SKIP BAUGHMAN STADIUM -- It was out of the doghouse and into the penthouse for St. Marys senior running back Justin Nagel.
One week after losing three fumbles in a 7-6 loss to Shawnee, the Roughrider senior rushed for 137 yards and scored three touchdowns to help St. Marys end a seven-year losing streak to Kenton and move the Riders back into first place in the Western Buckeye League.
St. Marys rushed for over 300 yards and forced four Kenton turnovers to post a 33-15 Homecoming victory over the Wildcats Friday at Skip Baughman Stadium.
Nagel started the game on the bench, but ended up providing the knockout punch with a 57-yard touchdown run with 4:48 left in the game to put the Riders up by three scores at 33-15.
"I'm real proud of Justin Nagel tonight," said St. Marys coach Doug Frye. "After being benched for the opening series he stepped up his game, and put it on ice with his breakout TD late in the game."
Kenton finished the game with three lost fumbles, a last-minute interception and several penalties at critical times.
"First of all congratulations to St. Marys. They came out, played hard and deserved to win this game," Kenton coach Mike Mauk said. "We simply cannot have the turnovers and the penalties in a big game like this and expect to win. We made some mistakes and give St. Marys credit for taking advantage of them."
"Our first goal tonight was composure," Frye said. "We still made some mistakes but I thought our effort was much, much better than a week ago."
It looked like the game was going to be a shootout, as both teams scored on 70-plus yard drives on their first possession.
The Riders took the opening kickoff and marched 75 yards in 11 plays. The big play was a 26-yard completion from Corey Vossler to Nick Yahl on fourth-and-16. Three plays later Vossler scored on a sneak. Ross Quellhorst kicked what seemed to be the gameÕs only normal extra point, and the Riders led 7-0 with 6:36 left in the first quarter.
Kenton was not deterred, as the Wildcats answered quickly. However, the drive was costly as the first play from scrimmage was a flanker screen to All-Ohio receiver Tommy Petitt, who lost four yards and came up limping on the play.
Pettit, who holds most of the Ohio receiving records left the game with a sprained ankle and did not return.
"We hated to see a great player like Tommy Pettit get hurt," Frye said," but it didn't change our defensive plan at all."
Quarterback Braden Spivey kept the drive going with some nice runs and a 30-yard pass to freshman Sean Kleinfelter. Another 15-yard quarterback draw by Spivey moved the Cats inside the St. Marys 10 where 230-pound fullback Zach Jackson scored on a four-yard run.
Kenton's PAT kick was blocked, but the Riders were called for an offsides penalty, moving the ball to the one-and-a-half. From there Jackson made a curtain call and bulled in for the two point conversion, and an 8-7 Kenton lead with 2:34 left in the first quarter. The Riders picked up a first down on their next possession, but the drive stalled near midfield forcing a Nick Yahl punt, which was fumbled by the Wildcats and recovered by Tim Rammel.
Starting on the Kenton 26, the Riders went to work, and Nagel scored on a one-yard run with 9:01 left in the half. A two-point conversion by Bo Frye was good, but a holding penalty backed the Riders up 10 yards and a pass from there failed.
The Rider defense forced a three-and-out, resulting in Kenton's first punt.
Starting at their own 33 the Riders were helped by a big third down person foul penalty on the Wildcats that put Kenton defensive standout D.J. Burris in Coach Mauk's doghouse and on the bench.
Nagel scored his second touchdown on a quick-hitting dive play that went for 27 yards and a touchdown after he broke containment at the line of scrimmage.
Kenton was off-sides on the PAT kick, and Coach Frye sent the offense back on the field. Nagel ran the very same play, and this time went into the end zone for the two-point conversion and a 21-8 lead that held up until halftime.
At halftime, the announcement was made over the PA system that the St. Marys unit of the National Guard is to be deployed in November. The St. Marys All-Brass Band's Homecoming show featured a tribute to all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. As the band played the marching themes of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and National Guard, uniformed veteran representatives carried banners to the center of the field. It was an emotional and patriotic presentation that had the audience on its feet on both sides of the field.
After forcing a three-and-out, and then scoring on a long 72-yard, 12-play drive in the third quarter, it appeared that the Riders had taken control of the game with a 27-8 lead at the 4:36 mark of the third quarter.
Things went from bad to worse for the Cats when they fumbled the ensuing kickoff and the Riders took over on the Kenton 37. However, the Wildcats forced the Riders to turn the ball over on downs and they came roaring back.
Spivey completed a 33-yard pass, and then scored on a 30-yard draw play in which he changed directions about four times. The extra point kick by Rod Snowden, which was good from 35 yards after a Kenton person foul penalty, cut the Rider lead to 27-15.
Kenton's defense forced another punt, and the Cats got right back into scoring position with a 43-yard completion from Spivey to Kleinfelter. Two plays later a Wildcat touchdown was called back because of an offensive pass interference call.
"That was a big momentum shift having that touchdown called back," Mauk said. "We would have been down by one score and would have been back in the game."
Kenton ended up turning the ball over on downs, but the Riders coughed it back up on the very next play when Vossler fumbled on a roll out. But again the Rider "D" rose to the challenge and forced Kenton's offense back off the field.
St. Marys was looking to run some clock from there when Nagel cut up a sweep play, found a seam and raced 57 yards to pay dirt. The PAT kick was wide left giving the Riders a 33-15 lead with 4:48 left to play.
Kenton's last-minute drive ended when Mark Reisen stepped in front of a Spivey pass and returned it to the 12-yard line. The ball was moved to the six after a late hit flag. After two running plays moved the ball to the one yard line, the Riders showed some class by letting the final 30 seconds tick off the clock.
"We'd had some pretty close games with Kenton the last six years," Frye said, "but had never managed to pull one out. It's good to get that monkey off our back."
The win, coupled with Shawnee's 16-14 loss at Van Wert put the Riders back in a first place tie with Shawnee in the WBL race at 6-1 overall and 5-1 in the league. The Riders hit the road next week at Elida, followed by a trip to Bath before finishing out the regular season at home against Celina.
