KENTON -- Three red zone turnovers and the inability to keep Kenton's offense off the field doomed the Roughriders Friday at Robinson Field.
The Wildcats rallied with 14 fourth-quarter points for a 27-20 victory that all but eliminated the Riders from repeating as WBL champs for a third straight year. St. Marys falls to 5-2 in the league and 6-2 overall. Kenton improved to 6-1 in the WBL and 6-2 overall. Both teams trail Ottawa-Glandorf, which improved to 8-0 with a 40-20 victory at Celina.
Despite the turnovers, the Riders still had a chance to take control of the game in the second half, but Kenton's defense made some impressive halftime adjustments, and came up with three straight "three-and-outs" at a crucial time in the game.
Kenton's sensational sophomore quarterback, Dylan Campbell, made the most of his opportunities to get back on the field. Campbell completed 21 of 46 passes for 363 yards, and rushed for another 115 yards as the Cats rolled up over 500 yards of offense.
The Riders moved the ball consistently in the first half, but had trouble sustaining drives in the second half. St. Marys lost two fumbles inside the Kenton 10 yard line and was intercepted in the Kenton endzone.
Campbell's only miscue of the night came on the first play of scrimmage on the second half when he was intercepted by Cody Smith at the Kenton 18 yard line. Three plays later Koby Frye scored on a 17-yard run with 10:32 left in second quarter. Doug Burke's gave St. Marys a 14-7 lead with 10:32 left in the third quarter.
Kenton came right back, as Campbell converted a key third down conversion with an 18-yard pass on third-and-17. He did the rest of the work on the ground with a quarterback draw for 30 yards, followed two plays later with a run for 17 yards.
Campbell came out of the game for a breather, and was replaced by Jessie Howard, who promptly ran the quarterback draw for 17 yards and a touchdown. The Cats rolled the dice for a two-point conversion, but Campbell could find anyone open tackled short of the goal.
The two teams then traded possessions as the Riders went three-and-out and Kenton turned the ball over on downs.
Following a five-yard completion to Scott Laman -- the only completed pass of the night for St. Marys -- Brett Baker rolled out, broke two tackles and raced 62 yards for a touchdown. Burke's kick was no good, giving St. Marys a 20-13 edge with 2:40 left in the third quarter.
The Rider defense came up with a big stop, as Kenton was forced to punt after three plays. But with a seven-point lead and the game heading into the fourth quarter, the Riders run Bo Frye up the middle three straight times for a net of four yards, forcing a Victor Long punt on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Campbell wasted no time as he had great success with the screen pass, with three completions for first downs in five plays. He then hooked up with Josh Klinger for a 31-yard completion to the St. Marys seven yard line. From there Campbell called his own number for the QB draw -- a play the Riders had trouble defending all night -- and this time was no different. Campbell scored from seven yards out with 10 minutes left in the game.
The Cats shunned the tie and went for two, but were stopped short as the Riders held on to a 20-19 lead.
Again the Rider offense was summoned to the field, and again the Kenton defense shut them down with five yards on three running plays, forcing another punt.
After a 28-yard punt, Campbell came up with another big third-and-10 completion, and the Cats were off and running again. Three plays later Campbell threw a strike to Martin Douglas from 31 yards out for a touchdown. This time Campbell ran for the two-point conversion and was successful for a 27-20 Kenton lead with 6:32 left to play.
The Riders' next offensive possession resulted in three running plays, four yards and a punt. The third straight three-and-out and the fourth of the second half.
But all was not lost, as the "D" stiffened. Three straight incompletions ran just 26 seconds off the clock, and Eddie Minnich's 10-yard punt return had the Riders back in business at their own 43.
A 29- yard gain by Scott Laman seemed to give the Rider offense much needed life. Another first down moved the ball inside the Kenton 15, on the next play Laman fumbled and Kenton recovered with just 2:49 left to play.
From there Kenton milked the clock and got off a key punt with just 34 seconds left to play. The Riders were unable to work any magic as the clock expired.
Both teams suffered red zone turnovers in the first half.
The Riders first possession resulted in three plays and nine-and-a-half yards, forcing a punt from their own 48 yard line that rolled dead the the Kenton 13.
The Wildcats went right to work. After converting a third-and-10 with an 11-yard reverse play, the Cats picked up three first downs in four plays. Most of the damage came through the air, including a 37-yard pass from Campbell to Josh Klinger.
A 20-yard screen pass to Corey Manns moved the ball to the St. Marys two yard line where Campbell ran in untouched for a 6-0 lead with 8:03 left in the first quarter. John Kalb split the uprights on the PAT kick.
Undaunted, the Roughriders responded in impressive fashion. Following a short kickoff, St. Marys went 58 yards in 11 plays to get on the scoreboard. Bo and Koby Frye did most of the damage with Bo going over the goal line from three yards out. Doug Burke's kick tied the score with 2:37 left in the first quarter.
After forcing a Kenton punt, the Riders put together an impressive drive, going nearly 80 yards before Bo Frye lost a fumble on the Kenton two yard line.
The Wildcats were unable to move the ball and punted from their own endzone, as the Riders started their next drive just 38 yards to paydirt. Again St. Marys moved the ball inside the Kenton five, but a procedure penalty on fourth and inches backed the Riders up. Koby Frye then threw an interception in the endzone with just over three minutes left in the half.
Kenton made a valiant effort to break the tie, moving the ball inside the St. Marys five yard line in the waning seconds of the half a bad snap caused a fumble that was recovered by Tim Rammel.
In 43 passing attempts Campbell threw just one interception and was sacked just once, which were key stats in the game.
The Riders rolled up 324 yards on the ground and were led by Bo Frye with 11 yards on 25 carries. But Bo averaged just two yards a tote on his last 11 carries, as Kenton had his number in the second half.
St. Marys returns home for its last two games of the season, beginning next Friday against Elida.
