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August 29, 2005 Roughrider Retrospective
Roughriders v. Celina Bulldogs, 2003
"The Kick." |
ROUGHRIDER RETROSPECTIVE - by Buz Howard
This is the third installment of a series designed to look back on memorable games in St. Marys football history. Each article, to be posted in Ridertown on Mondays, will deal with a key game from the series with the upcoming opponent.
On Wednesday each week we will post a follow-up article providing an overview of the entire competitive series between the two schools, focusing on further highlights through the years.
In the ongoing saga that is the St. Marys-Celina football series, there have been dozens of legendary games—games the details of which are still hashed over in both communities.
From the 72-year-old rivalry, however, the game chosen for this retrospective has the advantage of being fresh in the minds of area fans, since it took place only two years ago.
In the 2003 season, the Roughriders, going into the final game at Celina, had already clinched a share of the WBL crown by beating Bath the previous Friday night.
Celina was closing out a disappointing season, but of course could salvage a large measure of respect by depriving their arch-rivals of an outright championship.
Both teams entered the game plagued by injuries. The Roughriders were missing their leading rusher, Justin Nagel, who in the previous year had gained over 200 yards against the Bulldogs. St. Marys would try to pick up the slack in the running game by going to recently converted sophomore fullback, Bo Frye. They would also call on Junior quarterback Corey Vossler to run the ball more than in previous games.
The Bulldogs had lost their veteran quarterback, Joe Kanney, choosing to replace him with a very athletic Brian Gagel, moved over from wide receiver.
Actually, a major portion of the game was marred by sloppy play from both sides. The game records show a total of nine turnovers, five of them fumbles by the Roughriders. The Riders also committed seven drive-stalling offensive penalties, including four holding calls.
Celina lost two fumbles, had a pass picked off by Nick Yahl, and gave up the ball on a St. Marys onsides kick..
At halftime the score was 7-7, Celina scoring first on a 22-yard run by Gagel, St. Marys countering with a 27-yard pass play from Corey Vossler to senior end Nick Fortman, who made a gorgeous diving catch, stretching out fully in the endzone.
Early in the third quarter the defenses stiffened, neither team scoring.
Then the drama began.
The Roughriders put together a 70-yard, 14-play scoring drive, a key play coming on a 27-yard run by Eric Sullivan. Frye punched it in from the one, but then the Riders missed the PAT, leaving them with a tenuous six-point lead.
After an exchange of fumbles, Celina mounted a 39-yard touchdown drive, the big play coming on a 34-yard pass from Gagel to Jon Breougher. Brady Bonifas, nephew of Rider assistant coach Dave Wright, took it over from the one –yard stripe to knot the score Celina kicker Tim Homan then split the uprights to give his team a 14-13 lead with only 1:19 on the clock.
Both teams realized that field position on the ensuing kickoff would be crucial to any St. Marys chance of a comeback. That’s when St. Marys coach Doug Frye opted to use Corey Vossler to return the kickoff, a duty that Vossler would be performing for the first time. Vossler, recently recalling the play, said that Coach Frye’s instructions were simple and direct. “Coach just said, ‘Catch the ball and run it as far as you can.’”
Vossler had to wait, however, to carry out his orders. Homan, kicking off for the Bulldogs, heightened the tension on both sidelines by sailing the ball out of bounds—twice. Now kicking from the thirty, he boomed the ball all the way to the eight—an impressive kick, but one that would allow a return. “It was a low liner,” said Vossler, “so I had a chance to catch it on the run.” Eluding the first wave of tacklers, Vossler brought the ball out to the fifty.
On the first play after the kickoff return, Vossler, now forced into a passing mode, hit Nick Yahl for 16 yards, Yahl making a diving catch on the left sideline. Corey then hit his older brother Scott, a stellar linebacker now playing tight end, for seven more yards, Scott Vossler going high into the air to make the grab and then hanging on as his legs were cut from under him. An incomplete pass and a three-yard quarterback scramble then left time for one more play to move the Riders into a reasonable field goal position. Another pass to Yahl was called. Yahl was told not to catch the ball unless he knew he could score. He chose not to try a diving catch that would have run out the clock.
The incomplete pass stopped the clock at four seconds. The ball was on the 23-yard line. The field goal would have to be a school-record distance of 40 yards.
For senior kicker Nick Pfeffenberger, who had missed the earlier extra point, it was only his second field goal attempt of the season (he had made a 23-yarder against Bath).
The snapper on the play was Bo Frye. The holder was Tom Burke. Everyone executed perfectly, and the ball sailed dead center over the crossbar, clearing it by about three feet as the final horn sounded.
“I could tell it was good when it left my foot,” recollected Pfeffenberger, now in his sophomore year at the University of Dayton, where he excels on the baseball team as a pitcher, “but it still was exciting to see the referee give a thumbs-up.”
The thumbs-up signal was an intriguing sidebar to the game. It appears now that the officiating crew erred in their alignment on the play. When the ball passed through the uprights, the spectators looked for the referees’ signal. Instead of the customary two officials, stepping forth with upraised arms in the endzone, there was just the one referee giving a thumbs up, apparently meant for another official upfield, who would then raise his arms. It seemed that someone in the officiating crew reverted back to a procedure, generally not used these days, for field goals of 40 yards or more.
Whether the game officials were right or wrong, their unusual approach just gave the fans one more thing to talk about during their drive home from the game.
Coach Doug Frye, when recently asked for his reaction to the play, remarked that he had confidence that Pfeffenberger could kick the ball through. “After our Thursday practice,” Frye said, “Nick challenged Coach [Tom] Yingling [a former kicker] to a field-goal contest. Nick won the contest with a 49-yarder. So our decision to try a field goal was more than an act of desperation.” Pfeffenberger agrees with his coach that the Thursday field-goal contest was a confidence builder.
Nick Pfeffenberger’s championship-winning field goal at Celina has to rank as one of the most thrilling plays in the entire history of St. Marys football. In fact, there may be only one other play more exciting. But that’s another story for another day.
See Ridertown Wednesday, August 31, for an overview of the St. Marys-Celina series.
Next week: Defiance
#19 Tom Burke holds for Nick Pfeffenburger's record-tying kick.
Photos courtesy Andrews Photography.
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