| by ridertown.com
ST. MARYS, OHIO - For the first time since winning the State Championship in 1993, the St. Marys Roughriders are headed for the playoffs.
"Going to the playoffs is very gratifying," Roughrider head coach Doug Frye said after the game, "but it really is just icing on the cake [of a successful season]. This was a great win for our program."
Assistant coach Dennis Vossler agreed. "The Riders needed this game tonight."
Final playoff pairing will not be announced until Sunday, but its all but a done deal for the Riders who roughed up Wapakoneta Friday night, 28-10, at Skip Baughman Stadium.
The Riders came into the game in the seventh spot of Division III, Region 10. Wapak also had hopes of making the Division II playoffs, but will most likely start basketball season on Monday.
At 7-3 the Riders tied for second place in the Western Buckeye League with Ottawa-Glandorf.
A bend-but-don't break defense and some hard-nose offense carried the Riders over the Redskins in this annual rivalry, which has seen Wapak go 16 years without a win at St. Marys.
"We played a very clean game tonight," St. Marys head coach Doug Frye said, referring to the Riders' two Achilles' heels this year, penalties and turnovers. "I really believe this game was won in the pre-season, when we began stressing the fundamentals."
The Riders played the entire game without a turnover and and lost only 30 yards to penalties.
Clinging to a 14-10 lead, the crucial climax of momentum came early in the third quarter for the Riders. Running almost at will in the first half, St. Marys was stopped cold on the initial possession of the third quarter.
Stephen Kill's punt (the first of the game) was something worse than a wounded duck -- more like a critical duck that fluttered only about 20 yards but bounced off the back of a Wapakoneta player and into the hands of Ridertown surfer Adam Doenges at the Wapak 48.
With renewed life the Riders covered the 48 yards in 11 plays with Tyler Sampson scoring on a fourth down sneak from the one yard line.
Wapak touched the ball for the first time in the second half with 5:18 left in the third quarter.
From there the defenses set in as neither team was able to mount a threat. Wapak moved the ball well in the first half, but struggled in the second. Trailing 21-10 with 3:33 left to play, the Redskins elected to punt, hoping for a quick stop.
It was a quick stop -- for Eli Holsinger in the Wapak endzone. He busted up the middle for 41 yards, fumbling at the goal line, but the Riders recovered for the touchdown and the win.
St. Marys never trailed, scoring first following an interception by Dustin Alexander. Starting at their own 16, the Riders drove 84 yards with Nathan Homan covering the final eight yards on a sweep.
The Redskins answered on their next possession with Mike Nagel doing most of the work, running over St. Marys linemen. Nagel went the final four yards to tie the score with 10:56 left in the half.
The Riders came back with one of their best possession drives of the season, running off 17 plays only to turn the ball over on downs at the Wapak five yard line. On fourth and four at the five, Kill began a sweep to the left and appeared to have a clear path to the endzone, but he slipped on a cut-back and fell at the six yard line.
However, Kill more than made up for the slip as he intercepted a Jeremy Fittro pass three plays later, and then scored on a 33-yard run with 2:19 left in the half for a 41-7 lead.
The Redskins scrambled back, mostly completing short passes to set up a 25-yard field goal by Travis Holtzapple with 1.4 seconds left in the half.
The Riders rushed for over 300 yards with a balanced effort that saw Holsinger lead the way with 121 yards 14 carries. Homan rushed for 107 yards on 20 carries and Kill carried the ball 16 times for 84 yards.
Kill also had two interceptions, did the Riders' punting, kicked-off a few times and is rumored to have washed the uniforms after the game.
Unofficially, Holsinger and Kill went over 1,000 yards for the season with 1,093 and 1,012 respectively. Homan finished the regular season with 920 yards. With at least one post season game, the Rider's "Three-Horsemen" have a chance to become the first MHS trio to rush for over 1,000 yards each in the same season.
"I'm especially happy for the seniors," Frye said. "I'm very proud of their leadership and work ethic. They did what had to be done for us to succeed this year. As eighth-graders they were winless, and went 2-5 their freshmen year. They were sophomores my first year in St. Marys as head coach. They believed in the program and I couldn't be happier that they have a chance to go to the playoffs because they have earned it."
Assuming the playoffs are a lock, the Riders will play Saturday, Nov. 4, against an opponent to be named later. Stay tuned to ridertown.com for all the breaking news. |
