By Ben Shanahan
Special to the Sentinel-Tribune
MILLBURY — Fostoria trailed by 20 points early in the game before mounting a comeback to defeat Lake, 36-32, in a Northern Buckeye Conference contest Friday at Lake Community Stadium.
Fostoria coach Derek Angelone says this game will be looked back on in a few years when Fostoria is back to where they want to be.
“I am very proud of this team and how they decided to battle back tonight. We told them all year we needed to battle adversity better,” Angelone said.
“These are a bunch of tough kids from a tough community, and they know they’re tough. We had to come out and show we were tough tonight to be able to stay in a game when we were down 20, be patient, make our plays and do big things.
“They wanted to come out with a bang and they knew they could end the season the right way and prove Fostoria football is going to be back in the future where we want it to be,” continued Angelone.
For Lake, their homecoming football game started strong but they could not come away with the win.
“We pushed all our cards in the beginning,” said Lake coach Lane Bishop. “We were very reliant on a fast start. I thought that put us in a great position but we fell apart piece by piece at the end.”
The first half was a tale of two quarters, as Lake dominated the first quarter, scoring three touchdowns before Fostoria even saw the field.
First, Lake junior Carter Behlmer led his team down the field on a 12-play, 55-yard drive that almost ended on fourth down until Bishop called the Philly special trick play, connecting sophomore Jaxon Rymers with Gavin Kohlhofer for the nine-yard score
Fostoria had trouble receiving the following kickoff as Lake senior Ethan Bradfield capitalized with a recovery, putting his offense back on the field. The offense also capitalized on a Redskin defensive mishap, scoring on a two-play, 34-yard drive with Behlmer calling his own number by scoring to make it 14-0.
Bishop was not done with the early homecoming tricks, as Lake followed up the second touchdown with a surprise onside kick, successfully recovered by Bradfield again.
The Flyers once again followed up their good fortune with a score, this time on a nine-play, 25-yard drive, making it 20-0, and then finally giving the Redskins the ball with 3:03 left in the opening quarter.
The Redskins’ offense finished the first quarter moving downfield like they were on a mission, running a mostly run-based 12-play, 58-yard drive and scoring on a two-yard run from captain Lance Miller, making it 20-7.
Lake scored their last touchdown of the first half on a seven-play, 52-yard drive finished with junior Damien Penske running the ball in from the one-yard line, making it 26-7 with 5:23 left in the first half.
With time winding down in the first half, Fostoria worked fast, scoring on their next two drives with a defensive stop sandwiched in between. The first touchdown came off of a ten-play, 65-yard drive, with Trenton Smith connecting with Caleb Singleton to make it 26-14.
Then the final touchdown came off of a five-play, 77-yard drive ending with 30 seconds on the clock as Lance Miller made it a one-score game, 26-20. Lake looked to extend its lead as time expired but would fall short on the one-yard line.
Both teams opened the second half with turnovers. First, Fostoria turned the ball over on downs, and then Lake fumbling the ball three plays later, which was recovered by senior defensive back Trenton Smith, who is also the team’s quarterback.
“Everyone did their job on defense when we needed them to, and we got better at not taking plays off. We gave it our all all night,” said Smith.
Smith immediately got back under center and led his team on a 12-play, 71-yard drive that erased the rest of the third quarter. On third down and goal freshman Xzaiver Willmarth rushed the ball into the endzone, giving Fostoria their first lead of the ball game, 28-26 with 11:05 left in regulation.
The Redskins’ defense did not hold back either, intercepting Lake in the end zone on a fourth and 20 hail Mary. Fostoria followed this up by making it a 10-point game with an eight-play, 59-yard drive, as Lance Miller sealed the game for the Redskins.
Lake scored one final touchdown with one minute left but failed on the two-point conversion to make it a four-point game. Then it came down to an onside kick. Unfortunately for Lake, the onside kick did not fly the Flyers’ way.
