SKIP BAUGHMAN STADIUM -- The twenty-sixth annual "Chicken Bowl" scrimmage versus the Urbana Hillclimbers heralded another year of the pageantry, social networking and obsession that is Roughrider Football.
And that's just in the stands. Things happen on the field, too.
The message on the north side of the McBroom Jr. High School marquee sign was "Welcome National Guard." The Guard participated in pregame ceremonies on the field of Skip Baughman Stadium and was greeted warmly by the appreciative crowd.
The message on the stadium scoreboard was "Thank You For Our Schools," acknowledgment of the local voters' decision to build the new Memorial High School, opening in a handful of days.
On the field and sidelines were but 53 Roughrider helmets (by our count), perhaps a sign of a leaner 2010 football team than St. Marys has seen in the past.
About forty "Rail Rooters" eschewed the $3.00 OHSAA "Jamboree Fee" at the gate and watched the scrimmage from their familiar perch.
The Roughriders attempted exactly zero passing plays. And neither team punted even once, in a scrimmage that ended with the first strings tied.
The St. Marys first string game play was not quite a thing of beauty.
Following #50 Tyler Albert's kickoff to the Urbana 10 yard line, the Hillclimbers reeled off a nine-play touchdown drive to begin the night. Scrimmage rules place the ball at the opponent's 35 yard line to begin each series. With Urbana lining up in the shotgun formation on every play, the key to the drive was three complete passes in three attempts for 63 of their 65 yards, including a 24-yard post-pattern touchdown strike on 4th and 14.
The PAT kick attempt was wide right, but Urbana had taken a 6-0 lead at the 7:12 mark of the first quarter.
The Riders picked up an early first down on #5 Trey Sherman's 17-yard sweep. But four plays later #24 Kyle Puschel lost the first of his three fumbles on the night after he seemed to have picked up a 4th-and-one at the Urbana 36.
The Hillclimbers went right back to work. Passes of 29, 5 and 31 yards took the ball down to the St. Marys 2 yard line, despite a nice defensive play by #60 Joel Perry, who knocked down a pass on a quarterback blitz in this series. At the two, the Urbana QB went under center for the first time in the game, and two successive dive plays drove the ball into the end zone for the visitors' second touchdown.
The PAT kick was good this time, and Urbana led 13-0 with less than half a minute to play in the first quarter.
Again, the Riders immediately started moving the ball, gaining a first down on #26 Mitch Newbauer's 13-yard run up the middle. On the first play of the second quarter, Kyle Puschel broke through the line for a 12 yard gain, but once again lost the handle to end the St. Marys drive.
An Urbana roughness penalty after the fumble recovery gave them the ball at their own 19 to begin their series. Shotgun passes of ten and twelve yards got them out of the hole, but the Rider defensive pressure was increasing on the Hillclimber quarterback as the game went on.
After nine consecutive pass completions in the game, the Urbana QB threw one too low to catch for an incompletion. The next pass was a nice 9-yard slant across the middle, but at the St. Marys 33 yard line, Urbana threw three consecutive incompletions under defensive pressure, and the Riders took over the ball on downs.
A short dive by Newbauer and a 9-yard sweep by Puschel set up the Riders' biggest play of the night. Mitch Newbauer broke through the line at the St. Marys 45 and cut outside, racing the Urbana secondary down to the three yard line. Trey Sherman powered it in from there, and the Riders were on the scoreboard with 4:07 to play in the half. Tyler Albert's extra point kick was good to make the score St. Marys 7, Urbana 13.
Urbana ran four short running plays and then four straight passes, all complete. On the fourth pass, a horsecollar tackle penalty called against St. Marys put the ball on the Rider 6 yard line. A quarterback scramble moved the ball to the one, but the Rider defense denied a dive play and a quarterback sneak to run the clock out on the half.
In the third quarter, St. Marys ran seven short rushing plays to move the ball into Urbana territory, only to lose the third of Puschel's fumbles on the eighth play of the drive.
But this time the Hillclimbers returned the favor. A mishandled snap was recovered by St. Marys at the Urbana 34 yard line and the Riders were in business. On the second play of the drive, Rider quarterback #4 T.J. Powell put the ball on his hip, rolled out left and just kept rolling for a sweet 17-yard gain. Rushes by Puschel, #44 Jarred Taylor and Trey Sherman set up Taylor's 7-yard touchdown sprint up the middle at the 5:46 mark of the third quarter. Albert's PAT attempt sailed wide to the left, and the score was tied, 13-13.
At this point the teams ended 4-down play with their first teams, and called in the second teams for a 10-play series scrimmage.
Urbana's subs struggled a little with high snaps to their QB in the shotgun. Their 10 plays included two lost fumbles, a sack, a tackle for loss, a run for no gain, an incomplete pass – and one first down.
By contrast, the Rider second team took only eight plays to score a touchdown. Runs by Taylor, #29 Dom Campos and #30 Seth Springer set up Springer's 26-yard touchdown streak.
The Roughrider roster is not yet available and the names in this story were taken from the stadium PA system. Ridertown.com apologizes for any misspellings or incorrect identifications.
Next week, the Riders open the regular season at home against the Sidney Yellowjackets, who defeated the Roughriders last year at Sidney on the way to 5-5 seasons for both teams.
Leaving the stadium, one last sign: the south side of the McBroom Junior High School marquee sign said "Good Luck Hillclimbers. Have a Great Season." A symbol of St. Marys' respect for the game, and a reason to believe the signs for the future are good.
Good luck, 2010 Roughriders.
