Saturday’s game
What: Division IV, Region 14 semifinal, Fenwick (11-0) vs. Alter (10-1) at West Carrollton, 7 p.m.
Where: Dayton Outpatient Center Stadium, 5833 Student St., West Carrollton
Playoff history: Fenwick is 13-13 in 16 appearances (1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1991, 2003, 2004, 2012, 2015); Alter is 37-18 in 21 appearances (1983, 1984, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1996, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015)
The Greater Catholic League Coed Division season is ongoing. Only the stage has changed.
Fenwick High School’s football team knocked off GCLC rival Badin in the first round of the Division IV, Region 14 playoffs, only to find another league opponent dead ahead.
The Falcons (11-0) will meet Alter (10-1) in a regional semifinal tonight at West Carrollton. Fenwick is ranked No. 1 in the state and smothered the Knights 24-0 on Sept. 18.
“I’m sure it’ll be another slugfest between two teams who pride themselves on running the football and being physical up front,” Falcons coach Joe Snively said. “I really do feel whatever team comes out of Region 14 has a great shot at being a state champion. I like our chances, but I know we’ve got one of the hardest roads to go. So we have to lock in.”
Alter entered the year with more question marks than usual and a number of inexperienced players. The Falcons exposed everything in Week 4, but the Knights haven’t lost since.
“Did we play poorly against Fenwick? Yes. It was embarrassing,” Alter coach Ed Domsitz said. “We weren’t tough enough as a team, and we didn’t do things in a fundamentally sound way. We should be smarter than that, and not just the players. In my 40th year as a head coach, you’d think I might be a little smarter than that.
“They deserve to be rated as the No. 1 team in the state. It’s the best Fenwick team I have ever seen. Now I don’t go back to the (Jerry) Harkrader days, but it’s the best team I’ve seen.
“We’re reasonably healthy, and I think we’ve improved from the last time we played them. My biggest concern is, what if we play extremely well? Can we beat them? I’m hoping we’ve got enough firepower to do that.”
The Knights had 84 total yards in the first meeting. Junior quarterback Ryan Markoff was picked off twice, though it was his first game on the road back from a knee injury.
“I remember that I was not really prepared for what was about to happen,” Fenwick senior outside linebacker Anthony Frohlich said. “I thought it was going to be a close game, but everyone played their part and synced well together and we shut ’em out, something that hadn’t been done in 10 years.
“Even though there is a lot of hype around the school about doing stuff we’ve never done before, we’ve still got another job to do. We want to keep this going all the way. I definitely want to leave a legacy here at Fenwick and do something that people will look back and remember me for.”
He’s still working to achieve his only personal goal — a pick-six.
“I’ve been thinking about it every game,” Frohlich said. “Now I’ve just got to do it.”
Alter’s defense continues to be a work in progress, though the Knights have clearly made strides on that side of the ball.
With nose guard John Ruff and tackle Conor Ryan the only returning starters this year, defensive coordinator Tom Alig knew things might be a little uneven for a while.
“I think we’ve jelled through the course of the season,” Alig said. “When we first played Fenwick, it was apparent that we had some young kids. Fenwick’s experience really just jumped off the film when I watched it. They had a confidence and a swagger about them, and you would expect that out of a group of seniors.”
Alter’s improvement has centered on its linebacker play. The Knights lost junior David Rueth to a finger injury in Week 8 and have three sophomores starting at LB — Alden Simms (6-1, 204) and Lane Harshbarger (5-9, 179) on the inside, and Jordan Coovert (6-2, 172) on the outside.
Junior Kyle Roshong (6-1, 180) is the other starting outside backer. Coovert is one of those hybrid guys, sometimes a linebacker, sometimes a safety.
“We normally have to replace quite a bit on defense, but we weren’t sure about the linebackers because it’s a small senior class, and we didn’t have a lot of linebackers in the junior class,” Alig said. “The sophomores have had a great year. They’ve been a big surprise.”
The biggest issue with Alter’s defense is its tendency to give up big plays. But Alig said he believes in this crew.
“I go into these games with the attitude that if they do everything we prepare them to do, I’m going to feel really confident,” he said. “Fenwick really runs this Wing-T with precision. We can’t just run around and try to do things. We’ve got to really concentrate on what we’re doing defensively.”
Snively believes the Knights are the team to beat at this stage of the season. Why? Tradition.
“Regardless of what’s happening for us right now, we’re not where Alter is,” Snively said. “The mentality that we’re trying to build, they’ve already built it. They expect to be here every year. I want to get to that point as a program and build some consistency.”
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