Sports
By Rick Cassano
Staff Writer
FRANKLIN — Bill Tenore’s glass was half full Saturday after watching his Badin High School football team battle through its first scrimmage.
The Rams defeated Franklin 1-0 (in touchdowns), tied Talawanda 1-1 and lost to Miamisburg 1-0 in a quad at Franklin’s Atrium Stadium.
“I’m real pleased with it,” Tenore said. “We’re going to have a nice football team if we can stay healthy.”
Badin showed some defensive swagger and reached the end zone twice with its new-look Wing-T offense in a scrimmage that featured each squad running 10 plays against every opponent.
The Rams’ first defensive series began poorly as Miamisburg scored on a four-play, 40-yard drive. The Vikings’ next six plays produced an interception (by Tyler Williams) and zero yards.
“Once we figured everything out, we got after ’em,” Badin senior linebacker Cody Schappacher said. “That’s what I like about our team. We bounce back. We don’t back down.”
Casey Schappacher and Jack Fetters each had a sack for the Rams, who didn’t give up another touchdown with their No. 1 defense. As usual, defensive coordinator Joe Schlager supplied his unit with some motivation.
“Our defense is going to do very well this year,” Cody Schappacher said. “Most of that is because of Joe. He makes us want to play for him. He puts the fire into everyone.”
Schappacher caught a 15-yard TD pass from Michael Davis against Franklin. Davis was 2-of-9 for 24 yards on the day.
Fullback Colin Finnigan ran nine times for 40 yards and a touchdown for the Rams, who played without halfback-cornerback Austin Rieman. The two-way starter is sidelined with a hip injury.
“Outside of a few mental errors, I thought we were able to run the Wing-T with pretty good proficiency,” Tenore said.
Talawanda lost to Franklin 2-0 and tied Miamisburg 0-0. Quarterback Colin Kimiecik ran for the Braves’ lone touchdown on their last play against Badin.
“I’m pretty proud of the physicality we played with,” Talawanda coach Mike Wright said. “I thought we played better than expected on the offensive and defensive lines. We were outsized pretty much the entire day, and I felt we held our own.”
Badin’s final scrimmage will be against the St. Xavier “B” team Thursday evening at Joyce Park. The Braves visit Amelia on Friday night.