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October 24, 2005 Roughrider Retrospective
Roughriders v. Bath Wildcats, 1992
Quarterback Tony Hirschfeld turns for the pitch while Ralph Angstmann (81), Tim Connerty (52) and Scott Axe (69) look to block. Photo courtesy Andrews Photography. Click for larger image. |
ROUGHRIDER RETROSPECTIVE - by Buz Howard
This is the 19th installment in a series of reflections on the history of St. Marys football.
Going into the third game of the 1992 season, St. Marys was riding a 30-game regular-season win streak. The Roughriders previous loss in the regular season had been to Bath High School, 16-6, three years before. Now the Riders were on the road to face Bath once again, and again the Wildcats posed a serious threat.
Coach Gary DeLuca’s squad, like St. Marys, had easily won their first two games, victories over Allen East and Wapak. They boasted a solid defense, good quarterback play from Steve Jesko, and a strong running game from Mitch Hooks.
The Roughriders, loaded with talent on both sides of the ball, had demolished Sidney, 48-7, and Elida, 43-21.
The game itself turned out to be a defensive struggle. In regulation, each team scored twice, trading touchdowns.
Bath scored the initial touchdown, with Jesko taking it across on a keeper from nine yards out. St. Marys retaliated in the second quarter, Tony Hirschfeld moving the team down the field with key passes to Mike Elston and Jake Sutton. Hirschfeld then wedged it in from the two. At halftime, the score stood, 7-7.
In the second half, Bath again scored first, this time with a 12-yard run from Matt Ebbeskotte. In the mid-fourth quarter, the Riders answered with their second TD, a nine-yard run by the WBL yardage leader, Shawn Lamb. The game—knotted at 14-14 when the final horn sounded—went into overtime.
Bath won the flip and elected to go on defense. The Roughrider possession was disastrous. Three penalties moved the Riders back to the 45-yard line, and they never recovered. Bath took advantage, and, in their own possession, negotiated the 20-yard overtime distance in five plays, Hooks scoring from the one , to deal St. Marys a 20-14 loss.
No coach ever says there is such a thing as a “good loss.” It’s an oxymoron—a contradiction of terms. And Skip Baughman, in a recent discussion of the 1992 defeat to Bath, avoided the phrase. “They played a good defensive game—Gary DeLuca’s teams were always formidable,” Skip said. “But we never seemed to have any fire in our eyes when we went out on the field that night. I don’t know why. And then we kept shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties. We didn’t deserve to win.”
“But you know what,” he continued, “we learned from it, and we got better. We just kept improving from that point on.”
St. Marys football fans know the rest of the story. After the Bath loss the Roughriders ran the table. In spite of injuries to Mike Elston and several other starters, they won their next seven regular season games by an average score of 37-12.
In the opening game of the playoffs, the Riders demolished Greenville, 61-14. In the regional finals, they cruised to another victory, 33-0, over Dayton Chaminade-Juliene.
The next opponent was Columbus Brookhaven in the state semi-finals at Dayton’s Welcome Stadium. Brookhaven, with fleet halfback Charles Henley, Ohio’s 1992 “Mr. Football,” was, in most circles, considered the favorite. But the St. Marys defense, getting tougher every game, held Henley, a future star at Kansas, to just 24 yards, and the Roughriders, victors by a score of 27-14, advanced to Massillon and the state finals.
The following week, in the Ohio Division II finals, the Riders faced Fostoria, the defending state champions. The Redmen boasted Damon Moore, a future star for the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Philadelphia Eagles. Nevertheless the Riders prevailed, 28-14, for their second state championship in three years.
All the hoopla followed--an impromptu parade when the team busses returned, the celebration at Memorial Stadium, victory banquets, and post-season honors for many of the players.
It was now easy to forget the loss to Bath in the third game of the season. Of course it could not be termed a “good loss.” However, looking back, it seemed to serve as a springboard for one of the Roughriders’ greatest seasons.
The team carries the 1992 Division II state championship trophy onto the field for the victory reception. Photo courtesy Andrews Photography. Click for larger image.
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