win with a new team every year, it’s never easy. We had some adversity to overcome early on,” said Redskins coach Spencer Wells. “The first half we had four turnovers, which we can’t keep doing that; three on offense and then that special teams turnover. I think our defense stepped up in key moments. That’s something we just talked about as a team, when we had to respond to LCC, we responded. When it was a tie ball game tonight, we responded. So we’ve shown we can do that on a weekly basis now and next week at Marion, that’s what it’s going to be about.”
Holland was a monster on Saturday, carrying the ball a staggering 34 times for 205 yards and two touchdowns.
“Will was running really hard,” Redskins coach Spencer Wells said. “We gave him an opportunity a few weeks ago and he’s really stepped up for us and he’s ran the ball well.”
Maurer finished the game going 12-for-19 for 180 yards and three touchdowns.
“I thought Caleb Maurer responded to adversity well tonight. He missed a few throws early on, but made some big ones down the stretch to really seal the deal,” said Wells. “Offensive line did a nice job, defensive line did a nice job in that second half. We’re going to need that next week for sure.”
The Redskins will battle it out against No. 1 seed Marion Local this Saturday, with the Flyers earning a convincing 41-0 win over No. 16 Twin Valley South on Saturday.
“I’m sure our kids are excited. We played them a few years ago and it was a heck of a ball game,” said Wells. The Redskins took the Flyers to overtime in the 2019 playoffs, but fell 24-21, as the Flyers would go on to win the state title that year. “Going to their place, that will throw another dynamic into it, but this has to be our best week as a football family. We have to respond to adversity. There’s going to be plenty of those moments next week. If we keep responding like we’ve responded the next two weeks, we’ll like where we’re at.”
The Flyers and Redskins will kick off on Saturday at 7 p.m. in Maria Stein.