Harrison High Schol's Kyle Davidson (9) tries to turn and outrun La Salle's K'Mahri Price (27) on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
ROSS TOWNSHIP — For the second year in a row, the Harrison High School football team reached the Division II, Region 8 semifinals. And for the second year in a row, their season ended there.
Harrison struggled to get anything going offensively against a battle-tested La Salle squad on Friday night at Ross. The second-seeded Lancers (11-2) had the ball first, scored on that possession and then took advantage of their defense, forcing a turnover and scoring to extend the lead and never looking back in earning a 37-0 victory.
“We’ve had the ball first in like the last three or four games and we’ve gone down and scored,” La Salle coach Pat McLaughlin said. “We kind of had a hiccup after that, but I think the key play of the game was early on when Brady (O’Connor) gets the fumble recovery for a touchdown. That just completely changed the momentum of the game.”
Harrison coach Derek Rehage agreed.
“The fumble took our sails,” Rehage said as his sixth-seeded Wildcats finished the season with a 10-3 mark. “We knew coming in that we couldn’t turn the ball over. The stop we had on them was huge and then we were driving the ball at midfield. Cole (Koops) has played a ton of defense and I wasn’t trying to pound him into the ground right away, but that play went really well all last week and it just looked like (crap) from the get-go.”
The jet-sweep play was a handoff to Koops, but the exchange was not a clean one as he fumbled near midfield and O’Connor scooped up the loose ball and rambled 48 yards to the end zone for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead.
Harrison High School’s Kyle Davidson makes a big catch down the sideline as LaSalle’s Caleb Troehler (14) defends Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
La Salle High School’s Fergus Kreider (44) reaches for Harrison quarterback Dickie Engel (4) on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School’s Cohen Hering (2) puts a big hit on La Salle’s Drew Dipzinski (16) Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High Schol’s Kyle Davidson (9) tries to turn and outrun La Salle’s K’Mahri Price (27) on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
La Salle High School quarterback Patrick McLaughlin tosses the ball to Devin Wallace (89) on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal against Harrison at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School’s Travis Raines punts the ball Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal against La Salle at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School quarterback Dickie Engel tries to scramble away from La Salle’s Brennan Marsh on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School’s Cole Koops (3) jumps over La Salle’s Claude Moore (12) on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School’s Colby Quinlan (61) and La Salle’s Caleb Lang (22) eye the ball Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
La Salle High School quarterback Patrick McLaughlin looks up the field Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal against Harrison at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
La Salle High School’s Niam Jackson (55) gets a grip on Harrison quarterback Dickie Engel on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
La Salle High School’s Fergus Kreider sacks Harrison quarterback Dickie Engel on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School quarterback Dickie Engel follows through on a pass Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal against La Salle at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School’s Dickie Engel (4) is pressured by La Salle’s Colin Daniels (8) on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School quarterback Dickie Engel drops back to pass Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal against La Salle at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
La Salle High School’s Hunter Ogdan pushes the ball up the field Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal against Harrison at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
La Salle High School quarterback Patrick McLaughlin hands off to Ty Brown on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal against Harrison at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School’s Hank Rotert makes a catch as La Salle’s Sayre Smothers closes in Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School’s Cohen Hering fields a kickoff Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal against La Salle at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
La Salle High School’s Markel McConnell pursues Harrison quarterback Dickie Engel on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School’s Kyle Davidson makes a catch near the sideline Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal against La Salle at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
La Salle High School’s Zach Gates sacks Harrison quarterback Dickie Engel on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School quarterback Dickie Engel takes a snap Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal against La Salle at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
La Salle’s Avier Carter (17) tries to get around Harrison’s Cohen Hering (2) on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
La Salle’s Hunter Ogdan (87) runs up the field as he keeps his eyes on Harrison’s Hank Rotert (0) on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
La Salle High School’s Landen Bates (23) hits Harrison’s Jack Piepmeier (84) on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School’s Landen Anderson delivers the opening kickoff Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal against La Salle at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School’s Hank Rotert (0) defends a pass to La Salle’s Jack Schroer (80) on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School’s Jackson Williams (13) defends the end-zone pass to La Salle’s Avier Carter (17) on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
A referee throws the penalty flag for defensive pass interference as La Salle High School’s Max Welter (10) makes the catch over Harrison’s Ben Markarian (15) on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School quarterback Dickie Engel hands off to Cole Koops on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal against La Salle at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
La Salle High School quarterback Patrick McLaughlin makes a move with the ball Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal against Harrison at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
La Salle High School’s Max Welter (10) prepares for a hit from Harrison’s Jackson Williams (13) on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
La Salle High School’s Walter Berry Jr. returns a kickoff Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal against Harrison at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
La Salle High School quarterback Patrick McLaughlin tosss the ball to Devin Wallace (89) as Harrison’s Logan White (99) rushes Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School quarterback Dickie Engel throws a pass Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal against La Salle at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School’s Cole Koops looks around as the ball bounces off him Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal against La Salle at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School’s Kyle Davidson makes a big catch down the sideline as LaSalle’s Caleb Troehler (14) defends Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
La Salle High School’s Ty Brown (26) gets past Harrison’s Ben Markarian (15) on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School’s Travis Raines punts the ball as La Salle’s Markel McConnell goes for a block attempt Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School’s Cooper Rotert (1) runs the ball as La Salle’s Landen Bates (23) closes in Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School’s Cohen Hering fields a kickoff Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal against La Salle at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School quarterback Dickie Engel makes a throw Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal against La Salle at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School’s Cohen Hering fields a kickoff Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal against La Salle at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School’s Cohen Hering (2) puts a big hit on La Salle’s Drew Dipzinski (16) on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School quarterback Dickie Engel drops the snap next to teammate Cole Koops (3) on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal against La Salle at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
La Salle High School’s Zach Gates (7) comes after Harrison quarterback Dickie Engel on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School’s Dan Schlake (62) blocks for Cole Koops (3) on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal against La Salle at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
Harrison High School’s Cohen Hering fields a kickoff Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal against La Salle at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
La Salle High School’s Avier Carter (17) looks to get around Harrison’s Cohen Hering (2) on Nov. 15, 2024, during a Division II, Region 8 football semifinal at Ross. La Salle won 37-0. MARTIN WHEELER/CONTRIBUTOR
“No. 3 (Koops) is a hell of a player and he obviously is the centerpiece of their offense,” McLaughlin said. “We were focused on stopping him. They had a little exchange problem on that play and Brady got there in the right spot at the right time, picked it up and scored. The defense scoring in a game like this is big.”
