KENTON -- The Riders came to Robinson Field in Kenton Friday, hoping to avenge last week's first home-field loss to Shawnee in 41 years with the first St. Marys victory at Kenton in ten years. They did just that in a mirror-image game that showed that when run meets pass, run wins. Final score: St. Marys 28, Kenton 14.
It was the best of offenses, it was the worst of offenses. St. Marys did not throw a pass the entire game, gaining 345 yards on 64 rushing plays. Kenton ran the ball only twice for 6 yards, throwing 42 passes (completing 24) for 270 yards for 276 yards total offense.
Koby Frye continued his record-setting pace, adding 231 yards rushing to his all-time Roughrider record and becoming the first St. Marys ball carrier ever to pass the 4000-yard career rushing mark. Frye's unofficial total is now 4,174 yards.
The Roughriders took the opening kickoff and showed their game plan immediately: Throat.
The Wildcats put eight or nine men in the box on defense to stop the run up the middle, so the Riders ran outside and the result was three long scoring drives the first three times they touched the ball. What the Riders did not do is turn the ball over. The only St. Marys first half possession that did not result in a score was the last one, when time expired in the half.
Kenton responded with almost the exact opposite game plan. Quarterback Trevor Beasley lined up in the shotgun and passed on almost every play. The Roughriders mixed a few 2-man stunts in with a steady four-man rush, and the defensive backfield did a good job of keeping the Kenton receivers in front of them.
Taking the ball at their own 20, the Riders' 80-yard opening drive featured a big 48-yard sweep by Koby Frye and a five-yard touchdown dive by Kenny Bruce. Bruce kicked the PAT to give the Riders a 7-0 lead with just under seven minutes left in the quarter.
Kenton answered with a pass-laden scoring drive. Beasley was 7 for 11 with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Kleinfelter. Jordan Martin kicked the PAT to tie the score at the 3:44 mark.
Kenton coach Mike Mauk then called a surprise onside kick that almost worked. The Riders managed to recover the kick on the SM 38.
From there, St. Marys moved the ball methodically until the quarter ended on a pending fourth-and-seven call on the Kenton 30 yard line. The Riders went for it and Frye swept to the right side for an 11-yard gain for a big first down. Kenny Bruce picked up 14 yards on the next play and Frye another 10 yards on the play after that to put the ball at the Kenton 4 yard line.
Rider quarterback Derek Dunlap saved the drive when he jumped on a fumbled hand-off at the six yard line on first and goal. Koby Frye ran 2 sweeps and scored on the second one, a three-yard run. Bruce kicked the PAT to put the Riders up, 14-7.
The Riders defense stepped it up a notch and forced Kenton to punt. Mark Fackler's punt was fielded by Derek Freewalt, who gave the Riders great field position with a return to the Kenton 47 yard line.
On the fourth play of the drive, Kenny Bruce broke loose on a sweep for a 25-yard gain to the Kenton 8 yard line. Two plays later, Sam Rammel took it the final two yards into the end zone. Bruce's PAT made the score St. Marys 21, Kenton 7.
It looked like the Wildcats would bounce right back. Eight consecutive passes by Beasley out of the shotgun led the Wildcats down to the St. Marys one yard line. Then, Mauk decided to put Dailyn Campbell in at quarterback for a running play. Go figure. Campbell dove over the line towards the end zone, fumbled the ball, and St. Marys' Derek Dunlap recovered in the paint for a touchback. The Riders took the ball on the 20 and ran out the clock to end the half.
St. Marys kicked off to the Wildcats in the second half. Pressure on the quarterback Beasley forced Kenton into its first three-and-out of the game.
Five consecutive 3-to-6-yard runs sucked the Kenton defense further into the box. When Frye broke out of the box on the sixth play of the drive, he found an open field and hoisted the ball 33 yards down to the eight yard line. Sam Rammel got the call on the next play, and took it in standing up from eight yards out. Bruce added the PAT and St. Marys led 28-7 with 8:03 remaining in the third quarter.
Kenton seemed to figure out the St. Marys offense by this time, and the Riders failed to move the ball convincingly pretty much for the rest of the game. But the more luck the Wildcats had with the St. Marys offense, the less luck they had with their own - except for one brilliant play.
The Wildcats' first three possessions of the second half ended in punts, and the fourth ended with an acrobatic interception by the Riders' Brad Frazier.
But the Riders could not sustain a drive, either, and Tyler Norton's punt after Frazier's pick rolled out of bounds at the Kenton 20.
From there, Trevor Beasley hit Chase Barnes in stride on a fly pattern with a beautifully executed bomb, and Barnes outran everybody to paydirt. A one-play, eighty-yard drive. Martin tacked on the PAT to finish the scoring at St. Marys 28, Kenton 14.
The Rider offense returned to form to ice the game with their final possession, a classic 13-play drive that ate up the final 7:35 and ended with Derek Dunlap taking a knee in the victory play on the Kenton 4 yard line. A tale of two offenses, indeed.
Kenton's fans may disagree, but all the officials' calls did not go St. Marys' way.
On a fourth-and-one play midway through the third quarter, the Riders punted from their own 37 yard line. The officials flagged Kenton for an unsportsmanlike conduct infraction; hitting the center (long-snappers by rule are protected from contact on punt plays). The officials allowed the play to go forward, and Chase Barnes returned the punt to the Kenton 30 yard line. But the penalty called is a dead-ball penalty, and St. Marys coach Doug Frye seemed to be arguing that the fifteen-yard infraction should give St. Marys a first down at the Kenton 48 yard line. The Rider offense remained on the field.
While the debate went on, a Kenton player evidently said something to an official, and a second unsportsmanlike penalty was called. The umps moved the ball from the Kenton 30 to the 15 on the first 15-yard call, and then moved it half the distance to the goal on the second, placing it near the eight yard line, Kenton ball. The Riders had to hustle their defense onto the field before the next snap.
The Riders improve to 6-3 on the year with the win and 6-2 in the WBL. Kenton falls to the same record, good for a third-place tie in the league below Ottawa-Glandorf and Shawnee, both at 7-1 after Friday wins over Celina and Van Wert, respectively.
The showdown for the league title is set up for next Friday's final between O-G and Shawnee at Ottawa. Kenton travels to Van Wert next week while St. Marys hosts winless Elida at Skip Baughman Stadium.