Fort Frye Offense Too Much for Waterford; Cadets Win 14th Straight Over Wildcats
By: Reese Thompson, Zach Paquette
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WATERFORD, Ohio (WOUB) – The Fort Frye Cadets made the short one-mile trek across the Muskingum River to Waterford to take on their arch-rival on Friday night. The Cadets’ high-powered offense proved to be the difference as Fort Frye came out on top 39-14.
Waterford had its eyes on snapping the 13-year losing streak to the Cadets, but Fort Frye had other ideas.
On third down from midfield, Maeson Long came in motion, took the hand-off from Ian Ellis, and ran it 48 yards up the right sideline too open the scoring of the Cadets. Long would finish the night with 77 yards rushing on five attempts with his lone score coming on the 48-yard run in the first quarter.
Long was able to break down the defense in the first quarter, which opened more opportunities for Ian Ellis in the second quarter. Ellis found the end zone twice in the second quarter. After a one-yard sneak for a score, the Fort Frye Cadets forced a three-and-out and Ellis was back in business.
Ellis would lead the Cadets on a seven-play scoring drive capped off by an impressive 26-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Owen Brown in the back of the end zone. On the play, Ellis rolled to his right, saw no open receivers, avoided the pressure, rolled back to his left and found Brown behind two Waterford defenders.
Ellis would finish the night with 174 yards on 10-of-15 passing with two touchdowns. He would also add 45 yards rushing on eight attempts with one score on the ground.
Facing a 20-point second half deficit, the Waterford Wildcats refused to quit. On the opening kickoff of the second half, Holden Dailey fielded the ball at the Waterford 10-yard line, found an opening and would go untouched 90 yards for the score.
After the second Ellis-Brown connection of the game, Waterford answered appropriately with a five-play scoring drive. Grant McCutcheon threaded the needle and found Mason Heiss in the back of the end zone for the six-yard touchdown pass. That would be McCutcheon’s only touchdown pass on Friday night. He finished the night with 90 yards passing on 11-of-19 passing.
In addition to the kick return, Holden Dailey also added 76 yards on the ground on 13 carries. He also added 32 yards receiving on two receptions. It was very evident that Waterford’s offense was the most effective when Dailey had the ball in his hands.
Waterford’s comeback efforts would be cut short in the fourth quarter as Fort Frye would add two more scores to put the game out of reach.
With the loss, the Waterford Wildcats fall to 2-1 on the season. They’ll look to rebound in week four when they play host to the Trimble Tomcats in a contest that will likely decide the TVC-Hocking title. Trimble did not play in week three due to a COVID-19 cancellation adding to the already interesting storylines attached to the week four matchup.
With the win, Fort Frye has now defeated Waterford for the fourteenth consecutive year. They’ll put their 3-0 record to the test in week four when they hit the road to take on Zanesville.