Related Links:
Scores
Stats
Standings
Joe Eitel
Photos by Andrews Photography
CLICK FOR
LARGER IMAGE
|
ELIDA -- Elida scored the first two times it had the ball to jump out to a 14-12 first quarter lead, but the final three quarters belonged to St. Marys.
The Roughriders battled back with two touchdowns in the second quarter and then outscored the Bulldogs 20-0 in the second half to post a 48-14 victory at Elida's Kraft Stadium Friday.
With the win, St. Marys hangs on to a share of first place in the Western Buckeye League at 6-1 and 7-1 overall. Shawnee (7-1, 6-1) kept pace with the Riders with a convincing 35-7 win over Ottawa-Glandorf Friday.
The Riders rolled up over 400 yards of offense, most of which came on the ground as Bo Frye and Justin Nagel took turns running through big holes created by the offensive line.
Frye finished with 248 yards rushing on 28 carries, while Nagel carried the ball 17 times for 127 yards.
The game looked like it was going to be a shoot-out as neither team had any trouble moving the ball early in the game.
St. Marys took the opening kickoff and found little opposition on its first possession, facing a third down situation only once. Nagel cleaned up on the drive, scoring on a 15-yard sweep with 9:04 left in the first quarter.
Ross Quellhorst's extra point was no good.
Elida came right back on its first drive. The Bulldogs were assisted by two St. Marys 15-yard penalties, both of which came on third downs.
A 21-yard gain by Derick Edwards moved the Dogs inside the St. Marys 10 yard line. Two plays later Edwards scored from four yards out, and the kick was good for a 7-6 Elida lead with 5:34 left in the first quarter.
It didn't take the Riders long to answer. Frye ripped off a big gain on the first play from scrimmage, moving the ball to the Elida 16. Three plays later, Frye carried the ball into the endzone with 4:36 left in the first quarter.
St. Marys tried to run for the PAT, but the pitch to Frye was stopped short.
The fast-and-furious first quarter continued on Elida's next possession. Bulldog quarterback Jason Sarno got things started with a 20-yard completeion to Mark Leugers. Edwards picked up consecutive first downs on Elida's next two plays.
The drive appeared to stall in the red zone, but on fourth-and-four, Sarno hooked up with Leugers for a first down. On the very next play, Edwards scored his second touchdown with 29 seconds left in the quarter to give the Dogs a 14-12 lead.
A little bit of defense then showed up as both teams were forced trade punts.
The Riders got back into their Frye, Frye, Nagel, Frye, Frye, Nagel offense and mached doen the field. Frye had the ball last, scoring from five yards out and tacked on the two-point conversion for an 18-14 lead with 5:42 left in the half.
Elida moved the ball into St. Marys territory on its next possession, but the Rider "D" forced a punt with 1:36 left to play.
Starting on their own 10-yard-line, the Riders got thing moving with a 29-yard gain by Frye, followed by a 31-yard gain by Nagel.
With time running out, the Riders converted two fourth-down conversions and ended up scoring on a five-yard run by Nagel with no time left on the clock. Vossler's pass to Nagel made the score 28-14 at the break.
The second half was all St. Marys, as the Riders allowed Elida just one first down in the final 24 minutes.
The offense continued to churn out the yards. Frye scored on a 19-yard pass from Corey Vossler with 18 seconds left in the third quarter.
Brian Cook added a 14-yard touchdown on a counter with 7:02 left in the game. And sophomore Zachary Dammeyer capped the scoring with an eight-yard run with 1:34 left to play.
St. Marys finished with 486 yards of total offense and 22 first downs. Elida rolled up 119 yards on the ground and 76 in the air.
St. Marys returns to Lima next week for a game against Bath. The Wildcats will head into that game with some big momentum after spanking Wapakoneta 44-0 Friday to improve to 4-4 on the season.
|
