By MARC TOBIAS
mtobias@dailystandard.com
WAPAKONETA — If St. Marys coach Doug Frye has any hair
left on his head by the end of the season it will be a miracle.
For the third consecutive week, the Roughriders snared a victory
in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter, this time at Wapakoneta’s
expense, 21-20.
The Redskins scored what appeared to be the game-tying touchdown
on a Travis Sensabaugh five-yard quarterback sneak with 3:45
to play in the game, but the ensuing extra-point attempt was
muffed.
“I think that particular play may be pretty reflective
of the whole game,” said Wapakoneta coach Darrell Jones.
“We executed for much of the ball game, but at the critical
junctures of the game we didn’t always execute.”
Wapakoneta received the ball one more time with 2:00 minutes
left, and quickly marched to the Roughriders’ 36-yard
line. Wapakoneta, which used the shotgun formation for most
of the night, then saw a snap go over Sensabaugh’s head
for a 12-yard loss essentially ending any comeback bid.
“There’s something about our kids right now, this
group of seniors were beaten 48-0 in the eighth grade by Wapak,
but they’ve continued to hang together and to work,”
said St. Marys coach Doug Frye. “I guess I’ll take
them by one point as long as we find a way to win.”
The third quarter is where the Roughriders made their move to
win the game.
Trailing 14-7, Scott Vossler made the play of the game when
he intercepted and returned Sensabaugh’s pass 29 yards
for the game-tying touchdown.
Vossler also tied the score at 7-7 in the second quarter when
he hauled in a 18-yard pass from Corey Vossler.
With the momentum on their side, St. Marys scored again on its
next possession that was highlighted by a Justin Nagel 56-yard
run to set the Roughriders up with a first-and-goal from the
three.
A penalty moved the Riders back, and three plays later it was
fourth-and-goal from the three.
Passing on a field goal attempt, the Roughriders decided to
go to the air on fourth down.
Corey Vossler scrambled to his right , and lofted a ball to
Eric Sullivan. The ball slid through Sullivan’s hands,
to the back corner of the end zone where a diving Nick Yahl
hauled in the winning score.
“I thought we had it pretty well covered, and we had a
feel for what was coming and we had people in position, but
it was a tipped ball and your going to have those I guess,”
Jones said.
Nick Pfeffenberger then tacked on this third consecutive extra-point
kick.
It was the second touchdown pass for St. Marys, who most likely
shocked everyone in attendance with its 11 pass attempts.
“This was an aerial circus for St. Marys, Skip Baughman
probably had twitches in his hands in Dublin tonight,”
Frye said. “We really think that we need to do more of
that, I really don’t think I did enough of that tonight.
Corey Vossler has matured into a very fine quarterback, we need
to do a little better job protecting him, but we have skill
kids that can catch it.”
The passing game did have two interceptions for St. Marys, but
the good definitely outweighed the bad. With the running game
gaining 133 yards on 33 carries, it was a much needed asset
for the offense.
“Coach Frye doesn’t go to the air very often unless
he feels the necessity to do so, so we must have been doing
something right when it came to defending the run game,”
Jones said.
Nagel led the Roughriders with 66 yards on seven carries, with
Eric Sullivan tacking on 45 on 10 carries. Sullivan also caught
three passes for 19 yards.
The Roughrider defense was once again solid, holding the Redskins
in check. They surrendered 153 rushing yards on 40 carries,
while forcing two turnovers.
The first half the Roughriders defense was dominant, holding
Wapakoneta to just 50 yards of total offense. Despite starting
with an average field position on their own 41-yard line, the
Redskins scored just seven points.
“We’re very much a field position oriented football
program, and the 40-yard line is not a bad place to start,”
Jones said. “I guess we have to give them some credit
there for their defense. I would have hoped that we could have
been a little more productive but tonight we weren’t.”
St. Marys moves to 3-0 (2-0 WBL) while Wapakoneta drops to 2-1
(1-1 WBL). St. Marys hopes to remain unbeaten when it travels
to Ottawa-Glandorf next week.
|
