SKIP BAUGHMAN STADIUM -- Ottawa-Glandorf coach Ken Shriner knew what was on the menu, but he wanted to order something else. The Roughriders never gave him a chance.
"Give St. Marys all the credit," Shiner said. "They did exactly what they wanted to do -- run the ball down our throats."
Junior Bo Frye ran for 216 yards on a school-record 37 carries, as the Roughriders steamrolled the Titans 20-7 Friday at Skip Baughman Stadium.
With the win, St. Marys remains perfect on the season at 4-0 and 3-0 in the Western Buckeye League. O-G falls to 2-2 overall and 2-1 in the league.
"I'm extremely pleased with a hard-fought win tonight," St. Marys coach Doug Frye said. "This game was a good challenge for us against a balanced team."
The Riders scored on drives of 13, 10 and 17 plays in an impressive display of ball control offense. St. Marys rolled up 302 yard of rushing offense, and threw for another 74.
"St. Marys' offense was on the field a lot," Shiner said. "They figured out what was working and kept going to it. And we didn't have an answer. They scored once, we went three-and-out, then they're back on the field for another 12 or 13-play drive. That makes it tough."
Neither team was able to score on their first two possessions. Although the Riders moved the ball inside the O-G 20 on their second possession, but ended up turning the ball over on downs.
St. Marys' first drive of the second quarter began on their own 29. Quarterback Corey Vossler loosened up the Titan defense as he connected with sophomore tight end Adam Johns on a slant pattern for a gain of 23 yards.
From there it was a steady diet of Frye and Justin Nagel, who took turns pushing the ball down to the Titan one-yard line where Vossler went over on a sneak. Ross Quellhorst booted the PAT for a 7-0 lead with 5:55 left in the half.
O-G was three-and-out on its next possession and the Riders took over on their own 36.
This time the Riders kept it on the ground, as Frye ran for 15, Vossler scrambled for 19. After an illegal blocking penalty gave the Riders a first-and-28, Frye ran for 14 and 15 yards on consecutive carries. His next carry was good for three yards and a touchdown with 1:14 left in the half.
At this point, St. Marys appeared to have the Titans on the ropes heading into intermission.
But the visitors would quickly snatch some momentum back. A squib kick with less than two minutes gave the Titans good field position at their own 40.
"We were trying to line-drive the kickoff into the corner of the field and pin them down deep," Frye said when asked about the squib kick. "It's tough to do in a game situation and in hindsight we probably shouldn't have tried it."
Junior Quarterback Jay Laubenthal fired a strike to Matt Fought across the middle for a gain of 26. On the very next play, Laubenthal picked a cherry as Fought got himself wide open in the end zone when the St. Marys safety fell down.
The completion was good for 35 yards, and Mitch Croy's extra point put O-G right back in the game with 51.4 second left in the half.
The Titans would get second half kickoff, and a chance to build on their momentum. However, the Rider "D" responded with a big stop, forcing a punt.
St. Marys' offense then made a statement with one of its most impressive ball control drives of the year. Starting on their own 27, the Riders mixed in a few passes, but for the most part went three-yards and a cloud of dust. St. Marys ran 17 plays, picked up six first downs and ran 7:04 off the clock.
The capper was a one-yard sneak by Vossler with 3:18 left in the third. Quellhorst's kick hit the top of the left upright and bounded away, making the score 20-7.
Laubenthal and Fought tried to get the Titans back in the game. The O-G quarterback had plenty of time to pass, and the Riders were giving Fought about a 15-yard cushion off the line. The result was O-G moving the ball.
But Laubenthal went to the well one too many times as senior Cliff Powell came up with a defensive gem, intercepting a pass at the St. Marys 25.
"Cliff didn't play last week and he did a great job coming back to make that key play," Frye said of the interception.
The Riders launched another big 14-play drive, moving the ball down to the O-G 23 where Vossler passes were incomplete on third and fourth down, turning the ball back over to O-G.
However, the damage had been done as there was less than five minutes remaining to play.
St. Marys forced another punt, and were in position to run the clock out before Frye fumbled, for the only St. Marys turnover of the game.
A last-ditch effort by the Titans came up short when Vossler intercepted a fourth down pass at his own one-yard line with just 26 seconds to play.
The Riders finished with 77 offensive plays, just four off the school record of 81, and 25 first downs. Frye's 37 carries surpassed the previous record of 36 set by Shawn Lamb in 1993 against Columbus Watterson.
O-G managed just 33 yards on the ground, but did put up some impressive passing numbers.
Laubenthal completed 12 of 24 passes for 163 yards. Fought caught six of those passes for 102 yards.
St. Marys begins a two-week road trip next Friday by visiting Van Wert. The Riders then travel to Shawnee before returning home to face Kenton in a Homecoming battle.
