BEVERLY – Not many high school football teams can overcome 14 penalties in the first half and hold a 20-0 lead at halftime.
As they’ve proven over the past decade, the Fort Frye Cadets are no ordinary football team, and despite self-destructing multiple times in the first half, they still found a way to pull off a 35-7 win over the visiting Waterford Wildcats on Friday night.
Despite the flag, the Cadets beat the Wildcats for the 17th straight time thanks to a stellar defensive performance and big plays on offense with their backs against the wall.
The Cadets were flagged 14 times for 120 yards in the first half alone.
The Fort Frye defense didn’t allow Waterford a first down until the final minute of the third quarter and quickly got the flow going by forcing the Wildcats into an out on third down early in the game.
The Cadets offense got going right away, marching 46 yards in eight plays and then on a third-down, 10-yard play, Clayton Miller caught a 22-yard pass from Grady Hesson to take the lead with 7:06 left in the first period.
Fort Frye forced a turnover on Waterford’s next attack but couldn’t score and was forced to punt.
The Cadets again forced Waterford to punt and got the ball at their own 40-yard line.
The Cadets systematically moved the ball back down the field, and Hesson capped off a 15-play, 60-yard drive with a 1-yard rush to give Fort a 14-0 lead midway through the second quarter.
The Wildcats had the ball four times in the first half but failed to gain a first down.
“The first half was all about the defense making stops and getting the ball back into the offensive team’s hands.” Huck said. “In the first half, we didn’t produce as much as we hoped and we played sloppy, but our defense stepped up and played great.”
Miller intercepted a Hayden Jones pass and gave the Cadets possession back at the Waterford 32-yard line with five minutes left in the first half.
Fort Frye was penalized a whopping six times on its final drive of the first half, at one point even having the ball returned to its own half.
The Cadets continued to push forward but found themselves facing a third-down, 31-yard situation at their own 36-yard line with just seconds left when Hesson connected with speedy Luke Phillis on a catch-and-run, and the freshman sprinted to the 1-yard line with four seconds left.
Miller carried the ball into the end zone with one second left to give the Cadets a 20-0 lead at halftime.
The Cadets got the ball early in the second half, took it all the way down to the Waterford 2-yard line and put together an impressive 14-goal drive that consumed all but 1 minute, 25 seconds of the third quarter.
Including the final drive of the first half and first drive of the third quarter, Fort Frye ran 26 consecutive offensive plays, eating up nearly 16 minutes of game time.
The Cadets’ offense stalled as the Wildcats resisted on the goal line and got the ball at the 2-yard line.
Waterford picked up its first first down of the game on a 32-yard run by Jones, but the offense stalled out soon after and was forced to punt the ball back to the Cadets.
The wear and tear that the Fort Frye offense put on the Wildcat defense finally began to show in the fourth quarter, as Cadet junior Tyce Beardsley scored a touchdown on the first play of the next two Cadet drives.
Beardsley’s touchdown runs of 63 and 67 yards, respectively, gave the Cadets a 35-0 lead and significantly changed the course of the game.
“I thought we really wore them down with that long drive at the start of the third quarter.” Huck said. “They were doing everything they could to keep the ball away from Clayton Miller, so we started going back to Tyce (Beardsley). We made a Jet run first, scored a touchdown, came back and ran again, and sure enough, he scored that touchdown, too.”
Waterford finally got a shot on goal in the fourth period when Hayden Jones scored on a 41-yard run.
Wildcat head coach Eric McCutcheon could only doff his hat to his opponent and hope the Wildcats get back on track next week when Nelsonville York visits Waterford.
“Fort Frye played great defense, but we didn’t get our offense going tonight.” McCutchen said. “The team we just played is a great football team, so we’ll learn from it and move forward.”
Beardsley led the team with 147 yards on seven carries, while Hesson had 61 yards on 15 carries. Fort Frye piled up 431 yards of total offense, including 306 on the ground.
Hesson completed 8 of 12 passes for 125 yards, while Phillis had three catches for 46 yards.
Miller ran 12 times for 47 yards and caught two passes for 48 yards.
Hayden Jones finished the game with 109 yards on 13 carries for the Wildcats.
The two teams combined for 26 fouls, but Hack is hoping that number drops significantly when his team hosts Harrison Central next week.
“We’re definitely making progress, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.” Huck said. “We’ve got some areas to improve on after the penalty period, but we’re definitely getting better each week.”
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