Coldwater quarterback Karsyn Homan lunges for one of his three touchdowns in Friday’s regional semi-final win over Tri-Village. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
The Cavaliers rushed for almost 300 yards after halftime and wouldn’t let high-scoring Tri-Village catch up. Next is a rematch against MAC rival Anna in a Division VI regional final.
New Madison, OH – Coldwater’s offensive line might not be the biggest or most athletic group around. None of them received enough votes to earn first- or second-team status in the Midwest Athletic Conference.
But the way senior center Rudy Kremer – he got an honorable mention nod – and his running mates dominated Tri-Village on Friday night, a recount might be necessary.
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The fifth-seeded Cavaliers rushed for almost 300 yards in the second half, 371 for the game and those undervalued blockers paved the way to a 48-29 victory over previously unbeaten and top-seeded Tri-Village in a Division VI, Region 24 semifinal.
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Coldwater (9-4) next faces MAC rival No. 6 Anna, a 28-8 winner over Springfield Northeastern, in the regional final next Friday on a neutral field. But before discussing that rematch, there is more to learn about how and why the Cavaliers’ running game dominated the second half.
Kremer and crew turned especially serious at halftime. Tri-Village drove 98 yards at the end of the half to trim the Cavaliers’ lead to 19-7. Coldwater’s goal for the second half was simple: take the momentum back and keep it.
“There’s other good centers in the league, obviously, but I thought Rudy Kremer was as good a center as anybody in the league,” Coldwater coach Chip Otten said. “The other guys are just undersized, scrappy dudes that took the challenge on tonight.”
Otten said one of his assistant coaches challenged the line at halftime to take control of the game.
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“Zach Sudhoff got all fired up with the O line, just to get them going and say, ‘Come on. Let’s take it to them,’” Otten said.
The mechanism for digging deep and digging in to reach the goal of total control: block for quarterback Karysn Homan and running backs Derek Dues and Karter Freed, gain lots of first downs and score lots of touchdowns. They did it with quarterback draws, RPOs, toss sweeps and a few other plays mixed in for four no-nonsense TD drives.
Coldwater started off with a haymaker on their first drive…a touchdown bomb from Karsyn Homan to Cadin Obringer.
Most of all the Cavaliers piled up yards, chewed up clock and did their best to demoralize the ever-resilient Patriots with brute force.
“At halftime we were talking about physicality and running it down their throat,” Kremer said. “We were talking about run plays, trying to scheme it up for their defense. And we went out there and executed it pretty good, and we just ran the ball all over them.”
Kremer weighs 250 pounds and is by far the biggest guy in the trench. Guards Owen Lefeld and Max Koch, tackles Aiden Fiely and Paker Doenges and tight end Bennet Spriggs all weigh between 195 and 215.
“They really did a great job,” Homan said. “Every single one of them, even some backups that played today, they just blocked their butts off. We got open holes, wide open holes, without even getting touched until five yards down the field.”
Given a running start, the running backs made the most of the space the linemen created. They averaged 7.7 yards per carry. Twelve times in the second half they gained 10 yards or more. Half of the 12 went for more than 20 yards. Homan did the most damage with 157 yards on 24 carries and three touchdowns. Dues got 138 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries. Freed got 70 yards and a touchdown on eight carries.
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“They make our job so easy whenever they can shift, cut through holes, break tackles,” Kremer said. “It’s definitely really good blocking for them.”
The Patriots, who were good at scoring quickly in the second half, knew Kremer and company were coming on every play in the second half. And they knew they would have to tackle Homan, Dues and Freed. Sounds easy. But it’s not.
Hard-hitting…Tri-Village’s Noah Finkbine holds on to the ball despite a shot from Coldwater safety Cadin Obringer.
Homan is built like a running back, not a quarterback, and is especially difficult to tackle. He scored twice in the first half on runs of eight and 10 yards, dodging defenders and breaking tackles.
But a run that didn’t reach the end zone in the third quarter was the kind that breaks opponents’ spirits. Homan dropped back to pass for the first time in the half, then scrambled 25 yards to the 15. On the way he ran through tackles, bouncing off two defenders who tried to push him down. Pushing doesn’t work against Homan.
Four plays later he scored from the five and the Cavaliers led 34-13. The Patriots kept scoring as quarterback Trey Sagester quickly led his team to two more touchdowns. But the Cavaliers kept running the football and wearing down the weary Patriots … and scoring.
All behind a line that, like the entire Coldwater team, is playing its best football in November after some early season ups and downs. All-league honors? Kremer doesn’t care. Victories and a chance to win a second straight state championship are bigger and better goals.
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“It really doesn’t matter to me,” Kremer said about the all-league team. “We know we’re really good, and whatever other people want to say or want to talk about, we don’t really care. We just want to do our business.”
That business against Tri-Village (11-1) allowed the Cavaliers to jump out to a 19-0 lead. Homan started it with a 64-yard touchdown pass to Cadin Obringer, a play that made the Patriots respect the pass. Homan completed 10 of 15 passes for 166 yards, all but one completion coming in the first half.
Hardest way to throw a football…Coldwater got pressure on Tri-Village Trey Sagester.
Tri-Village, though, had Sagester leading an offense that scored 40 or more points in every game until Friday. He completed 23 of 32 passes for 318 yards two touchdowns in his final game. Griffin Richards caught 11 passes for 139 yards and a touchdown.
They scored quickly three times in the second half, but their inability to stop the Cavaliers kept them playing catchup.
And catchup is what the Patriots, who just completed their eighth varsity season, are trying to do with the MAC. Last year they lost 56-14 to Marion Local in the second round of Division VII.
“We’ve got to know where we’re at and how are we moving forward,” Patriots coach Matt Hopkins said. “We played two really tough MAC schools back-to-back years in the playoffs, and we’re putting up points.
“They’ve been playing football since Moses walked the earth. We’re a baby compared to that. So let’s be upset about it. Let’s be sad that it’s over and that we don’t get to hang out every single day. But let’s understand that we’re making leaps and bounds. We’re light years ahead of where we should be.”
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Hopkins’ next task, as he now begins to look ahead to next season, is to get his program to believe it can play with a MAC team for four quarters regardless if they’re ready to beat them or not.
“We dig ourselves too big of a hole, and then by the time we figure out, ‘Oh, OK, we can play with these guys,’ it’s too, little too late,” Hopkins said. “The belief has got to come earlier. We got to just go pedal the metal and play as hard as we possibly can. And we can’t worry about the name on the jersey.”
“You have to go score again,” says coach Chip Otten to quarterback Karsyn Homan. Tri-Village refused to quit on offense in the second half.
Coldwater, as is its custom, has more football to play with its 25th trip to the regional final. To make a 19th trip to the state semifinals, they must devote their full attention to Anna. The Rockets have been in the back of the Cavaliers’ collective minds since they lost to them 14-7 in Week 4. Last year the Cavaliers beat the Rockets twice on the way to the Division VI championship.
“Good rematch,” Otten said. “We talked about let’s get another chance. They’ve improved a bunch all year, and I think we have too. Hopefully it’ll be a good matchup.”
Homan relishes another shot at Anna. And not out of revenge. He says his team hasn’t peaked, and he wants to see what that would be like.
“We’re just going to keep getting better and better,” he said. “These seniors don’t want it to end anytime soon. I don’t want it to end anytime soon. Every week we just get more and more people bought in.”
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