CANTON, OHIO -- A crucial Rider fumble on a goal-line drive, fast turf and tough Benedictine lines on both sides of the ball combined to plague the St. Marys Roughriders in their worst outing of the season, a 27-14 loss to Cleveland Benedictine at Canton Fawcett Stadium, in the 2004 Ohio Div. III Football Championship game.
The Riders as usual were outsized on the field, but today struggled to overcome the disadvantage. The beefy Benedictine offensive line used a very tight spacing that prevented penetration, and the running back duo of Jahmal Brown (#32) and Troy Huddleston (#5) were very difficult for Rider defenders to bring down.
The difficulties the Riders had on defense were mirrored by the offense most of the game. The only plays St. Marys ran consistently for gains were runs up the middle, most by junior fullback Bo Frye, who gained 120 yards in the game on 28 tough carries, and Justin Nagel who rushed eleven times for 47 yards.
With the game out of hand at the 2:33 mark of the fourth quarter and the score Benedictine 27, St. Marys 6, Rider head coach Doug Frye opened the playbook and called the "Lonesome Polecat" unbalanced spread formation. He may wish he had called it sooner, because the Bengals were clearly surprised and just as clearly had no idea how to defend against it. The play went for a pretty 39-yard pass from Corey Vossler to Brian Cook.
Following an incompletion, the third time in a row the play was run resulted in an open Vossler scrambling 12 yards and out of bounds to stop the clock. Benedictine called time out in desperation to devise a defense on the fly.
The Riders crossed them up by changing the play, lining up instead with three receivers split wide both sides. On the second snap in this formation, Vossler scrambled out of the backfield, circling around about twenty yards behind the line of scrimmage, before a heads-up block by Travis Neal broke Vossler free long enough to spot a wide, wide open Cliff Powell at the five yard line. Vossler's pass to Powell was perfect for a touchdown, with 1:19 left in the game. The same spread formation led to a successful two-point conversion by Vossler to make the score 27-14, Benedictine.
St. Marys' onside kick was recovered by Benedictine, and the Bengals were able to run out the clock with three short runs to preserve their win.
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First Quarter
The day promised more than it delivered. The 11:07 a.m. game time temperature was 32 degrees with a wind chill of 23 degrees. An early morning clear blue sky had become overcast by the time the 7,716 attendees were in their seats. At least 4,500 of those were St. Marys fans by unofficial eyeball - the St. Marys side of the stadium was larger and packed, except for the lower seats in the end zones, despite the 3-1/2 hour drive.
The Riders won the toss and the Bengals took the chance to immediately show off one of their weapons. Junior placekicker Alex Steigerwald (#85) boomed the opening kickoff into the end zone for a touchback and the Riders took the ball at the 20.
Alternating runs by Frye and Nagel gained a couple of close first downs and moved the ball out to the St. Marys 43. A second-and-eight pass attempt surprised the Bengals but Vossler's throw was too long and over the head of an unguarded Zach Taylor.
Frye was stopped for a 2-yard gain on third down and the Riders were forced to punt. Nick Yahl's kick rolled dead at the Bengal 15 yard line, the worst field position the Bengals would see the entire game.
Two Brown carries took the ball out to the Bengal 30. A questionable personal foul called on Vossler for what appeared to St. Marys fans to be a clean hit on a receiver after an overthrown ball had passed put the ball at midfield. Mark Riesen nearly picked off Bengal quarterback Joe Laffey's pass, but on the next play Laffey (#12) connected with John Dunn (#84) for a big 30-yard gain to move into St. Marys territory at the 25. The Riders stuffed Brown for no gain, a Laffey incomplete pass and another Brown run for seven yards brought up 4th-and-3 at the 18. Instead of bringing in Steigerwald for a field goal the Bengals went for it, and lost the ball on downs when Laffey's 4th-down pass was off the mark.
Bad field position dogged the Riders all day. Taking over at the 18, the Blue and Gold moved the ball out to the 34, but could not afford to lose a play to an incomplete pass. The drive stalled and St. Marys punted its second possession back to the Bengals, who got the ball on their own 40 yard line.
Runs by Brown and Brandon Davies (#6) mixed with Laffey passes to Sam Amidon (#1) and Dunn brought the Bengals to the St. Marys 26 where the first quarter ended tied, 0-0.
Second Quarter
A couple of Brown rushes brought the Bengals to the St. Marys 18, where Laffey hit Sam Amidon (#1) for a touchdown and the game's first score at the 10:49 mark of the second quarter. Steigerwald's PAT kick was good and the Bengals took a lead they would never relinquish, 7-0.
After a touchback kick by Steigerwald, the Riders did what they do best. Starting at the 20, St. Marys mounted a classic 15-play drive that promised to answer Benedictine's score.
Seven straight runs by Frye, Nagel and Vossler took the ball to midfield. Vossler faked a handoff to Frye up the middle and he was left uncovered in the secondary for an 18-yard pass reception. Six more runs by Frye and Nagel resulted in a 3rd-and-goal situation at the 5 yard line.
What happened next changed the nature of the game. Vossler rolled right on a quarterback sweep that hindsight would never have tried. Multiple Bengals pursued him into the flat and Rider blockers were outnumbered. They forced a fumble around the seven yard line that Dunn scooped up and ran down the sideline, before being forced out of bounds by Bo Frye at the Bengal 36 yard line.
Laffey went right to Dunn on the next play for an eleven yard completion. Huddleston (#5) took off on a shifty carry that gained a big 28 yards down to the St. Marys 19. Then four straight carries by Brown apparently resulted in a demoralizing Bengal touchdown and a potential scoring turnaround of 14 points due to the fumble.
