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September 12, 2005 Roughrider Retrospective
Roughriders v. Wapakoneta Redskins, 1975
Chip Cisco (20), Mark Stuck (21) and Jeff Boley (27) in wet pursuit. Click for larger image. |
ROUGHRIDER RETROSPECTIVE - by Buz Howard
This is the seventh installment of a series on St. Marys football history. On each Monday during the season Ridertown will recall a memorable game from the series with the upcoming opponent.
On each Wednesday there will be a follow-up article overviewing the entire series.
It wasn’t just a game-long shower — it was a deluge. It was a torrent of water that blew across the field in horizontal sheets, with not the slightest let-up during the entire game. Fans found it nearly impossible to see what exactly was going on out there. Even people in the press box wore ponchos to try to avoid being soaked by the rain shooting through the windows. Today, St. Marys fans still refer to it as the “Monsoon Game.”
There had been talk about postponing the game, but both sides considered that a sissified solution. Football is meant to be played in the rain — that’s the way it’s always been. Anyway, there was no lightning.
Evening Leader sportswriter Brad Schmaltz wrote that “the game was played in a bathtub — with the water running. The referees should have been lifeguards.” Schmaltz’s post-game column was entitled: “Where’s the Rubber Duck?”
One player in the game, Jeff Vossler, recalls: “You could press the football down in the mud and almost make it disappear.”
And the mammoth rainstorm and resulting quagmire had to occur on the night of the biggest game of that WBL season.
Going into the seventh week of the 1975 season, St. Marys and Wapak shared the conference lead with matching 5-0 records. This game would, quite probably, determine the championship.
The ability to avoid mistakes would be critical on a night when passing was nearly impossible and kicking the ball was an extremely risky proposition.
Though Wapak seemed to have a superior ground attack in the first half, neither team scored. St. Marys than managed a 2-0 lead early in the third quarter when Wapak mishandled a punt snap in their own end-zone for a safety. The slim lead loomed larger and larger as the clock moved on.
Early in the fourth quarter the Riders found themselves in a position to ice the game. The Wapak punter, after another snapped ball slipped through his fingers, managed to kick the ball just to his own five yard-line. But an illegal-procedure step-off moved the Roughriders back, and they had to settle for a field-goal try. The snap from center was bobbled (a recurring problem that night), and Jouni Kaartalouma, the exchange student from Finland, never had a chance to kick.
The Redskins had one more chance. Starting on their own twenty yard-line, they needed a long error-free drive. Fullback Louie Erb and halfback Jon Dodds, behind a Wapak’s strong offensive line, met the challenge, moving the ball steadily down the field in fifteen plays. Dodds capped off the 80-yard march with a touchdown from the two.
Wapak coach John Nemec, in his post-game comments, said that he never considered a field-goal attempt. “In those conditions,” he said, “too many bad things could happen.”
The game ended with zero passing yards for both teams. The kicking game, all night long, was a comedy of errors. In the end, Wapak had beaten St. Marys at its own game — rushing. Roughrider coach Skip Baughman said of the final drive: “It would have been a pleasure to see if it wasn’t against us. They really rose to the challenge.” Assistant coach Roger Duncan, when asked his recollections of the game, agrees with Baughman. “They deserved to win,” Duncan says, “with the way that field was churned up in the fourth quarter, and they way they managed to hang on to the football in that last drive.”
Wapak would go on to run the table and take the school’s third WBL championship. The Monsoon Game that season was the only league loss for St. Marys.
See Ridertown on Wednesday, Sept. 14, for an overview of the St. Marys-Wapak series.
Next week: Ottawa-Glandorf.
Below, L-R: Skip confers with Greg Jacobs (72); Rick Lauth (35) tries the outside; Jouni Kaartoluona (43) attempts a field goal.
Above, L-R: Rob Menker (89) plugs the middle; Jeff Boley (27), Jay Smith (87) and Rob Menker (89) defend the run. Click for larger image.
Photos courtesy Andrews Photography.
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