Spencerville’s Nate Coulter dives into the end zone during Friday night’s game against Ridgemont in Mount Victory.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
MOUNT VICTORY — For the first time in school history Spencerville and Ridgemont met on the gridiron, and it was the Bearcats erasing a quick deficit to seal the week one victory 28-12.
Spencerville entered play Friday night under new leadership as Kyle Koenig made his debut as the Cats new leader. Koenig is the first Spencerville head coach to win their debut game since Dick Kessler in 1969.
“It’s a pretty good feeling, I am pleased with how the guys played tonight. A lot of improvements to be made but they came out, fought, and competed and that’s all I can ask for.” Koenig said.
The Bearcats were gut punched right out of the gate when Clayton Patterson took the opening kick-off of the 2023 season 75 yards to the house untouched, giving the Golden Gophers the advantage just thirteen seconds in. That was the only scoring action in the first half for Ridgemont as the Bearcat defense played strong.
Spencerville answered quickly following the opening kickoff return, marching right down the field on their opening possession. The Bearcats returned to their old fashion of the ground and pound attack; Carter Layman found pay dirt on a 6-yard rush to put Spencerville in front for good.
After the exciting start each offense struggled to move the ball as 9 of the next 11 possessions resulted in a punt or turnover on downs. With 9:07 to play in the first half, last years leading receiver in the Northwest conference returned to his old ways. Nathan Coulter reeled in Carder Orr’s 12-yard pass in the end zone to increase the Bearcat lead.
“My coaches believe in me, and I believe in them. They put me in situations to make plays and I try my best to make those plays.” Nathan Coulter said. “Last year we had to fight through adversity, and we couldn’t get past that. Tonight, we did a great job continuing to battle and it feels great.”
One lone freshman received the start for the Bearcats, Will Sensabaugh showed off his talents on multiple occasions throughout the night. Sensabaugh was the recipient of Orr’s second touchdown pass of the night with 3:05 remaining in the first half.
Sensabaugh made two more highlight plays in key moments for the Bearcats. Sensabaugh snagged a big fourth down reception to keep the chains moving before Nathan Coulter found pay dirt again on a 25-yard rush. Sensabaugh’s biggest play of the night may have came late in the fourth quarter after he picked off Connor Manns pass while the Golden Gophers were driving deep into Bearcat territory.
“It felt good, its hard-to-find words. We all put in so much work this off season, it feels great to come away with the victory.” Will Sensabaugh had to say. “ Me and Carder (Orr) have always had a good relationship off the field, so we are kind of like PB&J, I am looking forward to continuing to work hard and improve.”
Carder Orr led the Bearcats under center and continued to show poise and leadership as the Bearcats were able to milk much of the second half clock, engineering multiple five plus minute drives to seal the Spencerville victory.
“Its good to come out and get a win, last year we lost our first game and it hurt our momentum. It was nice to start the season strong.” Orr said. “We can’t let tonight affect our thoughts, next week is a new week and we need to continue to fight.”
Ridgemont will hit the road next Friday night to open NWCC play against Perry. Spencerville will welcome Paulding to Memorial Field.
Game summary
Spencerville 7 14 0 7 – 28
Ridgemont 6 0 6 0 – 12
Scoring
R- Clayton Patterson 75 kickoff return (2 pt conversion failed)
S -Carter Layman 7 run (Carder Orr kick)
S – Nathan Coulter 12 pass from Carder Orr (Orr kick)
S – Will Sensabaugh 27 pass from Carder Orr (Orr kick
R – Clayton Patterson 41 pass from Connor Manns (2 pt conversion failed)
S – Nathan Coulter 25 run (Orr kick)
Spencerville Ridgemont
17 First Downs 12
364 Total Yards 202
265 Rushing Yards 89
99 Passing Yards 113
6-11-0 Passing (Com-Att-Int) 9-15-1
1-1 Fumbles – Lost 0-0
2-25.5 Punts – Average 3-15.8
13-115 Penalties – Yards 9-95
Individual Leaders
Passing: S — Carder Orr 6-11-99; R — Connor Manns 9-15-113
Rushing: S — Nathan Coulter 24-150
Receiving: S — Will Sensabaugh 3-51
Nate Stidham wrote this story for LimaOhio.com.
