McNicholas Ends Badin’s GCL Title Streak With Shutout; Rams Open Playoffs At Home Against Withrow

By Rick Cassano

HAMILTON – A strong defensive performance couldn’t offset Badin High School’s goose egg on the scoreboard Friday night.

The Rams fell short of their ninth straight Greater Catholic League Coed Division football championship as visiting McNicholas earned the outright title with a 14-0 triumph on Senior Night at the Matandy SportsPlex.

“I think our defense played well enough to win,” Badin coach Nick Yordy said. “I’m proud of the way our kids came out and proud of the way our kids played. We just didn’t do enough and made too many stupid mistakes.”

The regular season is over for the Rams, who are 7-3 overall and 3-2 in the league. The defeat marked the first time Badin has been blanked in a GCL Coed contest since taking a 35-0 loss at the hands of Kettering Alter in Week 8 in 2017.

The Rams still earned a home playoff game in the Division II, Region 8 postseason, according to unofficial calculations by joeeitel.com. The Ohio High School Athletic Association will release the official pairings Sunday, but Badin is set to host Withrow (7-3) next Friday night.

“We’re going to give it our best shot, I can tell you that. I think our kids will respond,” Yordy said. “This hurts, this stings, but we get to play another week and there’s a lot of teams out there that don’t. Their season’s over and ours isn’t, so we’ll see what we’re made of.”

Chase Even continues to do yeoman’s work running out of the Rams’ backfield, collecting 162 yards on 30 carries. But he was mostly a one-man offensive show for the hosts – the rest of the team combined for just 25 yards.

Jackson Turner had 10 tackles, Logan Karwisch contributed seven tackles and a fumble recovery, and Hudson Heid added an interception to lead the BHS defensive unit.

McNick (8-2, 5-0) did all of its scoring in the second quarter, knocking off the Rams on their home turf for the second straight year.

“We had a few bad plays that resulted in two touchdowns and that’s what happened,” said Turner, a junior linebacker. “I feel like our defense played pretty well overall. I feel like our offense was struggling, but it happens. I fully think we can bounce back from this. I feel like our defense is going to execute better and not let any big plays happen next week. Our offense should play better too.”

“We got two turnovers, which is great, and we weren’t putting the offense in terrible spots,” added Karwisch, a senior end. “But we could’ve done more defensively. We need to tackle better. That’s what we’re going to work on going into the playoffs.”

Both Rocket touchdowns came on plays where Badin had all kinds of chances to prevent them.

Evan Sandfoss hit Max Orlando for a short gain that turned into a 54-yard TD on the second play of the second stanza, and Joseph Reuss bulled his way through multiple Ram defenders for a 10-yard score just before halftime.

Orlando looked to be stopped in a crowd on his scoring reception, then suddenly was ripping down the field.

“I don’t even know how many guys hit me,” said Orlando, a junior safety and receiver. “It was kind of a blur, then I look up and I spin out and it was just green grass in front of me. I love extra yards, and it just happened to be a play where I got a lot of extra yards. I actually scored last year in the same end zone here.”

Orlando had four catches for 70 yards, totaled six tackles and had a big fumble recovery for McNick. Sandfoss completed 12-of-18 passes for 144 yards, while Reuss paced the Rockets on the ground with 101 yards on 17 carries.

Adding to the festive atmosphere for McNick, which hadn’t won a league crown since topping the GCL Coed Central Division in 2017, was the 100th career win for Rockets coach Mike Orlando in his 16th year at the helm.

“It has been a while since our last league title,” Orlando said. “I’m glad it came down to this because sometimes you’ve got to get over that hump. They’re the champs until somebody says otherwise and tonight we were able to do that, so I’m super proud of the guys.”

The Rams’ best scoring chance came when it was a 7-0 affair in the second quarter. Even got stripped on a run toward the end zone and Orlando grabbed the ball at the 1-yard line. Badin’s possession had started a minute earlier when Heid picked off a Sandfoss pass.

“Of course we’re going to pick Evan up. Everybody makes mistakes,” Orlando said. “I didn’t force the fumble. I just happened to pursue. I didn’t really do much except fall on the ball.”

McNick’s offensive coordinator is Dave Wirth, who posted a 27-25 record as the Rams’ head coach from 2004-08. He had no mixed emotions about beating Badin, but said his time in Hamilton was memorable.

