BAUGHMAN STADIUM -- The 2005 edition Roughrider football team stuck to the basics and kept mistakes to a minimum to control a solid Urbana Hillclimber varsity squad, 14-7, at Friday's annual "Chicken Bowl" scrimmage.
The offense came out first with Bo Frye and Scott Laman returning to the backfield. Brett Baker at quarterback and running back Koby Frye are new to the backfield. After Bo Frye picked up a first down on a 3rd-and-2 dive, Laman lost the handle on the ball for the only turnover in the scrimmage.
Urbana came out throwing the ball and picked up a quick first down, but the Rider defense stiffened, and linebacker Tim Rammel stuffed a 4th-and-10 screen pass for a loss to return the ball to St. Marys on downs.
The Riders' second possession featured Koby Frye on a shifty 10-yard gain up the middle after two short carries. They picked up two 4th-down conversions to keep the drive alive, and Koby capped it off with a touchdown from the four yard line on 4th-and-goal. Left-footed soccer-style kicker Doug Burke kicked the point after touchdown, and the Riders led 7-0 with 1:07 left in the first quarter.
The defense forced Urbana into a 4th-and-20 situation on the Urbana 28, and the ensuing punt ended the first quarter.
A nice pass into the flat from Baker to Laman netted 13 yards, but the next pass attempt three plays later resulted in a 10-yard sack and the one after that fell incomplete. Junior Victor Long punted on fourth and 14.
A 17-yard pass and a St. Marys 5-yard facemask penalty were not enough for Urbana to overcome the swarming Rider defense, and the Hillclimbers were again forced to punt. Urbana's punter is excellent, though, and he spiralled a beauty into the "coffin corner" which bounced and stuck at the 8 yard line.
St. Marys had methodically worked the ball out to midfield on the ground when, with about 30 seconds left in the half, Senior Bo Frye burst through the line for a 35-yard gain down to the 10. On the next play, Baker threw a nice corner fade to a wide-open Adam Johns for the Riders' second TD. Burke again kicked the PAT to make the score 14-0 with 20.1 seconds remaining in the half.
The Riders kicked to the Hillclimbers to start the second half. Urbana had to punt again but pinned St. Marys down at the 4 yard line. The Riders couldn't run it out from under the shadow of their own goal posts and suffered the only 3-and-out of the game. Long punted it back to the St. Marys 35.
Starting out in 4-down territory, the Hillclimbers kept their drive going with a 4th-and-1 quarterback sneak for a first down at the five, before finally punching it in for a touchdown with 19.5 seconds left in the third (and last) quarter. The PAT was good to make the final score St. Marys 14, Urbana 7.
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Look for the first article in Buz Howard's "Roughrider Retrospective" series to appear Monday, August 22, here in The Spring Street Journal.
