SKIP BAUGHMAN STADIUM -- St. Marys scored 18 unanswered points in the second half to make it 10-in-a-row in the “Battle of Lake St. Marys.”
The Roughriders scored on a fake field goal with 1:08 left in the game and then recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff to seal a 25-20 victory over the arch-rival Celina Bulldogs. The series has been very exciting in recent years, but the loss left Celina searching for its first victory since 1998.
The win improved the Riders to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the Western Buckeye League, while the Bulldogs are winless at 0-3 for the season.
Trailing 20-7 at intermission, the Riders dominated the second half, limiting the Dogs to just 43 yards of total offense over the final two quarters.
St. Marys scored on an old-fashioned 14-play 66-yard scoring drive in the second quarter, with all 14 plays on the ground. Jeremy Frey covered the final two yards on a dive play to cut the Celina lead in half.
The Riders’ Dan Roberts booted the extra point, but was run into by a Celina player, resulting in a penalty. St. Marys coach Doug Frye ignored the age-old football axiom of “never take points off the scoreboard” and accepted the penalty, moving the ball a yard-and-a-half closer. From there Frey was stopped short, so instead of closing to 20-14, the Riders trailed 20-13.
It was a decision that almost came back to haunt Frye and the Riders.
The Riders forced Celina to punt on its next possession and then struck quickly. Quarterback Jake Taylor connected with Frey for a 25 yard pass on the last play of the third quarter, and then hooked up with Aaron Homan on a 24-yard pass on the first play of the fourth quarter. On the very next play, it was Homan scoring on a 13-yard sweep to make the score 20-19 with 11:35 left in the game. Roberts missed the extra point, as the 'Dogs maintained an ominous one-point lead.
Celina tried to milk some clock on its next possession, but were unable to convert the drive into points when Cory Dammeyer intercepted a Derek Gagle pass at the seven-yard line with 7:52 left in the game.
From there the Riders went back to work. A 37-yard run by Frey highlighted another grind-it-out drive that milked nearly seven minutes off the clock. The drive appeared to stall inside the Celina five yard line, as the Riders lined up for a short field goal with 1:08 left in the game.
But holder Jake Taylor picked up the ball, rolled to his right and tossed a strike to Paul Lauth in the end zone for a 25-20 lead. The Riders tried for the two-point conversion, but Taylor’s pass was incomplete.
Any hopes for a Celina comeback were squashed when Caleb Wilson fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Keith Perry recovered for St. Marys. Two knees later the St. Marys was 3-0.
The Riders got the scoring started by capitalizing on a Celina fumble in the first quarter. Bulldog QB Derek Gagle was sacked and coughed the ball up into the hands of Dan Roberts at the Celina 26.
Six plays later quarterback Jake Taylor connected with Paul Lauth from 13 yards out. Roberts divided the uprights on the PAT kick for a 7-0 St. Marys lead with 4:42 left in the first quarter.
The Dogs were quick to shake off the adversity and answered the St. Marys score with a 65-yard, 9-play scoring drive. Gagle and wideout Blake Moran teamed up to do most of the damage through the air as Moran caught three passes for 47 yards on the drive. But it was Jamarcus Davis finding the end zone as he got a pass in the flat, broke two tackles and scored on an 11-yard pass. Aaron Snyder toed the PAT to tie the game at 7 with 58 seconds left in the first quarter.
Celina took advantage of two St. Marys fumbles in the second quarter to take 1 20-7 halftime lead.
Aaron Homan coughed up the ball in Celina territory as Ryan Paulus recovered for the Dogs. Gagle again went to work through the air shredding the Blue and Gold Secondary with completions of 18, 14 and 11 yards. But he saved the best for last with a nifty 22-yard screen pass to Davis for the touchdown. Snyder added the extra point for a 14-7 Celina lead with 1:49 left in the half.
St. Marys again was feeling charitable to its neighbors to the west as Cory Dammeyer fumbled the ensuing kickoff with Celina recovering at the St. Marys 39.
From there it took the Dogs just three plays to find paydirt again. This time it was Alex Dues running through numerous missed tackles on the ground, going 29 yards for the score. The extra point kick was blocked, giving Celina a 20-7 lead with one minute left in the first half.
Taylor completed a 22-yard pass to Homan and a 28-yard pass to Jeremy Frey, as the Riders scrambled toward the Celina goal line in the final seconds of the half. However, the scoring bid failed as three consecutive pass attempts to Lauth from 16 yards out were batted away.
The Riders were led on the ground by Frey with 126 yards on 23 carries, Homan added 63 yards on 15 carries. Taylor was eight of 16 through the air for 104 yards and two touchdowns -- both to Lauth. Overall the Riders had 361 yards of total offense.
Gagle had a big game for the Dogs as he connected on 13 of 27 passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns. Celina finished with 244 yards of total offense.
St. Marys travel to Defiance next Friday for an early season showdown against the undefeated Bulldogs. Defiance is coming off a 35-9 thrashing of Wapakoneta Friday on the Redskins’ home turf.
