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Joe Eitel
Div III, Region 12
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SKIP BAUGHMAN STADIUM -- The Roughriders came up one miracle short Friday, as Cincinnati Wyoming ended St. Marys' season with an 18-16 victory in the Division III Regional playoffs at Skip Baughman Stadium.
The Riders, who had made a habit of pulling out last-second wins this season, had a touchdown called back with 4.5 seconds left in the game.
An illegal handoff (forward lateral) penalty brought back what appeared to be a touchdown by Nick Yahl, who scooped up a loose ball on a free kick and raced into the end zone.
"What a wild game. I thought we had lost it," Wyoming Coach Bernie Barre said. "I thought the official had blown the play dead but it kept going. I didn't know what to think about the penalty. If it was a face mask or something we lose."
"St. Marys has won a lot of close games this season," Barre continued. "They hung around, never gave up and played tough. I have to give them a lot of credit."
"I'm pretty numb after this season, we've had so many roller-coaster rides," St. Marys Coach Doug Frye said.
The Riders were fortunate to have a chance to win the game, as the Cowboys won the battle of the trenches. Wyoming dominated the time of possession, limiting the Riders to just two first downs in the second half.
"I thought we played very well on defense," Barre said. "Our goal was to stop the run. If they had to throw the ball, we would be feeling pretty good."
"The kids did everything we asked them to," Frye said. "I take the blame - I just couldn't find a way to move the ball in the second half."
The Cowboys stacked 10 defenders within five yards of the line of scrimmage and basically limited the Riders to just two good runs all night. On the other side of the ball Wyoming dominated the Roughrider defensive line like no other team has done all season.
Trey Tudor was a workhorse for the Cowboys. He carried the ball 35 time for 147 yards -- the most any back has rushed against the Riders all season.
Tudor carried the ball on all six official plays of Wyoming's first drive. His sixth carry was an unmolested 12-yard romp into the Rider end zone for a 6-0 lead with less than four minutes gone in the game.
The Riders responded with a three-and-out, and Wyoming went right back to work. The Cowboys drove 70 yards, but ended up turning the ball over on downs at the St. Marys 16 with just 51 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Riders offense sputtered again, but the defense provided the spark, as Nick Yahl stepped in front of an Eric Baker pass and returned it 21 yards to the Wyoming 24.
Three play later, Corey Vossler scrambled for 17 yards to the Cowboy three. Bo Frye took it over from there to tie the game with 8:27 left in the half. Nick Pfeffenberger nailed the PAT to give St. Marys a one-point lead.
The Cowboys' next possession resulted in their first punt of the game, which Corey Vossler returned all the way to the Wyoming 34.
Three plays later, Frye rambled up the middle for a 33-yard touchdown. Pfeffenberger booted the PAT for a 14-6 lead with 5:39 left in the half.
Wyoming was not intimidated. The Cowboys came right back. And again it was Tudor doing most of the work on the ground. He carried the ball on seven consecutive plays, the last of which was a nine-yard scoring run.
The Cowboys went for the two-point conversion to tie the score, but Baker's pass was broken up by Yahl to preserve a two-point St. Marys lead at halftime.
St. Marys started the second half with another three-and-out, while the Cowboys responded with what proved to be the winning drive.
Wyoming went 70 yards on 12 plays. Eric Johnson scored from five yards out with 4:55 left in the third. Again the Cowboys went for the two-point conversion, and again were stopped.
The Riders started their next two possessions in Wyoming territory but were unable to move the ball. With their backs against the wall, the Rider defense responded and kept getting the ball back.
With less than six minutes to play, Vossler returned a punt to the Wyoming 42. Two plays later Frye fumbled and the Cowboys recovered.
St. Marys forced another punt and got the ball back with 2:13 to play. After picking up a first down, Vossler was intercepted with 1:22 to play.
St. Marys was still not done. Wyoming tried to run the clock out, but the Riders used their time outs and forced a punt with 30 seconds left.
Rather than risk a blocked punt, Barre had Tudor run back into the end zone for a safety with 22.6 seconds left.
This is where the fun began.
The first free kick from the 20 went out of bounds, forcing a second kick from the 15. This kick went over Vossler's head. He raced back to pick it up, ran forward for about 20 yards, handed the ball off to Frye, who went about five more yards, then fumbled.
Yahl picked up the fumble and raced 55 yards for what appeared to be a touchdown. However, the play was called back as the officials ruled that Vossler's hand off to Frye was a forward lateral.
That left the Riders with just 4.5 seconds to try a desperation pass, which was stopped short.
"We have a great group of kids who continually worked hard and showed exceptional character this year," Frye said. "They went from being 0-5-1 in junior high to the playoffs this year. I'm not making excuses but we played tonight with, basically, two new running backs after we lost our No. 1 halfback and leading ground gainer and another halfback to injury this year."
...
Cincinnati Wyoming advances to play Germantown Valley View, 35-21 winners over Bellbrook, next Friday.
In WBL playoff news, Kenton defeated Bellevue at Bellevue, 46-27. In next week's Div. III Region 10 semifinal Kenton will play #3-seeded Columbus Bishop Watterson. Defiance, playing at home, handled Grafton Midview 26-0, and advances in Division II to play Maumee. Next week's Regional semifinal games will be played on neutral sites to be announced.
Good luck to the Division IV Bath Wildcats in Upper Sandusky Saturday, and to all WBL teams advancing in the tournament.
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