PIQUA -- Piqua quarterback Justin Hemm showed he could play without Brandon Saine, and the Indians gave the Riders more than they could handle in a game split into two days by lightning that hit twenty miles north.
When the Riders' offense worked in the first half, it worked very well, running time off the clock, chewing up yards and keeping the ball away from Piqua's defending-state-champion team.
When the Riders' offense didn't work, though, it was disaster.
St. Marys punted the ball away after one first down on the first drive of the year. The Indians moved the ball down to the 16 yard line where they found a brick wall, settling for a 34-yard field goal off the foot of Wes Reed.
The Riders responded with a classic 13-play 67-yard drive, capped off with Dylan Dietz' TD run on a counter on fourth and two. Kenny Bruce kicked the PAT to give the Roughriders a 7-3 lead.
The defense held the Indians to a 3-and-out, and the Riders picked up where they left off on the previous drive. After two first downs, Koby Frye lost the handle on the ball and Piqua's Willie Monbeck found it, and raced 52 yards straight up the field for a touchdown on the turnover.
The PAT was blocked and the Riders went back to work. After a first down, Koby Frye broke loose for a 23-yard sweep, but the ball broke loose again, too, and Tyrone Knox recovered for Piqua.
At that point, Piqua quarterback Justin Hemm took over, reeling off three long runs and ending the half with 95 yards rushing. One of those runs was a 43-yard ramble for a touchdown. The PAT put the Indians up 16-7.
Koby Frye unofficially had 19 first-half rushes for 116 yards, and the Riders outgained the Indians 179 yards to 162 in first half total offense. But (other than the score) the stat that counted was: two fumbles lost.
Halftime score: Piqua 16, St. Marys 7.
Despite never seeing a drop of rain or witnessing more than the glow of distant lightning on the northern horizon (according to witnesses in the stands - not the official word), the game was called before the second half started, and announced to resume at 10 am Saturday, August 25. Some time later that restart time was changed to noon, and the game resumed with the Riders kicking off the third quarter, 15 hours after it was delayed.
The Indians took the second half kickoff and never looked back. A good return by Musselman set up a scoring drive capped by Hemm's QB sneak for a TD at the 8:45 mark.
Down 22-7, the Riders risked a 4th-and-4 play at midfield but came up just short to turn the ball over on downs. But the defense stepped up, with the big play being David Long's 3rd down tackle of Hemm for a 16-yard loss, forcing Piqua to punt.
With the playbook opened a little, St. Marys used a couple of nice completions to Garrett Barhorst and Frye, mixed with runs from Frye and Dietz, to set up a touchdown pass from Dunlap to Tyler Norton on a fade to the left corner of the end zone. The PAT kick by Kenny Bruce made the score Piqua 23, St. Marys 14.
But Piqua answered the Riders' 12-play, 64-yard scoring drive with a 7-play, 76-yard scoring drive of their own. Hemm's 12-yard pass to Logan Raisor put the score out of reach at 30-14 with a little over nine minutes to play in the game.
The Rider playbook was opened all the way now. The Polecat, lonesome since the Benedictine championship game, didn't quite stink the place up, but didn't wildly succeed, either. The Riders had some start and motion problems running the wide-open field, and the penalties hurt at inopportune times.
Turnovers didn't help, either. Musselman intercepted a Dunlap pass, and after a Piqua holding call the Indians had the ball at their own 30. Justin Hemm continued to live up to his role and heir to Piqua's 2006 Ohio Mr. Football Brandon Saine. Hemm broke a couple of tackles and took off for 70 yards and a coffin nail touchdown. The PAT kick made the score 37-14 with 6:17 left in the game.
The open offense is nothing if not fun to watch, and the Riders mounted an entertaining run to the end of the game. A QB scramble, a complete pass to Barhorst, a hook-and-ladder play Dunlap to Norton to Frye and a 43-yard touchdown pass to an open Kenny Bruce at the 2 yard line made the score 37-20. The 2-point conversion attempt failed.
Then, Frye recovered a well-executed onside kick, and the Riders stayed on offense. The drive featured Koby Frye in the shotgun on most plays. A pass from Frye to the regular QB Dunlap netted 8 yards, one from Dunlap to Frye gained 9 yards, and a center-eligible pass from Frye to snapper Sam Rammel was good for 12 yards to the 21 yard line.
But the drive bogged down there, as incompletions and what many Rider fans considered a questionable pass interference no-call gave the ball back to Piqua on downs. The Indians ran out the clock to secure the win.
Justin Hemm finished with 200 yards rushing on 21 carries, and Piqua unofficially netted over 350 total yards on 47 plays.
The Riders Koby Frye rushed for 156 yards on 25 carries and Derek Dunlap passed for 107 yards and two touchdowns. St. Marys outgained Piqua with 441 yards total offense on a staggering 67 offensive plays.
Turnovers were the difference in the game. St. Marys suffered two lost fumbles (one that resulted immediately in a Piqua touchdown) and one interception. The Indians did not officially turn the ball over, though the Riders recovered one onside kick.
St. Marys comes home to play Bath next week at the Skip. Piqua travels to Pickerington to play the team they defeated in the Div II state championship game last year.
The Western Buckeye League took it on the chin this weekend, losing all ten of its varsity football openers. Defiance and Bath lost overtime games, St. Marys and Elida lost to 2006 state champions and six league games were against playoff teams from a year ago. But the bottom line is: the WBL bit the big banana, garnering zero computer points for the the league towards any possible playoff berths ten weeks hence.