Coldwater’s fullback Cody Depweg crossing the goal line for one of his four touchdowns in the Cavaliers’ Friday win over Anna for the Regional 24 title. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Julie McMaken Wright)
In conditions that restricted the accomplished passing talents of Coldwater’s Baylen Blockberger and Anna’s Alex Shappie, neither Mother Nature nor the Rockets proved equal to the assault Coldwater mounted behind a dominant offensive line and its array of talented rushers.
Veteran columnist Bruce Hooley writes Ohio State basketball and sports at large for Press Pros Magazine.com.
Sidney, OH – A cursory glance at Coldwater’s advance to the Division VI Region 24 title on Friday night suggested head coach Chip Otten’s Cavaliers deviated from the path they’ve followed to five state championships.
But there can be – and was – just as much offensive ingenuity at play in the Cavs’ 45-21 dismantling of Midwest Athletic Conference rival Anna as the customary play-calling genius Otten has been known to summon on demand.
Sure, the formations weren’t as inventive and there were no trick plays to speak of, but the numbing efficiency of Coldwater’s double-tight end formation yielded 334 rushing yards on a rainy, windy night when throwing the football was largely a fool’s errand.
“We really got it going,” said senior Cody Depweg, who scored three of his four touchdowns on the ground behind a dominant Coldwater line and the lead blocking of fellow running back/linebacker Miles Pottkotter. “Last week, we ran it a few times off that direct snap, but this week we had a bunch of different plays off of it and it really worked well.”
Well enough for Coldwater to score on all three of its first-half possessions and two more consecutively to start the third period, which worked for a 35-7 lead and briefly inflicted a running clock on the Rockets.
Running back Braxton Taylor leaves an Anna defender behind.
“It felt like we had to score on every drive early on and we didn’t do that,” Anna coach Nick Marino said. “They got a stop or two and really made it tough on us.”
Anna drove 80 yards to the game’s first touchdown through the teeth of a 25-mile-per-hour wind, with Zach Osborn’s 4-yard run finishing the march on which the Rockets effectively mixed short passes in the flat with effective rushes.
Coldwater answered with a tying TD, Depweg’s first score on a 1-yard dive, and then sacked Anna quarterback Alex Shappie on third-and-five to start the getaway.
“We thought we could cause them some problems going with two tight ends the whole game.” Otten said. “We felt like we had some good matchups with their defense if they were going to keep their five DBs backed off. We got that rolling pretty good.”
Depweg finished a 56-yard, go-ahead drive with a 15-yard run, sprinting through a huge hole on the left side courtesy of tackle Will Barry and guard Max Koch.
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Center Rudy Kremer and the right side of Coldwater’s line, guard Trent Ebbing and tackle Tyler Jones, were just as dominant to fuel Depweg’s 136 yards on 20 carries, Pottkotter’s 51 yards on 12 attempts, quarterback Baylen Blockberger’s 57 on eight tries and 90 more yards from sophomore speedster Braxton Taylor on a half-dozen rushes.
Coldwater’s Mason Welsch looks for his next move after a pass reception from quarterback Baylen Blockberger.
“Everyone on the line did really well,” Barry said. “We all played with a lot of effort and enthusiasm and did our jobs pretty effectively, even better than I expected. I thought we’d have to use our passing game more, but we were in two-minute just running it play after play and moving it down the field.”
That series Barry spoke of began at Coldwater’s 24-yard line with 3:13 left in the half. Anna, knowing the Cavs would get the third-quarter kickoff, desperately needed to stay within one score, but could not hold up.
Six-yard runs from Pottkotter and Depweg started the march, but the biggest plays were consecutive completions from Blockberger to Mason Welsch.
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The first went for 18 yards at the two-minute mark to convert a third-and-11 dilemma, then Welsch grabbed a short pass to the left hash, spun out of two tackles and sped 19 yards to the Rockets’ 28.
Blockberger was in the end zone two plays later, cutting up the middle before veering to the right and finding open space for a 19-yard TD and a 21-7 lead.
Cavalier Miles Potkotter gives Anna’s Keith Homan the stiff arm to gain some extra yards.
“Getting that third-and-11 was huge on that drive,” Welsch said. “So was scoring right before the half. It put us in a great spot, because we knew we had all the momentum at that point. Anna is a really good team, so we wanted to come out with energy in that third quarter and try to put the game away.”
Blockberger’s 12-yard run, his 15-yard completion to Cadin Obringer and three direct-snap runs from Depweg set the stage for a fourth, which he took 19 yards around left end for a 28-7 margin.
Welsch recovered a Shappie fumbled snap on Anna’s third play following the kickoff, and this time Depweg found the end zone via an eight-yard throw from Blockberger on third-and-goal.
Coldwater’s quarterback Baylen Blockberger found the end zone after finding some open space for a 19 yard touchdown.
Osborn scored on 58- and 66-yard runs in the fourth quarter to finish his outstanding career with 244 yards on 19 carries.
Despite the horrendous throwing conditions, Blockberger finished five-of-six for 64 yards, while Shappie – who surpassed 300 yards through the air in Anna’s 34-18 loss to Coldwater in the regular season – went 7-of-14 for 46 yards.
“Obviously, the conditions didn’t allow us to throw the football,” said Marino, whose team finishes 10-4, losing only to MAC powerhouses Marion Local, Minster and Coldwater. “They said there was no rain in the forecast. But it rained all night and it was windy and it was hard to throw the football like we hoped we could.”
The Coldwater Cavaliers pose with the Division VI Region 24 championship trophy.
Coldwater (13-1) advances to the state semifinals where it will play Region 22 champion Bluffton (13-1), a 22-7 winner over Hamler Patrick Henry.
“Baylen had only the one incompletion and in these conditions, that’s great,” Otten said. “Our line did a great job. They love to get the run game going and have some success with that, smashing people, and we had four good backs running the ball tonight.”
Cavalier defensive end Will Barry knocks the ball loose as he sacks Anna’s quarterback Alex Shappie.
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