BEVERLY, Ohio -Any time a team can average nearly 11 yards per carry on the ground, it usually leads to a pretty long night for the defense.
The Fort Frye Cadets used a three-pronged rushing attack to rack up 372 yards on the ground on 35 carries to power to a 45-20 win over the visiting Belpre Golden Eagles in Beverly Friday night.
"We executed. Everybody executed their job and the running backs ran hard," said Fort Frye senior Max Alsbach, who had 131 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries.
Along with their ground attack, the Cadets used precision aerial passing from quarterback Chandler Lang to tally another 92 yards and a pair of scores as Fort Frye amassed 464 yards of total offense.
"We tackled terribly. That's one of the things I said to the boys at halftime," said Belpre football coach Greg Adams. " We're not doing the fundamental parts of football properly."
As potent as their ground game was, it was through the air that the Cadets first got on the scoreboard when Chandler Lang connected with his brother Spencer on a 28-yard scoring toss with 6:59 to play in the first quarter.
"The safety was shading the other way, so I knew he (Spencer) would be open," Chandler Lang explained.
Following that first score, the teams traded stops, with the Cadets negating their own success on their second drive when Chandler Lang's 21 yard TD pass, again to his brother Spencer, was called back on a holding penalty, one of eight flags against the Cadets on the night.
The Cadets would instead have to punt, and it wasn't until their first possession of the second quarter that they again found the end zone.
"At times I thought we shot ourselves in the foot, but we were able to recover," said Fort Frye football coach Eric Huck.
On the heels of a short punt by the Golden Eagles, Fort Frye took possession at the Belpre 20, and four plays later Spencer Lang scored his only rushing TD from eight yards out to go with two receiving TDs.
Spencer Lang was one of the three Cadet backs to get over 100 yards, as he finished with 107 yards on the ground on 11 carries. Alsbach led the Cadets with 131 yards rushing while Chandler Lang had 121.
"We just ran hard," Spencer Lang said. "We didn't have to break too many tackles."
