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August 31, 2005 Roughrider Retrospective
Celina Series
ROUGHRIDER RETROSPECTIVE - by Buz Howard
This is the fourth 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 their 2003 pre-season football preview, the Lima News announced the results of a readers’ poll to determine the region’s top football rivalry. By an overwhelming margin, area fans picked the annual St. Marys-Celina game.
On the cover of that special edition is a photograph of two players—Scott Vossler of St. Marys and Sean Boley of Celina. They have donned their battle helmets and are standing facemask to facemask, glaring into each other’s eyes as seriously as young men can. The photo, staged for the publication, symbolizes what must be as spirited a rivalry as two communities could ever muster.
The team series, which began in 1923, has been surprisingly one-sided, with St. Marys leading, 55-25-6, the Roughriders having won the last six meetings.
But through the years, both schools have had their moments in the sun, with great teams and great players battling each other in dramatic games with heart-pounding conclusions.
One of the early key games in the rivalry took place in 1937, the first year of the Western Buckeye League. The Riders won that one, 13-12, on their way to an eventual co-WBL championship with Van Wert. It was an unlikely St. Marys victory, according to a front-page article in The Evening Leader, with the Bulldogs running twice as many plays as the Roughriders. The anonymous sportswriter stated that “St. Marys was outplayed during the entire contest.”
The big play that night was a 99-yard interception return by Mike Axe as the first half came to an end.
Mike Axe would go on to the U.S. Army, a highly decorated soldier who served on the beaches of Normandy and other major battles. In the years that followed, he would remain a fiercely loyal Roughrider fan, even regularly attending the team practices.
Mike died in the stands in the 2004 Bath game. The next week, in the home game against Celina, the crowd honored him with a moment of silence.
In the 1951 game, the Bulldogs, on their way to their first outright WBL title, overcame a 17-0 halftime deficit to beat the Riders, 20-17. A St. Marys highlight that night was a 40-yard field goal by Cruiser Holtzhauer as time expired in the first half. It was the longest field goal in Roughrider history, later matched by Nick Pfeffenberger in the 2003 game. To this day Cruiser, sort of an avuncular figure to Nick, still likes to playfully remind his young friend of that field goal over a half century ago. “Remember now,” says Cruiser, “your kick was from the front of the line, and mine was from the back.”
In 1965, Celina’s Jim Otis stole the show against a good St. Marys team. The powerful fullback, later an all-American at Ohio State and an all-pro with the St. Louis Cardinals, scored three touchdowns as he rambled for 164 yards in 35 carries. One of the few positive plays for the Roughriders that night was an unusual touchdown by Larry Martin, who stole the ball from a Celina punt returner and took it 32 yards to the endzone.
In the 1982 game, St. Marys won their only game in three tries against Celina quarterback Jeff Wiley. Halfback Kurt Meier ran for 129 yards, and Tom Walter provided the game-winning 30-yard field goal in the 10-7 affair.
The following year, in 1983, the Bulldogs returned the favor in what many fans consider one of the most memorable games of the series. Wiley, later a star at Holy Cross, completed 20 of 31 passes for 187 yards and engineered a pulse-pounding late-game touchdown drive in a 9-7 Celina win. A key score for the Bulldogs was a 35-yard field goal by Dave Knous. It was the largest crowd in Celina football history.
The Bulldogs went all the way to the Division II State Championship game that year, losing to Tom Tupa’s Brecksville team, 12-6, at the Horseshoe.
Wiley’s last game against the Roughriders, in 1984, was a 22-18 Celina victory at St. Marys. The Riders staged a relentless drive for an apparent winning touchdown, but were stifled by a fumble on a handoff on the 11-yard line with 1:32 left. Celina coach Jerry Harris, talking to the press after the game, praised his team for “not cracking and keeping themselves in a position to win.” But Harris, always gracious in either victory or defeat, also stated: “I’m sincere when I say this, but I really didn’t want to see St. Marys lose that way. Harris was close friends with the Roughrider staff, especially head coach Skip Baughman, and defensive coordinator Bob Priddy.
Another of Harris’s outstanding quarterbacks, Mike Bath, also beat St. Marys on two occasions, in 1994 and 1995, both games by big margins. Bath went on to a stellar collegiate career at Miami of Ohio.
The 1996 battle went to a double overtime with halfback Jason Clark scoring on a twenty-yard run to give St. Marys the 33-27 win. Fullback Mike Hirschfeld ran for 173 yards in that game, and Clark added 104.
In 1999, the Riders’ Nathan Homan ran for 108 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback John Meinerding threw only five passes, but converted four of them for a total of 100 yards and a touchdown. Meinerding also passed for both of the crucial two-point conversions in the 16-14 St. Marys victory.
The 2003 game (see previous posting for details) was the Pfeffenberger-field-goal game.
Last season saw the Roughriders win, 35-14, on their way to the playoffs and an eventual State runner-up trophy.
Next week: Defiance
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