On the opening drive of the game, La Salle went 80 yards in eight plays, finishing it off with a 4-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Patrick McLaughlin to senior tight end Max Welter. Following the defensive score, the Lancers tacked on a 35-yard field goal on the first play of the second quarter to go up 17-0.
“And we got another score after that and all of a sudden it’s 24-0 and it snowballed pretty quick,” Pat McLaughlin said.
O’Connor also caught a touchdown pass from Patrick McLaughlin with 4:34 left in the first half that made it 24-0. Then with 1:25 remaining, McLaughlin ran one in from 4 yards out to make the score 30-0, which meant by rule the second half would start with a running clock.
La Salle’s final touchdown came on a 3-yard run by sophomore Jordan Hall with 5:04 left in the game.
“Brady gets a lot of credit on our defense and he should because he is a great player, but we have Fergus Kreider at defensive tackle, Zach Gates had a heckuva a night, Naim (Jackson), Markel McConnell, Nelson Harrison … they all just lived in the backfield and made it pretty difficult for them,” Pat McLaughlin said. “Every time No. 3 (Koops) got the ball, there was 3-4 guys gang-tackling him. We just weren’t giving him a ton of room to run.”
The Wildcats, who scored 488 points through their first 12 games this season, failed to score any points for the first time since the first game of the 2022 season.
Harrison was missing top receiving threat Josh Adelsperger as well as junior running back Preston Flick due to injuries, but Rehage made no excuses.
“If you are going to stop us when we lose our 1,000-yard receiver, then you are going to key on our 1,800-yard tailback,” Rehage said. “That’s what I would have done. We lost our guy with 10 touchdowns in Flick in Week 7, and we lost our 965-yard receiver last week. You have to have other players make some plays.”
The Lancers held Koops to just 26 yards on eight carries. He entered the contest averaging 145 yards per game. Senior quarterback Dickie Engel completed 10-of-18 passes for 113 yards for the Wildcats.
“It sucks. No one wants to be walking off the field in a loss,” Koops said. “We had goals and we had expectations, but at the end of the day, this is what we do and what the outcome is. This is it.”
Koops said even though it hurts, he knows the success his senior class has had will be remembered for a very long time.
“We were 1-9 our sophomore year and then we went back-to-back regional semifinals. It’s great,” Koops said. “Obviously this doesn’t feel good right now, but we are all going to look back on it and see what we did. We are setting up the program for something good. I can’t be more grateful for all the guys on the team and all the seniors. I love my whole team and everything we did. We had a great year.”
“We had an absolutely amazing season,” Rehage said. “Our seniors did a phenomenal job. When you think about it, as sophomores they were 1-9 and then 9-4 last year and 10-3 this year winning back-to-back league titles, and we scored almost 500 points on the year.
“It is just a phenomenal group of kids who busted their butts and gave us everything they had. Sure, we had our ups and downs. That’s part of it, but they changed the bar for Harrison football. Our season was awesome. We can’t leave it all on one night.”
Patrick McLaughlin completed 12-of-14 passes for 125 yards for La Salle. The ground game was by committee with eight different players getting at least one carry in the game. The top rusher was senior Ty Brown with 52 yards on four carries.
“Our kids played fast and did a good job. I’m excited,” Pat McLaughlin said. “It’s going to be a battle against Anderson. They are No. 1 or whatever they are in the city and in the state in Division II. I haven’t seen one second of Anderson this year. We’ve been watching obviously our other opponents, but we know it is going to be a battle. It should be a fun game and we are looking forward to playing it.
“It’s been awhile since we’ve gotten to the regional championship, but these seniors have played a lot of snaps and they are excited and honored to still be playing. We won’t do anything different. We will prepare the same way, practice the same way and hopefully come out and play the same way. We know it is going to be a tough game. They are a really good football team and it is going to be a challenge on offense, defense and special teams.”
Top-seeded Anderson (13-0) blanked No. 5 seed Mount Healthy (10-3) 42-0 on Friday. The regional title game will be played at Princeton next Friday.
Harrison 0-0-0-0 — 0
La Salle 14-16-0-7 — 37
L: Max Welter 4 pass from Patrick McLaughlin (Jack Schroer kick)
