St. Henry quarterback Charlie Werling was the primary option throughout the game with 159 yards on 35 carries. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Julie Wright-Daniel)
Charlie Werling scores two touchdowns and St. Henry’s defense tightens up after allowing an early touchdown to advance to the Division VII Region 28 semifinals.
St. Henry, OH – Life is good under the lights at the intersection of State Routes 118 and 119. Just about every soul in town was at the Wally Post Athletic Complex on Friday night where playoff football is fun again.
Where “Hail To The Redskins” is, finally and once again, more than just a song the band plays as a matter of tradition. Where the football is tough, physical and determined. Just like it always is in the Midwest Athletic Conference.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State football and basketball and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
While four of their MAC brethren were beating up on teams from lesser leagues by an average of 33.5 points, it took a lot more for second-seeded St. Henry and 10th-seeded New Bremen to iron out their differences on the natural grass gridiron common to these parts.
“We play in the best conference in Ohio,” said St. Henry sophomore safety and receiver Landon Schwartz. “The best competition makes us the best team we can be.”
New Bremen, never an easy out, swung hard and scored first. St. Henry wasn’t bothered. The Redskins scored the next two touchdowns on the strength of quarterback Charlie Werling’s churning legs for a seven-point halftime lead. In the second half, both defenses were unyielding. No one scored.
“Pretty much what we expected, a tough, physical fight,” New Bremen coach Chris Schmidt said. “Figured it would probably be low scoring.”
Drew Langeknamp stiffs arms New Bremen’s AJ Rismiller for more tough yards.
When the pounding on each other was stopped only by the clock reaching 00:00, St. Henry owned a 14-7 victory to advance to the Division VII, Region 28 semifinals. Good teams, everybody likes to say, find ways to win.
The Redskins (10-1) found enough ways in their running game and for all but the first few minutes in their defense.
“I think we are a good team,” St. Henry coach Josh Werling said. “We are not an invincible team, but tonight we were inevitable. We had to grind that one, and that’s a great team over there, too. They play the right way. That was a MAC grinder.”
St. Henry ran for 203 yards, 159 of them on 30 carries by Charlie Werling, meeting resistance and breaking tackles for every inch. Werling passed for another 72, completing 5 of 8, to push the total team yardage to 275.
New Bremen was nearly a mirror image. Quarterback Gavin Dicke rushed 11 times for 76 yards, running back Jacob Kelly ran 17 times for 64 yards and Dicke was 5 of 10 passing for 73 yards. The Cardinals totaled 217 yards.
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Enduring such an even slugfest means the Redskins will be home again Friday night against No. 11 Cedarville (7-5). The Indians have knocked of No. 6 Portsmouth Notre Dame 41-37 and No. 3 Cincinnati Country Day 49-21. If the Redskins win again, they will likely face four-time defending state champion and neighborhood rival Marion Local in the regional final at a neutral site.
Austin Zimmerman hauls one of his two receptions that covered a total of 48 yards.
That’s the second chance everybody in St. Henry wants. The Redskins scored first against the Flyers in Week 3 before losing 21-14. Sooner or later the nation’s longest winning streak – now at 75 – will end, and the Redskins faithful figures why not us.
The last time the tradition-rich Redskins went as far as the region semis followed a 3-7 season with two playoff wins in 2023 before losing to Ansonia. Otherwise, the Redskins haven’t had this much success since they won the last of their six state titles in 2006. But football, despite some down seasons, has never lost its mystique on the youth of St. Henry.
“This program is awesome,” Schwartz said. “The fans, everybody is a part of it, and we’re just trying to do the best for the community.”
The Redskins entered Friday off a bye week with the confidence of a 20-0 win over the Cardinals in Week 9. Last year the Redskins won the Week 9 matchup 21-14. Two weeks later in the playoffs they won again 13-10.
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New Bremen (7-5) wanted to play the spoiler this time and deny the Redskins that expected rematch with Marion Local. And the Cardinals started fast.
Kelly carried the ball on the first four plays to move the Cardinals across midfield. Then dynamic junior quarterback Dicke kept the ball around the left side, got a key block from receiver Gavin Quellhorst and ran 39 yards untouched for a touchdown less than three minutes into the game.
St. Henry’s Jack Huelsman (4) forced New Bremen’s Aaron Wuebker out of bounds.
“That was the kind of start we needed, to get some points on the board early, because, like I said, I thought it would be low scoring,” Schmidt said.
St. Henry didn’t stagger, didn’t panic, didn’t care.
“When they scored on us, we just knew we had to strike back,” Charlie Werling said. “Try not to let that ruin the mood and ruin our goal of the objective of what we wanted to do.”
The Redskins’ game plan was clearly to block for Werling and let him grind yards. He carried the ball 35 of the Redskins’ 50 plays. With an empty backfield, Werling ran the first three plays into the line for nine, six and 16 yards.
And Werling kept coming.
After Drew Langenkamp got a carry, Werling got the next three. The final one he bounced outside and down the left sideline for a 25-yard touchdown, tying the score 7-7 with 5:49 left in the first quarter.
The Cardinals crossed the 50 two more times in the half and started once in the second half at the Redskins’ 49, but they couldn’t finish anything against the Redskins’ swarming defense.
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“We had some opportunities some other times, but just couldn’t capitalize,” Schmidt said. “That’s a credit to them. They’re tough, they’re big, they’re strong.”
The Redskins let Werling throw twice early in a late second-quarter drive. Passes of seven yards to running back Will Speck and 38 yards to tight end Austin Zimmerman moved the football to the Cardinals’ 23.
And aggressive and physical night … New Bremen’s Jaylen Powell tries to take the shirt off the back of St. Henry’s Owen Zimmerman.
Werling time.
The senior quarterback carried six straight plays and scored from the one for a 14-7 lead with 52 seconds left in the half.
“I’m glad Werling is graduating and I don’t have to see him anymore,” Schmidt said. “He’s a heck of a player, but they’ve got some really good pieces around him, too.”
On the first play of the second touchdown drive, the Redskins lost two-way lineman Henry Puthoff, a 6-foot-2, 280-pound senior, to a knee injury. Sam Moorman took his spot and blocked the hole for Werling’s second touchdown.
“He’s a senior who practices every day, ready for his turn,” Josh Werling said. “And you know the football jargon of next man up, and he responded for us today.”
Landon Schwartz hauls in an interception late in the third quarter to thwart another New Bremen drive.
When times became desperate for the Cardinals late in the third quarter, Landon Schwartz intercepted a Dicke pass at the 10 and returned it 25 yards. But what Schwartz did to defend the run throughout the game impressed his coach the most.
“I want to give a shout out to Landon Schwartz tonight,” Josh Werling said. “He got challenged at practice and in the film room defensively, and he played tremendous. So I want to give that kid a lot of credit because we pushed him this week, and he responded.”
Responding to the hopes and dreams of the St. Henry program and this season is what this November is all about. Players like Charlie Werling do not take this opportunity for granted.
“It’s everything to me,” he said. “I grew up playing football behind the bleachers on Friday nights, and now I’m actually on the field playing. You saw the crowd here – awesome. Our volleyball team’s in the state finals tomorrow morning. This town of St. Henry’s just electric right now.”
On Saturday that electricity moves south to Wright State. The entire football team plans to be in the stands rooting for a volleyball state championship.
Sounds like more fun.
The hitting was hard on every play as St Henry lineman Sam Moorman found out in this moment.
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