But only "apparently." On the Brown touchdown run, an official saw what the St. Marys fans saw on nearly every Bengal play, namely that the Benedictine downfield blockers literally held their blocks. The holding flag moved the ball out to the eleven, and rallied the Rider defense.
They sacked Laffey for a four-yard loss and on the next play stuffed Brown for a three-yard loss. Benedictine had learned its lesson after its first possession, and, on 4th-and-goal from the 18, Steigerwald came in and kicked a 35-yard field goal with 0:20 remaining in the half.
A third touchback kickoff gave the Riders the ball at the 20. Vossler took a knee to go into halftime with the score Benedictine 10, St. Marys 0.
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Halftime
Unlike the football team, which traveled to the Canton area Friday night, the St. Marys All-Brass Band left home early Saturday morning. Unfortunately, one of the five buses hit a deer on Route 30. No one on the bus was hurt, but it delayed the band's arrival at Fawcett Stadium until after the start of the game.
The SMABB delighted the Rider fans with another State Championship performance of "Script Riders," followed by Guns and Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" and the McCoys' Ohio classic "Hang On Sloopy." The honor of ceremonially dotting the "i" in "Riders" went to Chad Vondenhuevel, senior percussionist, the son of Gary and Kris Vondenhuevel. A great halftime show for a big game so close to the Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
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Third Quarter
Ross Quellhorst kicked off the second half to Chris Austin (#20) who returned the ball to the Benedictine 33 yard line. A couple of running plays and a pass interference call on an uncatchable throw (which is not considered under high school rules) put the ball at the St. Marys 33. Huddleston broke free for a 33-yard touchdown run, and after Steigerwald's PAT kick the score was 17-0 only 2 minutes into the second half.
St. Marys offense came back with the only three-and-out of the game. A low snap and Bengal pressure resulted in Nick Yahl shanking the punt, which went out of bounds after traveling only 17 yards.
Going to work at the St. Marys 45, a Brown 14-yard run brought up first-and-ten at the 31. Laffey connected with Dunn for a 31-yard strike, but again the officials, who seemingly only looked for it on touchdown plays, flagged the "Bennies" for holding.
The Rider defense stopped them for three yards total on the next three plays, and Steigerwald came in for Benedictine's only punt of the game on 4th-and-18. Vossler returned it to the St. Marys 10, and St. Marys again had the ball with poor field position.
Seven plays netted only 23 yards, though, and a Yahl punt from the 33 combined with an unnecessary roughness call on the Bengals gave Benedictine the ball at their own 17 yard line. But four running plays for short gains sandwiching a 17-yard pass from Laffey to Amidon advanced the ball to midfield by the end of the third quarter.
Fourth Quarter
It took only two plays, a 16-yard pass to Amidon and a 32-yard TD run by Brown, for Benedictine to start the fourth quarter with another score. Steigerwald's PAT kick was good and the Riders were in a big hole, down 24-zip with eleven-and-a-half short minutes to play.
Steigerwald uncharacteristically left his kickoff short of the end zone, and Vossler responded by running it back 26 yards to the 29 yard line. Still not great field position, but it was the best the Riders would see to start a possession in this game.
What happened next was what legendary St. Marys coach Skip Baughman would call "dancing with the girl who brought you." The Rider offense clicked into machine mode, and ran out an 18-play drive using four running backs (Frye, Nagel, Brian Cook and Scott Laman) and featuring a nice 17-yard pass from Vossler to Adam Johns. Vossler sneaked into the end zone on 3rd-and-goal from the one, and the Riders were on the board. The two-point conversion try failed, to put the score at 24-6, Benedictine.
The drive ate up a precious six minutes and 39 seconds of the clock, and, with an 18-point deficit to make up, Quellhorst tried an onside kick to get the ball back for St. Marys. It would have worked, as the Riders had the ball surrounded, but the kick only rolled eight yards and the Bengals covered it at the St. Marys 48 yard line. The Bengals moved the ball inside the St. Marys 20, but the Rider defense stiffened and recorded a couple of tackles-for-loss, forcing a Steigerwald 34-yard field goal on 4th-and-ten from the 17, with 2:33 left in the game.
The ensuing kickoff again sailed into the end zone for a touchback. The Riders, playing for pride and for fun, came out in the spread and stunned the Bengals for 80 yards and a touchdown in five plays that only took one minute and fourteen seconds.
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It is never satisfying to end the season with a loss, but the Bengals were a worthy foe, and would be one of the better teams in the league if they were to join the WBL. They played a turnover-free game on a relatively close-to-home field designed to enhance their strengths. They won seven regular-season games against competition that draws its talent from wide metropolitan areas. Few teams can compete with these advantages.
But the Riders can and did, and did it honorably and with class. While Benedictine fans were leaving in the fourth quarter of a game already decided in their minds, the St. Marys faithful remained. The well-organized and vocal Benedictine student section's "Please Drive Safely" taunt went silent in the fourth quarter when the Riders belatedly opened up their game. Benedictine won the yardage stat but lost on plays and time of possession: the game was closer than the score.
On behalf of Ridertown.com readers from 42 states and eleven countries: thank you, Class of 2005 Roughrider Seniors, for a great and memorable football season. You have won your place in the record books and brought home the hardware to show for it.
And, even after all you achieved, you leave your classmates the challenge to improve on your record. Another Roughrider legacy is born. It's time to reload.
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