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Joe Eitel
Div III, Region 12
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SKIP BAUGHMAN STADIUM -- Put another football on the wall.
After a 10-year drought, the Roughriders are Western Buckeye League champs again.
St. Marys set the tone with its opening drive and then went on to thump the Bath Wildcats 24-6 Friday to clinch at least a share of the league title with a week to play. The win also clinched a Region 12 playoff berth.
The Riders began the game with a Cat-crunching 16-play drive, chewing more than eight minutes off the clock.
"It was a nice effort by our kids tonight," St. Marys Head Coach Doug Frye said, commenting on the opening drive. "Our defense played well like they have all season, and the offensive line really stood out. We asked the kids to play physical tonight and they did."
Sophomore Bo Frye, who appears to have won the starting role at fullback, did most of the damage on the drive, grinding out yardage four and five yards at a time.
The Riders picked up five first downs on that initial drive that totaled 65 yards. Quarterback Corey Vossler went the final one yard to give St. Marys a 6-0 lead with 3:57 left in the quarter.
Nick Pfeffenberger, who was three-for-three in PATs for the night, made the score 7-0.
Bath responded with what was probably its best drive of the night. The Wildcats drove from their own 31, mixing the pass and run very well, picking up five first downs along the way.
Bath running back Nick Sanchez banged his way inside the five, giving the Cats a first-and-goal at the St. Marys 4.
But on the very next play, a Bath player lined up offsides. From there the Cats floundered, with a loss and two incomplete passes.
"You can't make mistakes against a good football team like St. Marys and expect to win," Bath coach Jim Ehresman said. "We were first-and-goal, jumped offsides, and that threw us out of sync."
Bath settled for a 27-yard field goal attempt that was blocked by Bo Frye with 8:22 left in the half.
"We saw some things coming together for us as a team in the second half of last week's game," Frye said, "and those continued through this week. We played as a team tonight."
The Riders second possession proved to be costly, as Junior Justin Nagel, the Riders' leading rusher for the year, left the game with what appeared to be a serious knee injury on the second play of the drive. Pending the results of the hospital report, St. Marys coaches indicated that his return this year was doubtful.
The drive quickly stalled with Nagel on the sidelines, forcing the game's first punt. Matt Helmstetter, listed at 5-11 in the program, needed to be about 9-11 to get the snap, which sailed way over his head and was downed by Helmstetter at the St. Marys five.
Another off-sides penalty backed the Cats up, but this time they were able to overcome it when quarterback Kyle Mason found a wide open Jared Brackman in the end zone.
The PAT attempt never got off the ground as the snap was mishandled, preserving a one-point 7-6 St. Marys lead with 4:27 left in the half.
The Riders were forced to punt on their next possession, and the fun continued. This time it was Bath's turn to make a major goof. Sanchez muffed the catch of Helmstetter's punt and Scott Vossler recovered at the Bath five.
It took the Riders just two plays from there, as Eric Sullivan scored on a dive play from two yards out to give St. Marys a 14-6 lead with 1:50 left in the half.
The Wildcats threatened before the intermission as Mason completed three straight passes, moving the ball inside the St. Marys 20. However, the drive stalled, and Kyle Vossler came up with a fourth down interception to squelch the threat.
Defense was the name of the game in the second half. Bath failed to pick up a first down in the third quarter.
Midway through the fourth quarter Corey Vossler stepped in front of a Mason pass near midfield and returned it all the way to the Bath 14.
"We thought turnovers would be a big factor in the game," Frye said. "You have to capitalize on the other teams' mistakes." On offense, St. Marys fumbled the ball once, but recovered it. Defensively the Riders recovered a muffed punt and picked off two passes, for plus three turnovers on the game.
Seven plays later, Frye gave the Riders an insurance touchdown with 5:19 left to play.
"We had to go to the fullback more than we had planned," as a result of Nagel going out of the game, Frye said. "The whole offense picked it up a notch."
Bath's next possession ended with a fourth down incomplete pass deep in their own territory. The Wildcat coaching staff wanted an interference penalty, and came unglued when they didn't get it. They did get back-to-back personal foul penalties, giving the Riders a first-and-goal at the seven.
The Riders failed to score a touchdown, but ran about three minutes off the clock before Pfeffenberger came in and nailed a 24-yard field goal with 1:59 left.
The Cats tried to scramble for a final score, but a screen pass was called back on a holding penalty, and Mason was sacked to end the game.
Bath finished with 157 yards passing but just four yards rushing. St. Marys failed to complete a pass in the game (with just one attempt by Nick Yahl), but rushed for 127 total yards.
Bo Frye finished with 96 yards on 26 carries.
"We knew coming in to the season that Bo had some skills at fullback from his play in eighth grade," his father (Coach Frye) said after the game. "But earlier in the season we needed him more on defense." Bo Frye was moved to fullback out of necessity last week against Elida due to an injury to Shawn Craft.
"The number one goal of our season was to win the WBL, and it feels good tonight," Frye said when asked about his first league title, "but we have one more game next week. The Bulldogs will be up for the big rivalry."
The Riders improved to 8-1 overall and 7-1 in the WBL. St. Marys will close out the regular season next week at Celina. A victory will give the Riders the WBL title outright, and possibly qualify them for a home game in the first round of the Division III playoffs.
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