KENTON -- Three third quarter touchdowns broke open a close game and put some icing on the cake for the Western Buckeye League champion Kenton Wildcats who knocked off St. Marys 24-8 Friday at Robinson field.
Kenton finishes the season with a perfect 9-0 mark in the WBL and 9-1 overall, and will likely host a division IV playoff game next week.
Despite finishing the season with three straight losses, St. Marys had a bit of a moral victory, holding the potent Kenton offense to its lowest scoring total of the season at 24 points.
The Riders finish the season at 5-4 in the WBL and 5-5 overall.
Kenton scored very easily on its first possession of the game, but after that the Riders played a pretty good bend-but-don’t-break first half defense.
Kenton’s sophomore quarterback Maty Mauk completed his first four passes, all for first downs, as the Wildcats marched down the field. Mauk capped the five-play, 78-yard scoring drive with an eight-yard quarterback draw for a touchdown.
The two-point conversion pass was intercepted, giving Kenton a 6-0 lead with 7:46 left in the first quarter.
The Rider offense was patented three-yards-and-a-cloud of dust in the first half. St. Marys was two of four on fourth down conversions, turning the ball over on downs twice, and punting the ball three times.
Kenton never punted in the first half, but Mauk was intercepted twice in the St. Marys endzone -- both times by Alan Broyles. Mauk passed for 205 yards, and rushed for 40 in the first half, but had just six points to show for it.
But the second half was a different story. Kenton scored the first three times it touched the ball in the second half pretty much put the game on ice.
The Cats went 96 yards on their opening drive, as Mauk hooked up with Max Morrison for a 26-yard gain to the Rider three. Mauk scrambled in from there with 8:16 left in the third quarter. The two-point conversion failed.
St. Marys quarterback Derek Roop fumbled on the Riders first snap of the second half and Kenton recovered. Two plays later Mauk and Morrison hooked up again, this time from 33 yards out for a 18-0 lead.
After a botched onside kick, St. Marys got the ball in Kenton territory to start its next possession, but ended up turning it over on downs.
In just five plays Kenton went 62 yards with Mauk tossing a 16-yard scoring strike to Andrew Tillman with 2:51 left in the third. The Cat’s made it 0-for-four on two point conversions when the pass failed.
The Riders responded with one of its best drives in the second half of the season. In fact the fourth quarter touchdown was the only score for the first string offense in the last three games of the season. St. Marys marched 62 yards in 15 plays with Kyle Puschel scoring from two yards outs. Roop tossed the two-point conversion to Devon Fitzgerald with 8:08 left in the game.
Kenton finished with 495 yards of total offense, as Mauk connected on 31 of 49 passes for 402 yards. He also rushed 13 times for 90 yards. Morrison caught 11 of the passes for 142 yards.
The Riders had 200 yards of offense, and were led on the ground by Puschel with 75 yards on 25 carries, putting him over 1,000 yards rushing for the season. Justin Thomas returned to the lineup after an early-season injury and rushed for 36 yards on nine carries.
