SKIP BAUGHMAN STADIUM -- The 2008 version of the MHS Roughrider football team dominated a struggling team from Urbana 28-7 in three quarters of preseason first-team scrimmage play.
The annual "Chicken Bowl" entertained the large home crowd with some big plays, some long drives, a defensive touchdown and solid play on both sides of the ball in the first half.
The Riders took the opening kickoff and ran a 10-play drive eighty yards for a touchdown. The first play from scrimmage was a 22-yard pass from junior quarterback Jacob Taylor (if the players wore their own jerseys) to sophomore tight end Matt Watkins. Junior running back Jermey Frey gained 25 yards on the next two handoffs and the Riders were rolling.
Seven plays later Taylor scored on a one-yard quarterback sneak and St. Marys led 7-0 with sophomore Dan Roberts' PAT.
St. Marys' next possession was hampered by a motion penalty and an incomplete pass leading to a three-and-out. The incomplete pass brought howls from Roughrider fans who thought they detected pass interference on the part of the Urbana defender.
The backfield judge learned quickly and took the first opportunity to throw the flag 30 yards across the field to penalize St. Marys for pass interference during Urbana's next series of downs. The Umpire realized the poor quality of that call and compensated by penalizing Urbana for having an ineligible receiver downfield, offsetting the interference call. In the confusion resulting from the officials' vaudeville act, Urbana ran a power sweep to the left side for 58 yards and a touchdown, for its only score of the game. The PAT kick tied the score, 7-7, with 2:36 left in the first quarter.
The Riders buckled down after that and ground out 80 yards in seven plays for another touchdown and a 13-7 lead. The big play in the drive was a 50 yard run by Jermey Frey, on the same play that the officials had called back on an illegal formation call the snap before.
Urbana moved the ball from the 20 out to their own 40 in six plays, thanks in large part to another pass interference call against the Roughriders. On a third-and-nine play, the Hillclimbers ran a slant pass that Jacob Taylor stepped in front of from his defensive back position and returned 45 yards for an interception touchdown. Daniel Roberts' PAT kick was good and the Rider increased their lead to 20-7.
The defence held Urbana to a 3-and-out for minus three yards, and after the punt St. Marys had the ball at the Urbana 47 yard line. On the first play of the possession Taylor hit junior Derek Freewalt in the flat and Freewalt broke a couple of tackles and rambled down to the eight yard line. Two plays later junior Aaron Homan went in standing up from five yards out for the final touchdown of the scrimmage. Frey swept to the right for a two-point PAT conversion to make the final score 28-7.
Nothing of much interest to anyone but the coaches took place in the third quarter. Urbana's 3rd-quarter highlight was a 13-play drive that gained 30 yards and resulted in a punt. St. Marys' 3rd-quarter highlight was a 10-play drive that resulted in a fumble lost at the Urbana six yard line. By the rules of the scrimmage it was called after the third quarter ended.
Urbana is an undersized team with young players in key positions, which are problems the Riders' opening-game opponent Piqua does not have. The cliches apply: if the Rider players can avoid mistakes and the Rider coaches can mix up the play calls just enough, next Friday they stand a chance to avenge last year's 37-20 loss in the weird 2-day game, called at halftime on Friday due to reports of lightning somewhere invisible to fans at Alexander Stadium in Piqua.
