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Story by ridertown.com
SKIP BAUGHMAN STADIUM - St. Marys is headed back to the playoffs for the second year in a row with a home field advantage and the momentum of a 17-14 victory over a very good Defiance team Friday night at Skip Baughman Stadium.
Senior Stephen Kill capped a big game with a 28-yard field goal with 11 seconds left in the game to nail down the win for St. Marys. The Riders close out the regular season at 9-1 and sole possession of second place in the Western Buckeye League. As expected, Kenton (10-0) wrapped up the league title with a 39-7 victory over winless Elida.
Although the final pairings will not be announced until Sunday, it is expected that St. Marys will finish either third or fourth in Region 10 of Division III and will host a first-round playoff game next Friday at Skip Baughman Stadium.
Defiance finishes the season at 8-2, and will also make the playoffs in Region 6 of Division II.
A classic WBL game, St. Marys Head Coach Doug Frye called it afterwards. Jerry Buti does a wonderful job with his players. Some young Defiance kids overachieved for him this year and theyve had a great season.
This was a great WBL football game. Defiance Coach Jerry Buti said. We just didnt get it done in the second half, but I have to give all the credit to St. Marys. Their backs ran very hard and they played a great game.
The Roughriders battled back from a 14-7 halftime deficit with a dominating second half defense that limited Defiance to just one first down, and kept the Bulldogs bottled on their side of the field the entire half.
Obviously St. Marys made some great adjustments at halftime, Buti said. We were playing inside our own 40 all night.
We made some defensive adjustments at halftime, St. Marys Head Coach Doug Frye admitted. On offense we felt that we just had to take care of business. Weve been playing well in the second half all season.
Defiance was forced into five second-half punts and netted a total of just 30 yards.
The Riders showed some resiliency after their opening drive ended in disaster. St. Marys took the opening kickoff and marched the ball down the field with relative ease. On first-and-goal from the Defiance two yard line, Nathan Homan tried to stretch across the goal line and fumbled, with the Bulldogs recovering in the endzone.
Obviously, when you get the ball down inside the one yard line and dont score, its disappointing, Frye said of the fumble.
The Defiance offense took the field and made things look ridiculously easy. Will Clay took the first handoff and raced 48 yards before safety Dustin Alexander rode him down. On the next play Eric Steyer rambled another 26 yards giving Defiance a first-and goal.
Three plays later, Steyer burst through a big hole for a 7-0 Defiance lead that just seconds ago looked like it was going to be a 7-0 St. Marys lead.
That was huge, Buti said. The big play was the fumble recovery. We got the momentum, but we needed to maintain that throughout the game. And we couldnt.
The momentum began to melt away in a hurry, as the Riders struck on the first play of their next drive. Kill cut the sweep up inside, found a seam, and raced 73 yards to paydirt. Barely able to catch his breath and change his shoe, Kill booted the PAT to tie the game with 3:38 left in the first quarter.
Defiance answered on its next drive. Bulldog quarterback Austin Keel kept the drive alive with two key third down completions. Less than two minutes into the second quarter, Steyer scored his second touchdown of the game on a draw play from the four yard line. John Menendez added the PAT for a 14-7 lead.
Neither team threatened again in the first half.
The Riders took charge with their first play from scrimmage in the second half. With the Bulldogs pinching in, trying to stop the run, Homan exploited a gap in the Defiance line and raced 54 yards to tie the game with 10:17 left in the third quarter.
When you step on the field you have to be ready to stop St. Marys speed Buti said. We thought we were ready, but its something thats very hard to prepare for.
The Riders moved the ball early in the fourth quarter, getting inside the Defiance 20 before being pushed back on a costly holding penalty. St. Marys ended up attempting a 34-yard field goal, which fell just short
Following another good defensive stand, the Riders took over on their own 47 with 7:06 left to play. St. Marys moved inside the Defiance 10 for a first-and-goal from the eight. Two procedure penalties back the Riders up, but more importantly, the clock continued to wind down.
With 11 seconds left, St. Marys called timeout to set up Kills 28-yard attempt, which he drilled with plenty of foot to spare.
It was appropriate that this game ended so close, Frye said.
Defiance came into the game with the leagues top ranked rushing defense, having given up an average of just 73 yards a game. St. Marys wasnt particularly impressed with that stat, as Homan and Kill combined for 294 of the the Riders 321 yards rushing. Homan led the way with 161 yards on 27 carries. Kill rolled up 133 yards on 20 carries. Both players finished the regular season with over 1,000 yards rushing.
This win means a lot, Frye said. Its been four years to get the program back to this point its been since 1993 since weve won 9 games in a season. And were excited to have the opportunity to have the first home playoff game in St. Marys history. Its great for the fans and great for the town.
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