SKIP BAUGHMAN STADIUM -- The battle of Lake St. Marys once again went to the East Coasters. St. Marys made it eight in a row over rival Celina with a 21-8 "Senior Night" victory Friday at Skip Baughman Stadium.
With most of the accolades going to the defenses from both teams, it was the Roughriders taking advantage of three turnovers and controlling the game throughout. Celina averted a shutout with a scoring drive late in the fourth quarter.
“We couldn’t get much of anything going,” Celina Coach Jerry Harris said. “We just can’t move any people out of the box, but give a lot of credit St. Marys. Their defense was a problem for us all night.”
With just three first downs and 52 total yards in the first half, the Riders weren’t exactly moving people out of the box either, but they were able to cash in on some key Celina mistakes.
"It's a win," St. Marys head coach Doug Frye said. "I'll take it."
Celina’s sophomore quarterback Derek Gagel fumbled when he was hit behind the line on Celina’s third play from scrimmage. Troy Matthews recovered for the Riders at the Celina 11 yard line.
St. Marys quarterback Derek Dunlap completed a fourth down pass inside the one to keep the drive alive and then scored on a sneak one play later. Doug Burke added the first of his three PAT kicks for a 7-0 St. Marys lead with 8:31 left in the first quarter.
Celina’s next drive ended in an interception, as Mitch Dunlap snagged a tipped pass and returned it to the St. Marys 22. The Riders were unable to capitalize on the miscue, punting the ball back to the Dogs.
Celina could do no better, and on the second play of the second quarter, Zach Sams lined up for his first punt of the game. The snap sailed well over his head and rolled all the way back inside the Celina five yard line. However, the Riders were not rushing anyone at the punter, giving Sams all day to pick the ball up, and when he did, he broke a couple of tackles.
Tacking on a 10 yard penalty, the Riders did get the ball on the change of possession, but instead of inside the Celina five, they took over on the Celina 34. It was self destruction from there with back-to-back penalties and a complete pass for a three-yard loss.
On fourth-and-28, back in St. Marys territory, Victor Long punted it away.
Celina then chewed up most of the second quarter clock with an 18-play drive that resulted in zero points. The second play of the drive featured a fumble by John Bonvillian that bounded into the open in front of three St. Marys players. Celina’s defense trotted out onto the field, but were turned back as a Celina player somehow came up with the loose ball.
“We made enough mistakes in the first half that we were just tickled to get off the field trailing only 7-0,” Harris said. “It should have been a whole lot worse than that.”
The Bulldogs nearly tied the score when Gagel connected on a 35-yard pass to Stu Amstutz on a third-and-15. Four plays later, on fourth-and-19, Gagel found Sams open for a 24-yard gain and a first down at the St. Marys six yard line.
But the Rider “D” stiffened from there. A fourth-down pass in the end zone fell incomplete, making the score 7-0 at half time.
Mitch Dunlap’s second interception of the game gave the Riders a short field and set up their second score in the third quarter. Dunlap stepped in front of a Gagel pass, and returned it to the Celina 32.
"We have stressed turnovers as a key this year," Frye said when asked about being +3 on the night.
A 15-yard run by Kenny Bruce got the Riders inside the 20. A fourth-and-1 sneak by Dunlap gave the Riders a new set of downs at the Celina eight yard line, and three plays later Scott Laman plowed in from the one for a 14-0 lead with 4:18 left in the third quarter.
The Bulldogs appeared to be wearing down in the fourth quarter as the Riders put together a couple of nice drives, led by Bruce who got most of the calls since Junior Koby Frye was hampered by a few nagging injuries.
"Koby's hurting," dad Doug Frye commented. "He took a hit in the 2nd half in last week's game and missed some practice time."
Bruce ran 31 yards to paydirt -- the longest gain of the night -- for a 21-0 lead with 3:12 left in the game.
Celina was able to muster a late scoring drive. Gagel took advantage of soft corners to drive his team down the field, then tossed a perfect pass to Sams in the corner of the end zone from 28 yards out with 1:20 left to play. Sams also added the two-point conversion on an end-around.
But the Celina comeback hopes dimmed when St. Marys recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock.
“We’re getting better,” Harris said. “I was happy we were able to respond at the end of the game. At this point I think our defense is ahead of our offense.”
"Celina's kids gave a great effort the whole game," Frye said. "But then, they always play hard against us."
For most of three quarters Celina commited eight and nine players to the line of scrimmage to stop St. Marys’ running game and were successful. The Riders began to find some seams in the fourth quarter and finsihed with 198 yards rushing, led by Bruce with with 92 yards on 17 carries. Laman tallied 65 yards on 15 carries and Frye totaled 37 yards on 10 carries.
St. Marys struggled in the passing department, as Dunlap completed two of seven passes for a net of one yard.
"We're not a very good football team right now," Frye said, "but we're getting wins because we're opportunistic."
Gagel had a big night for the Bulldogs as he completed 10 of 24 passes for 150 yards. Bonvillian led the Celina rushing attack with 24 yards on seven carries.
The Riders, now 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the Western Buckeye League, hit the road for the first time next week with a trip up St. Rt. 66 to Defiance, 42-21 losers at Wapak tonight. Celina will be looking for its first win at home against Van Wert.
