St Henry quarterbACK Charlie Werling looks for an open receiver during Friday’s Division VII playoff win over New Bremen. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Julie McMaken Wright)
Quarterback Charlie Werling’s two touchdown runs propel Redskins into second-round matchup with Minster.
St. Henry, OH – It might not seem like a compliment that St. Henry coach Josh Werling describes his team as “a bunch of misfits,” but it speaks to the self-awareness of a program producing a winning formula.
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The Redskins punted four times and committed two turnovers while failing to score during the second half of their first-round playoff opener against New Bremen on Friday, but they also didn’t allow a point over the final two quarters for the third consecutive game.
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Now on a five-game winning streak after holding on for a 13-10 victory over the 10th-seeded Cardinals, seventh-seeded St. Henry has advanced to a second-round Division VII, Region 28 matchup next Friday against No. 2 Minster.
“What we’re preaching is that one wrong doesn’t have to become two,” Werling said. “The kids understand that and they’ve bought into that. We’ve talked about having a home-field advantage here, and it was a tremendous game. All credit to New Bremen because that’s a great football team over there. Their defense played lights out. Early in the year we couldn’t get those stops, but the last three weeks, we have. We showed a real spine tonight.”
St Henry’s Drew Langenkamp gives New Bremen’s Jack Sailer the stiff arm.
St. Henry, which improved to 7-4, edged New Bremen 21-14 just two weeks ago – a familiarity Werling believes contributed to how both defenses consistently found ways to neutralize the opposing offense.
Junior Charlie Werling, who is the coach’s second cousin, was at the center of the action on both sides of the ball all night.
Trailing 3-0, St. Henry began the second quarter at its own 33 and put together its first scoring drive.
Charlie Werling hit Landon Schwartz for an 8-yard completion on third-and-21, but New Bremen was whistled for a personal foul for an automatic first down. Two plays later, Charlie Werling sprinted through the middle of the field on a keeper for a 51-yard touchdown that gave the Redskins a 7-3 lead.
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“That was awesome,” Charlie Werling said. “We sent Jared (Niefeld) in motion, and as soon as I pulled it, I saw it part like the Red Sea and took off right away, shooting the gap as hard as I could. We definitely were trying to establish the run game more this week, especially early to get our physicality to our advantage.”
St Henry’s Jared Nietfeld caught this pass over New Bremen’s coverage.
The Cardinals, who opened the season with three consecutive wins but lost four of their final five and finished 5-6 overall, took a 10-7 lead on the ensuing drive. After Rogan Muether ran for 19 yards and quarterback Gavin Dicke connected with Pierce Whitlatch for 23 yards, Dicke hit Muether for a 28-yard touchdown with 7:06 left in the second quarter.
St. Henry, however, scored what would prove to be the game-winning points with 3:47 left before halftime when Charlie Werling ran in from 1 yard. That capped a 68-yard drive that featured a 32-yard pass from Charlie Werling to Nietfeld and passes of 14 yards to Jack Huelsman and 13 yards to Drew Langenkamp.
“We just all ride together,” Nietfeld said. “The defensive line got pressure on their quarterback when it needed to and the secondary held its ground and made sure they didn’t get any deep shots. We definitely were prepared a little better for them (after just playing them two weeks ago) but they were obviously prepared for us, too.”
New Bremen drove to the St. Henry 19 on the opening drive of the second half but turned the ball over. The Cardinals punted on their next three possessions and then got as deep as the Redskins 25 midway through the fourth quarter before an offensive holding penalty stalled the drive and ultimately forced another punt.
New Bremen got it back with less than two minutes remaining but couldn’t get past midfield.
Quarterback Gavin Dicke found Rogan Muether for a 28-yard touchdown.
Dicke was held to 10 of 23 passing for 124 yards while Muether rushed for 73 yards to lead the Cardinals.
“The first game (between the teams), it felt like there were a few plays here and there that we missed out on, and it was the same thing tonight,” New Bremen coach Chris Schmidt said. “There were a couple times we got the ball and needed another first down and needed to find a way to come away with a touchdown but couldn’t do that tonight. That’s on me when we have those opportunities.
“Last year for whatever reason, things just didn’t click the way we wanted them. This was our smallest senior class we’ve had in five years, but they kind of got our program back on track. Tonight’s really tough, but I think they set us up. We’ve got a lot of kids with varsity experience coming back to help fuel them for the future.”
Charlie Werling, who rushed for 80 yards on 14 carries and passed for 100 yards, will try to lead the Redskins to multiple playoff wins for the second year in a row when they face Minster.
St. Henry fell 12-7 to the Wildcats on Sept. 27 before beginning its current winning streak a week later.
“We did a good job of getting off the blocks and manning up,” said St. Henry junior Owen Zimmerman, who had two tackles for loss and a pass breakup. “There were a couple times we just made plays, and that’s what we needed. I think our defense did pretty well and we have to keep doing what we’re doing to do better next week.”
St Henry’s Charlie Werling runs in for one of his two touchdowns.
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