Forreston falls to Stark County to end football playoff run

Heading into halftime trailing 24-0, Forreston’s chances to defeat Stark County didn’t look too promising.

That all changed five minutes into the third quarter. Forreston quickly scored two touchdown before Stark County even touched the ball.

Then, stopping Stark County near midfield on fourth down, the fired-up Cardinals Forreston looked poised to continue its rally and make another improbable comeback.

Instead, it was Stark County (10-2) that turned on the afterburners in a 50-20 1A quarterfinal playoff win on Nov. 10.

“Once you make a comeback (Ottawa-Marquette game), you always think you can do it,” Forreston coach Denny Diduch said. “For that to happen tonight, we would have to be perfect in the second half. That’s a lot to be asking.”

“I can’t remember a whole game we played so well,” said SC coach Jade Noard.

It was Forreston (9-3) that started with a roar, as they forced SC into negative yardage on the game’s first possession. However, the ensuing punt was fumbled by Tylor Henneman and recovered by the Rebels at Forreston’s 44-yard line.

“After getting stuffed, who knows what would have happened if we hadn’t got that fumble,” Noard said.

Four plays later, Justin Kohler found a streaking Brandon Lee for a 20-yard touchdown pass. On SC’s next possession those two would make it 14-0 on a 24-yard pass play.

After a Rebel field goal by Italian foreign-exchange student Davide Ravailoli, Forreston put together its best drive on the game.

Starting at the 29-yard line, quarterback Bret Carlson led the Cardinals downfield, including scrambling for seven yards on a fourth-down keeper to keep the drive alive. The next play, though, Carlson, operating out of Forreston’s no-huddle offense was whistled for a rarely called penalty - taking a snap before the ball was put into play.

Three plays later, Forreston faced another a fourth down. A Bryan Kraft run came up two inches short of a first down.

Taking over at its own 9-yard line, SC needed only six plays to make it 24-0. On a play that hurt the Cardinals throughout the contest, it was the quarterback option pitch, this time to Danny Berchtold for 70 yards and a score.