Published: August 30, 2008 12:58 am            

Wildkat mistakes are fatal on road

Defending Ohio state champs too solid, too strong

COLDWATER, Ohio — Well before nightfall Friday, the long ride home from Ohio started to look even longer for Kokomo’s football team.

The Kats got down 7-0 quickly Friday at Coldwater High School, then 10-0. When it was 17-0, Kokomo was still clinging to a chance in the second quarter, then the wheels fell off as the defending Division IV Ohio state champion struck twice in the final five minutes for a 31-0 halftime edge. The game wrapped up 41-7 for the Cavaliers as the Wildkats trundled home, frustrated by their own mistakes.

Coldwater scored a field goal and four touchdowns after taking possession inside Kokomo territory.

“That’s the whole game right there in a nutshell,” Kokomo coach Brett Colby said. “The score was misleading as far as that goes because we gave them such good field position. And you can’t do that with anybody, let alone a state-championship caliber football team. You can’t get away with that and win games. They took advantage of it. They didn’t turn it back over to us, they didn’t have penalties and give the ball away.”

The Cavs were efficient in marching 67 yards on their first possession, then took advantage of Wildkat errors to lengthen the lead. Coldwater took over on downs at the Kokomo 41 after a botched punt play to score a field goal with 2:38 left in the first period.

After taking a 17-0 lead in the second frame, Coldwater’s defense jumped on a Kat fumble at the Kokomo 19 and scored instantly on a pass play from Cory Klenke to Brock Pleiman with 3:23 before halftime. Seven plays later, Coldwater’s Tony Harlamert took an interception back 83 yards to put the Cavs in business at the KHS six-yard line. Again, it took one play for Coldwater to score as backup QB Keith Wenning hit Zach Kaup in the corner of the end zone with 24 seconds left before the break.

“We’re down 17-0 with five minutes to go before half and we end up 31-0 [at the half],” Colby said. “I think we kind of let down. I really got on them hard at halftime. I thought our kids hung their heads and were feeling sorry for themselves. We’ve got to keep playing. They’re quitting, we’ve got to come out and play. In the second half we came out with some emotion and held our own with them.”

Coldwater scored on short fields on its first two possessions of the second half, first after taking possession at the KHS 17 on another botched punt play, and then at the 37 on another doomed Kokomo punt. A series of bouncing snaps put Kokomo punter Drew Marshall under heavy pressure.

Kokomo got the last word when sophomore Bruce Johnson raced 52 yards for a TD with 3:33 left in the game. He led Kokomo with 79 yards on five carries. Braxton Shelton found some holes to grind out 71 yards on 20 carries, but overall Coldwater was able to cover Kokomo’s bullish Wing-T.

Coldwater coach John Reed praised his defensive linemen and coaches for handling Kokomo’s physical offense which ground out 172 yards on the ground but had trouble stringing together first downs. Kokomo ran for just 34 yards in the first half.

“We just couldn’t get it going rhythm wise offensively,” Colby said. “I thought we threw the ball pretty well for what we did. We’ve just got to be able to stick our nose in there and get three or four yards a crack and be happy with that and not make mistakes. We shot ourselves in the foot so much.

Kokomo (1-1) hosts Anderson next Friday.

“I’m just really proud,” Reed said, explaining how hard it was to adjust to Kokomo after Coldwater’s opponent last week, Kenton, a spread-offense squad. “I just hope the Kokomo people realize that this is still an excellent football team and they’re going to win a lot of games. They are very well coached.”

        

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