SKIP BAUGHMAN STADIUM -- Never a dull moment for the 2003 Roughrider football squad that hasnÕt been dominating, but still wears the tag "undefeated" five games into the season.
Friday night at Skip Baughman Stadium, the Riders used a fourth-quarter goal line stand to preserve a 14-7 win over Van Wert and maintain first place in the Western Buckeye League.
The Riders are now 5-0 overall and 4-0 in the league, one game ahead of Shawnee, Defiance and Bath. The Cougars fell to 1-4 overall and 0-4 in the WBL.
Van Wert came into the game having failed to score a touchdown in its first three league games. Cougar coach Jeff Hood felt it was time for a change. During the week in practice he switched the team's offense from a Pro I to a spread.
"This was our one and only week to surprise someone, and IÕm not sure we did," Hood said. "St. Marys must know where we practice because I thought they were ready for us. I thought we did some things right, and moved the ball but we needed to get more points on the board especially in the first half."
"We thought were prepared to see the young quarterback," St. Marys head coach Frye said of freshman QB Jared Meyer, who came up to the varsity level following a Week 3 injury to Van Wert's season starter. "He played an impressive game."
Van Wert's defense was able to keep the Cougars in the game as neither team was able to score in the first quarter. Cliff Powell recovered a Van Wert fumble late in the period and the Riders were able to convert. After putting together back-to-back first downs, Shawn Craft busted a trap play up the middle for 33 yards to the Van Wert two yard line.
Two plays later Craft carried the ball in from one yard out. Nick Pfeffenberger's kick was good for a 7-0 lead with 10:02 left in the half.
St. Marys had three more possessions before half, but could not pick up a first down. The Cougars could not do much better.
"We have had success defending the Wing-T," Hood said. "We were sitting on the trap play with two good tackles, and that allowed us to put some extra people on stopping the sweep."
The Cougars constantly filled the gaps with linebackers, daring the Riders to throw the ball.
"They were able to get a few big plays and that was the difference," Hood added. "They really haven't been able to sustain a drive all year, and we thought if we could keep them from getting the big plays, we'd be successful."
"Our offense is becoming more of a big-play offense as the season goes on," Frye admitted. "I think we are almost there, we're just not quite hitting on all cylinders. I feel that when this offense starts clicking on all cylinders it will be hard to handle."
Just before the half, Rider defensive end and place-kicker Nick Pfeffenberger was taken to JTDMH for X-rays with a shoulder stinger.
After trading punts to start the second half, another "big" play got the Riders moving again. Justin Nagel, broke free on a sweep play and sprinted to the corner, racing 56 yards before being pulled down on the one yard line.
Again, Craft carried the ball for the final yard, putting the Riders up 13-0. Tom Burke, filling in for an injured Pfeffenberger, booted the PAT with 4:59 left in the third.
With the score, it appeared the Riders had some breathing room, but the Cougars and their freshman quarterback Jared Myers roared back in impressive style.
Starting on the Van Wert 40, Myers completed five consecutive passes, as the Riders were unable to put any pressure on the freshman. Craig Syphrit was on the receiving end of three of the completions, including an 11-yard gain to the Rider one-yard line.
From there, Curtis Krugh bulled into the end zone for the Cougars' first touchdown in four weeks.
The Riders responded with a drive of their own, moving inside the Van Wert 30. However, a motion penalty on first down was too much to overcome, and St. Marys eventually turned the ball over on downs.
Van Wert was forced to punt on its next possession giving the ball back to the Riders with just over seven minutes to play. However, the Rider offense managed just two yards on three plays and punted the ball back with 5:04 left.
Myers again got a hot hand with completions of 11, 18 and then 33 yards to a wide open Tyler Bergmann, who stumbled out of bounds on the St. Marys two yard line.
On first and goal, Myers tried to hit his fullback, who was open, but the pass was behind him. The Riders then smothered a running play for a three-yard loss. On third down, Myers scrambled out of the pocket, but was brought down by Bo Frye at the one.
After a timeout, the Cougars went back to their shotgun offense on fourth down. This time the Riders had a blitz on, and Nick Yahl sacked Myers at the 13 yard line, turning the ball back over to St. Marys.
"Nick Yahl is a playmaker," Frye said of the play, "and he tends to come up with big plays when they are most needed."
All the Riders needed from there was a couple first downs to put the game on ice. But that would be too boring. On third down, Nagle broke free on a big run and picked up a first down despite being called for a facemask penalty as he straight-armed a Van Wert defender.
With the Cougars out of timeouts, Quarterback Corey Vossler called his own number for no gain. On second down, Vossler attempted to hand the ball off and fumbled. The Cougars recovered at the St. Marys 39 with 56 seconds to play.
Myers was sacked for a three-yard loss, and with no timeouts left he had to spike the ball on the next play. Myers was sacked again on third down, this time for a 10-yard loss. His fourth down pass fell incomplete as the Riders needed to take a knee just once to run out the clock and preserve the win.
"I've got to give the Van Wert team a lot of credit," Frye said. "They came here and played in a tough environment. We expected a tough game against the Cougars - they always play a physical game against us."
St. Marys will be back at home again next week for a Homecoming battle again the Shawnee Indians, who improved to 4-1 overall and 3-1 in the WBL with a victory over Wapakoneta Friday.
