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
Last meeting: Fenwick won 24-0 on Sept. 18
When he looks back at the moment that dramatically changed his fall, Jimmy Gephart has a simple reaction:
“I just really wish I would’ve run out of bounds.”
The Fenwick High School senior quarterback chose otherwise that night at Virgil Schwarm Stadium in Hamilton, and that choice has brought him to a place he couldn’t have imagined when the football season began.
The defensive secondary.
“It has been a little weird,” Gephart said Tuesday after practice. “Stuff like that happens. You’ve just got to live through it and keep going.”
The Falcons are the Division IV state poll champions and will head into the second round of the Region 14 playoffs Saturday. They will meet Greater Catholic League Coed Division rival Alter at West Carrollton.
Junior Alan Nix will be at quarterback for Fenwick, just like he has been since Gephart’s left collarbone snapped while he was getting tackled in the Week 5 game against Badin.
“I was going to the left, and I tried for that extra yard,” Gephart said. “Two or three guys came on my right side and just slammed me into my left side. I felt it right away. It cracked and popped.”
Nix moved from a three-man rotation at cornerback (with James Serrentino and Ethan Arcuri) and rallied Fenwick to victory that night.
Gephart underwent surgery and ended up with a three-inch titanium rod and six screws inside his body. There was a chance his season was over.
The Falcons continued to win, eventually finishing the first 10-0 regular season in school history. Nix completed 61.9 percent of his passes during that time and brought more of a running threat to the QB spot.
All the while, Gephart worked hard in his rehabilitation.
“It was upsetting, but football’s a physical game,” Gephart, a right-hander, said of his injury. “I was confident I was going to be back. I was confident that we were going to be at the point where we are now.”
He received medical clearance to resume full-contact play last week, but his return to the starting quarterback position didn’t happen.
It was a sensitive subject for Fenwick coach Joe Snively. Gephart had been the starter since his junior year, but does an undefeated team change quarterbacks in the first week of the playoffs?
Common sense says no, and Snively had to agree with that sentiment. But Gephart is an important athlete on this team, a leader. How could the Falcons get him back on the field?
Serrentino and Arcuri became the full-time cornerbacks when Nix moved to quarterback, and the ironic decision was made to put Gephart in Nix’s old spot. He became a rotating cornerback and the backup QB.
“I’m sure he’s not happy personally about the situation, but Jimmy’s been a great senior as far as doing whatever he can to help the team,” Snively said. “I think he’s getting a little excited about getting the job at corner. Playing quarterback, he’s never really been free to do that.
“Jimmy has longer arms and brings a height advantage to the corner position. He’s still learning the coverages and the checks, and he’s working on his footwork. But he’s a gifted athlete, and we don’t make it real complicated.”
The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Gephart, who played some defensive back during his grade-school days and saw some brief action at safety as a sophomore, felt like he did a credible job last weekend against Badin.
He hopes to elevate his game even more Saturday against Alter.
“I’m not lost out there,” Gephart said. “I started the preseason this year repping some cornerback, so I know what I’m doing. Honestly, it’s fun. I have a great time because we’re a bunch of rowdy guys on the defensive side. It is fun to hit people instead of being hit.”
He expects opponents to pick on him as the new cornerback, and Gephart’s fine with that. “I just have to be ready at all times,” he said.
If Gephart had a choice, of course he’d like to be the starting quarterback. He’s been playing that position for nearly a decade. But his primary goal of being a state champion remains, and that’s more important.
“Me and Alan are buds, and he’s doing a great job,” Gephart said. “I came back with the mentality that wherever I am, I’m going to give it 100 percent and help us win. That’s basically it. That’s what I’m doing.”
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