SPENCERVILLE-The Spencerville Bearcats will hit the road for the second to last time in 2026 on Friday night when they visit the Fort Loramie Redskins.
“I thought our guys played hard last week,” said Spencerville head coach Kyle Koenig. “I thought defensively we were in the right spots; we strung out their jet plays like we should, but we just did not finish things off with good tackling. I think our guys are doing a good job of recognizing what is coming, but we just are not finishing plays like we need to.”
For Spencerville it was tough sledding against Bluffton last week in their 61-0 loss.
For the Redskins it has been an uprising season with a 4-2 record. However the Redskins lost 42-7 to current NWC leader LCC.
“This is a very fun team to coach,” said Fort Loramie head coach Spencer Wells. “While the loss to LCC was disappointing, we are focused on learning from it as we continue to attack the 2nd half of our season and push for the playoffs.”
Spencerville was able to get a little healthy last week as Maxwell Jurek was inserted back into the lineup against Bluffton. The sophomore tallied 27 yards on 8 carries last week,
“Makswell gives a boost that we need on both sides of the ball,” commented Koenig. “He is a hard-working kid and does a lot of good things for us. Having him back is a huge positive for our team.”
The Redskins this week will feature the current leading receiver in the NWC in Tanner Eilerman. Eilerman has 29 catches for 477 yards and 8 touchdowns.
“Offensively, our offensive line led by seniors Dylan Meyer and Sebastian Barhorst have been playing very well,” commented Wells. “To your point, we know to have success moving forward we need to be able to run the ball consistently. Wyatt Holthaus has stepped up for us at that position, and senior Lucas Brandewie runs the ball very hard as well. On the perimeter, Jayden Luthman and Tanner Eilerman have been having great seasons at the WR position. We rely on both to create explosive ways. Tanner Heckman has done an excellent job leading our offense. We rely on both his arm and his legs, and he has a solid command of the offense.”
Koenig also talked about the task that the Redskins will bring on Friday.
“Fort Loramie is a very balanced, skilled team,” said Koenig. “They have a lot of length in their skill positions and because of that they are really capable of getting those 50/50 balls in the air. They do a lot of good things on the offensive side, and we’ll have to communicate with each other on the backend to make sure everyone is on the same page with their responsibilities.”
Both coaches gave their keys to victory on Friday.
“Know where Eilerman is at all times,” concluded Koenig. “He is a great receiver for them, and they get creative in getting him the ball. We need to have him accounted for at all times. We need to control the clock and line of scrimmage. Keep our offense on the field and keep the ball out of their playmaker’s hands.”
“We need to play disciplined defense vs Spencerville,” concluded Wells. “Defending the Wing T is never easy, and we have a lot of respect for Coach Koenig and his staff.”
If you can’t make it to the game tune into Zsports 3 as Nate Stidham and Shane Falke will have all the action with the Beantown Barbers pregame show at 6:30pm followed by kickoff at 7pm.
Series notes: This will be the 4th all time meeting between the Bearcats and Redskins and just the third meeting since Fort Loramie joined the NWC for football. Spencerville has yet to beat Fort Loramie with the Redskins winning all 3 meetings.
Photo courtesy of June Orr
