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DEFIANCE, OHIO -- Another week, another dominating performance for the Roughriders.
On the heels of crushing Sidney 42-0, St. Marys traveled to Defiance and tamed the Bulldogs 42-6 Friday in the Western Buckeye League opener at Fred J. Brown Stadium.
Again, the Riders had it all working, with some impressive drives, a stingy defense and special teams that chipped in with a touchdown.
Bo Frye highlighted the offense as he rushed for 160 yards on 21 carries and scored three touchdowns. Corey Vossler intercepted a pass and returned a fumble for a touchdown and Nick Yahl returned a punt for a touchdown.
St. Marys set a dominating first-half tone on its opening drive -- a drive that failed to produce any points.
The Riders marched 67 yards in 16 plays, taking nearly eight minutes off the clock, but on fourth-and-three from the Defiance three, Vossler's pass fell incomplete, turning the ball over on downs.
While the drive produced no points it did give the Riders' defense great field position, as Defiance was unable to move the ball.
After a 25-yard punt, the St. Marys "O" was back in business just 35 yards from the end zone.
A 19-yard gain by Justin Nagel moved the ball inside the 15. Three plays later Frye bulled in from three yards out for a 6-0 lead. Ross Quellhorst booted the PAT with 10 seconds left in the first quarter.
Defiance's next possession ended abruptly when Vossler stepped in front of a Graham Wagner pass at the Defiance 45.
Two plays later it was Frye again. This time the junior fullback rambled 42 yards to put the Riders up 14-0 with 10:25 left in the half.
St. Marys' defense denied the Bulldogs a first down on their next possession, and the offense again had great field position at the St. Marys 47.
Frye got the Riders inside the Defiance 10 with a gain of 31 yards on a trap play. Two plays later, Bo finished things off with a three-yard run. Quellhorst added another PAT for a 21-0 lead with 6:58 left in the half.
Just 48 seconds later the Riders scored again. This time it was the defense getting in the act as Vossler moved up from his safety position to pick up a Defiance fumble and run 28 yards for a score.
Quellhorst missed his first PAT in 10 tries this season as the Riders would carry the 27-0 lead into the intermission.
The Roughrider special teams chalked up their first score of the season as senior Nick Yahl returned a Defiance punt 85 yards for a touchdown with 4:30 left in the third quarter. Yahl's return was just one yard off the school record punt return of 86 yard by Chip Cisco in 1975.
St. Marys gave up its first points on the season late in the third quarter. Bulldog running back Robert Orta spearheaded a 55-yard Defiance drive with some impressive runs.
Orta ended up scoring from four yards out with 1:10 left in the third quarter.
The St. Marys reserves saw action for the second straight week and performed well in the final quarter.
Sophomore Scott Laman capped the Riders final scoring drive, as he scored from 12 yards out on a counter play with 7:11 left in the game. Back-up quarterback Tom Burke tossed the two-point conversion to sophomore tight end Adam Johns.
The Riders got all of its 329 yards of offense on the ground as Vossler attempted just two passes and was incomplete both times.
Nagel followed Frye in the rushing department with 77 yards on 12 carries. The Bulldogs had 137 yards of total offense including 67 running and 70 passing.
The Riders return home for their next two games, including a big Auglaize County showdown next week against the Wapakoneta Redskins.
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