by ridertown.com
ST. MARYS, OHIO - The MHS Roughrider football team held the Urbana Hilltoppers scoreless in a lightning-shortened Chicken Bowl scrimmage Saturday.
The annual event was held under revised rules this year, as each teams' junior varsity, 2nd string and varsity squads, in that order, ran 10 plays in the first "half." After a short break, the clock was turned on for two 12-minute quarters of 4-down football between the varsity players.
Both JV offenses moved the ball with some success but failed to cross the goal line. But following the Hilltopper second-string squad's ten plays, the Rider subs scored on a sustained drive and then struck suddenly on a 62-yard pass for a second TD on their tenth and last play.
After holding the Urbana varsity scoreless, the Rider first-stringers moved the ball inside the ten yard line but ran out of plays to end their first-half play without a TD.
Urbana started off the second half strong, running for 11 yards and a first down the first time they touched the ball. But that would prove to be their biggest gain as the Rider D stepped up with two consecutive sacks and a stop to force a Hilltopper punt.
The Rider offense showed a little nervousness in their first possession. Runs of three and zero yards were followed by a fumbled handoff (recovered by the quarterback) to force the Riders to punt it back.
But the Hilltoppers could not move the ball and went three-and-out.
St. Marys took the ball on their own 41 yard line and executed runs for 9 and 6 yards to move the chains. A holding penalty resulted in first and 17 on the St. Marys 49 yard line. But the Riders broke a big trap to the right side of the line for a 51-yard touchdown with 4:56 left in the quarter.
The PAT kick was good, to give the Riders a 7-0 lead.
Once again the Rider D held Urbana to short yardage, bringing up a punt on fourth and 8 from the Urbana 32.
St. Marys enjoyed good field position the entire scrimmage, and started this drive on their own 38 yard line. A QB sweep right and a sweep left resulted in a first down, followed by an 11 yard dive for another to the Urbana 41. A six-yard quarterback keeper set up another big dive, which went 21 yards to the Urbana 14 yard line and another first down.
A short sweep to the right and a trap to the left racked up yet another first down on the 3, and two QB sneaks pushed the ball across for the Riders' second touchdown with 23.4 seconds remaining in the quarter.
The PAT kick was good again to bring the score to 14-0.
Fans began filing out of the stands, as storm clouds had been approaching from the west for some time. The teams exchanged possessions for two minutes of the last quarter before the officials called the scrimmage due to lightning at the 10:11 mark.
The Rider Rooters' annual Chicken Bowl kicks off the organization's fundraising activities, and they were out in force. Volunteers began frying chicken on the site at 2:30 p.m. and began serving dinners at 4:30.
"The businesses in St. Marys were very helpful," Rider Rooter President Dave Brewer commented. "They basically said, 'whatever you need,' and that makes my job easy."
The Roughriders begin the varsity football season next Friday, August 24, as they travel to Sidney to take on the Yellowjackets. The first three games are on the road - the Riders will not return to Skip Baughman Stadium until September 14, when they meet the defending Western Buckeye League champion Van Wert Cougars, who advanced to the Div. III State Championship game in 2000.
Note: To foil any possible scouting, both teams played under assumed numbers, making player identification for the purposes of this article impossible.
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