OTTAWA -- The St. Marys Roughriders surprised some doubters tonight, beating the O-G Titans on their own field in a 21-13 slug-out that was closer than the final score.
On a rain-soaked Titan Stadium field, the Riders of first-year head coach Mark Hollars proved they are for real by downing their hosts with solid defense, big plays at crucial times and ball control.
Both teams started out slow. The gametime temperature felt colder than 52 degrees thanks to a soaking rain for most of the game. After O-G went three-and-out on their first possession, the teams played field position in trading punts. The Riders' punter Devon Fitzgerald kicked the ball out of bounds at the O-G two yard line, and following the Titans' stalled drive, Mike Bendele's punt rolled dead at the St. Marys five yard line. The next two possessions beginning the second quarter ended nearly the same.
But the Riders put together a solid drive beginning at their own nine yard line with big runs from Kyle Puschel and Dan Roberts. A key pass from Derek Roop to Matt Watkins on 4th-and-4 moved the ball from the O-G 24 down to the eight yard line.
Two plays later Kyle Puschel took the ball into the end zone standing up for the first of his two touchdowns on the night. Dan Roberts' point after touchdown kick gave the Riders the first lead of the game at 7-0, with 3:32 left in the first half.
The Titans came back firing. Quarterback Nate Kahle came out in the shotgun, and when he didn't pass, he ran the ball, and the hosts moved downfield quickly. Completions to Zach Buckland and Ryan Kuhlman gave O-G first-and-goal at the St. Marys five yard line.
The drive moved backwards when Joel Perry broke throught the line to sack Kahle at the 12 yard line, but Kahle bounced back on the next play to throw to Matt Peck in the end zone at the 0:44 mark. Bendele's PAT kick tied the score at seven.
The third quarter resembled the first in that neither team broke the goal line, although both mounted drives that made it into the opponent's side of the field. Matt Watkins had the highlight play of the quarter with a diving 27-yard catch on a 3rd-and-7 play that extended the Riders first possession of the half. The quarter ended still tied at 7-7, setting up the second big fourth quarter in a row for the Riders.
Last week St. Marys started the fourth quarter down 10 points to Wapakoneta, and scored three touchdowns to take control of the game. This week it was a little harder but no less dramatic.
Ottawa started the quarter with a questionable four-and-out possession. With more than ten minutes left to play, the Titans' coach Ken Schriner opted to go for it on 4th-and-1 with the ball on their own 36 yard line. The Riders stuffed Kaufman's run up the middle for a one yard loss and the ball on the change of possession.
The Riders took advantage of the great field position, but they didn't make it look easy. A couple of Puschel sweeps set up a first down at the O-G 25, but a false start penalty, a short dive by Roberts and two incomplete passes brought up 4th-and-13 at the 27. Under pressure, Roop bought himself enough time to find an open Matt Watkins in the end zone for a touchdown with 8:17 on the clock. Roberts' PAT kick gave the Riders the lead again at 14-7.
Ottawa-Glandorf responded with a near-mirror image drive of their own. Big-gain runs by quarterback Kahle and Brandon Kuhlman gave the Titans a first down at the St. Marys 14. But a short rushing play, a Kahle tackle for loss by Fred Hardin and an incomplete pass brought up a 4th-and-11 situation for the Titans.
Kahle rolled out of the pocket and found Kuhlman out of the backfield with a short pass toward the sideline, and Kuhlman broke a couple of tackles to fight his way into the end zone to put the score at 14-13.
Last year, the Titans fell 21-20 to the Riders in St. Marys, when a two-point PAT conversion attempt failed with a little more than two minutes left in the game. So this year Schriner decided to play it safe and go for the tie with a little less than five minutes left in the game. But the wet field might have affected kicker Mike Bendele's aim, as the extra point attempt sailed wide right to maintain the Riders' lead.
The Riders could not generate a drive to hang on to the ball, and were forced to punt the ball away from their own 27 yard line with 3:19 left in the game. After a Devon Fitzgerald punt that was marked out of bounds at midfield, it looked like Ottawa-Glandorf would have time to go for one more score.
But Cody Martin soon took care of that. On the Titans' first play of the ensuing possession, Martin stepped in front of a Kahle pass for an interception and ran it out to the Rider 40 yard line.
St. Marys went to their go-to guy. Kyle Puschel carried the ball on the next five plays, moving the ball all the way down to the 2 yard line. After a quarterback sneak call was blown dead with a Rider false start penalty, Puschel got the call again and took it in for the score. He made it interesting by fumbling the ball into the end zone, and recovering it himself, but the result was the same. Roberts PAT made it 21-13 and the Riders finally had some breathing room with 1:17 left in the game.
The Titans could only generate one first down on their last-chance power drive. When a 4th-and-13 deep pass was knocked down, the Riders took the ball back with 0:37 seconds left, and ran the victory play (quarterback kneels) to end the game.
Ottawa-Glandorf's record falls to 5-2 overall and 4-2 in the WBL, while the Riders improve to 5-2 overall but 5-1 in the WBL. With Defiance's 20-0 loss to Shawnee tonight, St. Marys is all alone in second place in the WBL behind Kenton, who is 6-0 in league play after blanking Celina 38-zip tonight.
The Riders return to Skip Baughman Stadium next Friday for the Hall of Fame game against Van Wert.
Ridertown sends special thanks to Burton Andrews and family for this set of 77(!) incredible game photos.
Andrews Photography has provided Ridertown.com (and "Botkinland" before that) with thousands of Roughrider football game photos since 1997, all viewable through the Roughrider Football Archive links at the right.
Ridertown and Roughrider football fans everywhere are extremely fortunate to have such a dedicated source of professional photographs to document the phenomenon of Roughrider Football week after week, year after year.
