Redmen rally to drop Black Knights

VAN BUREN – Gavin Miller threw a pair of touchdown passes just 1:21 apart in the fourth quarter and Fostoria High School rallied past host Van Buren 19-14 on Friday in the season opener for both teams.Miller's first scoring pass of the quarter was over the middle to Brayden Harrison in the end zone and capped a 69-yard, 15-play drive at 6:29, cutting Van Buren's lead to 14-13.FHS retained possession when Jordan Ferguson recovered a Black Knights' fumble on the kickoff to give the Redmen a short field at the VB 29-yard line. Fostoria capitalized quickly as Miller ran for 15 yards, passed to Matthew Balderama for 10 yards, and later threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Machi Johnson in the end zone to go ahead for the first time in the game 19-14."I just love that we stuck together and battled it out together, that's the main thing," Miller said. "This is really big for us. This will give us confidence going into the rest of the season."It was the first time since 2017 that the Redmen had won a season opener."It was rather sloppy, there was a lot of first game mistakes," FHS coach Derek Kidwell said. "Three turnovers in the first half, we were a little soft on defense in the first half."Like I told the guys after the game, a lot of our teams wouldn't have came back and won this game. They have enough resolve and self pride and want to play for one another, they found a way to come back and win this game. That says a lot about them and it's good to see because they worked so hard in the off season."After a scoreless first quarter the Knights drew first blood. Van Buren had turned the ball over on downs at Fostoria's 28-yard line and on Fostoria's first play from scrimmage they fumbled the ball and it was recovered by Elijah Mason, giving the Knights a fresh set of downs from the FHS 25-yard line. After a 1-yard rushing play quarterback Parker Beilharz tossed a 24-yard scoring pass to Mason Thorla-Lopez to go up 7-0 at 8:04.The Knights got the ball back again when Thorla-Lopez intercepted a Miller pass on the first play of the next possession, but this time the Redmen didn't allow Van Buren to capitalize. The Knights drove the ball 42 yards to Fostoria's 34, but ultimately surrendered possession on downs.The Redmen tied the game 7-7 with 1:39 remaining in the first half when Ferguson pulled down a 27-yard pass for a touchdown. FHS regained possession before halftime when Lance Miller picked off a Beilharz pass, but the Redmen were unable to convert before halftime.Van Buren went up 14-0 on their first possession of the second half when Beilharz hit Thorla-Lopez with a 32-yard touchdown pass. The Knights even recovered the onside kick following the score, but surrendered the ball on downs once again."We (seniors) knew we needed to change the culture around here and now's our time to really do that," Miller said. "So this game, this season, we came in with the mindset like we're going to change the culture for these younger kids coming up. Just lead by example, show them how to play together and as a family."