“Coming up here does tug at the heartstrings a little bit because it was a great time with great people and great kids,” Wirth said. “I still stay in touch with a lot of the guys I coached and taught here, and a lot of guys are still up here coaching. It’s a special place with special people. It will always have a big place in my heart.”

Wirth said he was thrilled to be part of a league championship and Orlando’s 100th victory. In terms of his on-field work Friday, Wirth said he made a few mistakes and knew the Rockets’ offensive opportunities would be limited.

“We got a call or two confused, and that’s on me,” said Wirth, noting that standout receiver Connor Powderly tweaked an ankle during the game. “We were just about to take a shot with our speedster when we got one of the calls screwed up. We would’ve liked to have gotten that final nail in the coffin, but sometimes you lean on a really good defense. We’ve got a really good defense.”

Wirth conceded that McNick probably got a little conservative offensively with a two-score lead in the second half. Mike Orlando said he had some “blunders” as well.

“Some of the calls that I made … we were just a couple steps ahead of ourselves,” Orlando said. “We’ve got to stick to the process and do what got us here.”

The Rockets’ defense clearly didn’t shut Even down, but the visitors played the odds correctly. Even was going to get his yards, but McNick was strong enough to stop him from time to time. When that happened, Badin had to choose between running in passing situations or putting the ball in the air.

Davis Martin was 4-of-11 for 29 yards and Jimmy Gajewski was 1-of-4 for zero yards for the Rams. Gajewski got intercepted by Finn Mayer with 2:26 remaining.

“I don’t know if you’re ever going to take away the way they’re running the ball, but I think we corralled them pretty well and kept them in check,” Mike Orlando said. “The guys up front did a really good job. We felt like we were spiking some things and piercing some things to get some disruption in the backfield, but when they got their hands on us, they showed they’re good. Luckily our defense can move a little bit.”

Yordy said his offense needed a spark, so he turned to Gajewski for the last two series.

“That’s a rough gig for him coming in late like that,” Yordy said. “You just hope that maybe you catch lightning in a bottle by making the switch. We had to see if we could spark something.”

The defense gave Badin its final possession when Turner knocked the ball away from Sandfoss and Karwisch recovered it. Just over a minute later, Mayer picked off Gajewski.

“I had just missed a tackle for a first down. I was angry because I thought I lost us the game because I couldn’t tackle,” Turner said. “Then I caused the fumble and I was like, ‘Here we go.’ I tried to reach around and wrap up and swat the ball out, and that’s what happened.”

Max Orlando was named Skyline Chili Crosstown Showdown Player of the Game, though he emphasized that it was a team effort.

“When we hit adversity, all the guys were like, ‘All right, next play.’  We don’t care,” Max Orlando said. “It was a great team win.”

“He’s my son, so I try to keep him even-keeled, and he is an even-keeled kid,” Mike Orlando said. “The guys around him helped a lot, but he’s making some plays. He’s not afraid of the moment, which I really love. He’s a guy that’s not afraid to take the last shot. He doesn’t always make them, but he’s not afraid to take it.”

Yordy said the Rams were moving the ball well enough with Even on the ground to not get shut out, and Badin had some self-inflicted wounds for sure.

The scoring drive that ended with Reuss’ touchdown in the second period was boosted by back-to-back BHS penalties on the same play – a personal foul followed by an unsportsmanlike conduct call on an assistant coach.

McNick has earned a first-round bye in the Division III, Region 12 playoffs, and has allowed a total of 21 points over the last five weeks. The Rams are turning their focus to Withrow and lead the series with the Tigers 7-1.

“Do I think we can bounce back? Absolutely,” Karwisch said. “We’ve got some guys. We’re good. We’re fine. This is going to motivate us. This is just like Fenwick all over again. We bounced back from that and beat Carroll and then Alter, so hopefully we do the same thing next week. I’m very confident.”

McNicholas 0-14-0-0 – 14

Badin 0-0-0-0 – 0

M: Max Orlando 54 pass from Evan Sandfoss (Bobo Illiev kick)

M: Joseph Reuss 10 run (Illiev kick)

Records: M 8-2, 5-0 GCL Coed; B 7-3, 3-2 GCL Coed

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