TROY, OHIO -- "We knew they'd throw against us. They tried to run and, when they couldn't get that going, they went to the pass."
Sound familiar? That wasn't head coach Doug Frye after last night's 21-13 Roughrider win at Troy over the Eagles of Chaminade-Julienne, although it would fit the game. That quote was Skip Baughman, commenting on the Roughriders' 21-14 win at Troy over the Eagles of Columbus Bishop Watterson in 1993.
Columbus Bishop Watterson will be the Riders' opponent in the 2004 Div. III State Championship semifinal on Saturday.
The game eleven years ago was in the first round of the playoffs. St. Marys fullback Shawn Lamb set a school record by carrying the ball 36 times in that game, a record that stood until this season when Bo Frye rushed 37 plays against Ottawa-Glandorf. Rider D held Watterson to negative six yards rushing eleven years ago, and Chaminade-Julienne to negative four yards rushing Saturday. Rider D sacked Watterson's QB four times in '93, and C-J's QB seven times last night. The Riders threw one pass (incomplete) in '93, but they "filled the air with footballs" against C-J, attempting four and completing two, one good for a touchdown.
There have been some changes over the years. Before the game, Baughman described Watterson: "They're big. Their offensive and defensive lines and their backs. Everyone's big." Maybe big eleven years ago - Watterson's 1993 offensive line averaged 230 pounds. C-J's 2004 offensive line averaged nearly 270 pounds.
Both teams came into the game with perfect 10-0 records running the Wing-T, and neither coach planned any changes. "We're going to do what we do best," Watterson head coach Mike Golden said. "We don't want to be caught flat-footed when they run counters."
"We're not going in with any major changes," Baughman said. "Hell, you dance with the girl who brought you."
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November 12, 1993.
St. Marys' first score was set up on a fumble by Watterson's QB on a Luke Kleinhenz hit. Lamb ran for 34 of the 35 yards on four carries including the 12-yard TD, and the Riders were up 7-0 after Jeff Hughes' PAT, with 7:39 left in the first quarter.
The teams traded punts for most of the rest of the first half, until Adam Kerns broke free for a 51-yard touchdown on a wingback counter. Hughes' PAT made it 14-0.
Watterson speedster Darrick Jordan ran the ensuing kickoff back 89 yards, to bring the Eagles within a score at 14-7. The Riders were moving the ball when time ran out in the half. Hughes unsuccessfully attempted a 37-yard field goal, and the Riders took the 7-point lead into the locker room.
Watterson largely abandoned the running game in the second half. At 6:38 remaining in the third quarter, and faced with a 4th-and-10 play, QB Ryan Yoder finally got the ball past Rider defenders Cory Rammel and Tony Hirschfeld and connected with Jordan for a 30-yard touchdown. The TD tied the score at 14, but it was the Eagles' last hurrah.
Five minutes later, Lamb went in for an 11-yard touchdown, and the Riders played ball control the final 13 minutes to close out the scoring.
"The defense bailed out the offense in the first half and then, in the second half, the offense shouldered its share of the load," Baughman observed after the game.
The Rider offense ran 35 second-half plays to just 5 for the Eagles, for an advantage in the game of 61-37, and time of possession dominance of 36 minutes to 12. 168-pound DT Louie Fry had three sacks (one causing a fumble that the Riders recovered), Hirschfeld made a put-em-on-the-bus 4th-quarter interception, Lamb finished with 174 yards rushing and Kerns added 90.
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What's in a name? Bishop Watterson will field the third team of "Eagles" the Riders have faced in this year's tournament. St. Marys defeated the Golden Eagles of Bellbrook in round one and the Eagles of Chaminade-Julienne in round three. If the Riders can make it an Eagle hat-trick by downing Watterson, they'll be done with birds for this year. The winner of the St. Marys-Watterson game will play the winner of the Canal Fulton Northwest "Indians" / Cleveland Benedictine "Bengals" game for the state title.
This season, the Riders are 1-0 vs mythological characters (O-G); 1-0 vs bugs (Sidney); 2-0 vs birds (Bellbrook, C-J); 2-1 vs native Americans (Shawnee, Wapak, Indian Hill); 3-0 vs canines (Defiance, Elida, Celina) and 3-0 vs. felines (Van Wert, Kenton, Bath). The name doesn't seem to matter much.
