Riders roll past Dogs

ST. MARYS - In his head coaching debut on his home field, Bo Frye had two objectives on Friday against Defiance - fullbacks and fireballs.

Roughrider fans were treated to plenty of both as their running game accounted for seven touchdowns, with a booming fireball and mushroom cloud following each, in their 56-0 dismantling of the Bulldogs.

"We are fortunate in St. Marys to have a ton of kids who want to play running back, so we take great pride in our ground game," said Frye. "We ran three fullbacks tonight and they all contributed and had great nights."

St. Marys' first drive of the evening accounted for 33 yards on 10 plays, but they weren't able to dent the scoreboard and were forced to punt away. A quick three-and-out forced by the Roughrider defense, set the offense back up near midfield. Nine plays later, senior Ross Henschen bulled into the end zone from four yards out, and following a Brandon Bowers extra point, St. Marys was in charge 7-0.

Another quick three-and-out by the Roughrider defense set up another solid drive by the offense, who marched 38 yards in just over three minutes with Henschen capping it off once again with a short touchdown run early in the second quarter.

Linebacker Drew Dammeyer suffocated Defiance's next drive with a fumble recovery at the St. Marys 35-yard line, and with 4:08 left in the half, St. Marys pulled in command by three touchdowns after Henschen's third score of the evening - another four-yard jaunt. The Roughrider defense followed up with another fumble recovery on the next series, and for good measure, the offense returned to the field and this time it was junior Aiden Hinkle's turn to punch one in. With just over a minute left in the first half, the home team enjoyed a 28-0 advantage.

"We wanted to establish our fullbacks tonight. We didn't feel we played well there against London," Frye said. "Overall, we did what we needed in the backfield tonight, and now it's just a matter of getting back to work tomorrow and continuing to get better, playing with heart and with love for each other."

The Bulldogs received the second half kickoff and showed brief signs of life as they tallied four first downs and marched 49 yards downfield. The drive, however, was stopped on fourth down, and St. Marys took over at the Defiance 34-yard line. In a series highlighted by big runs from five different running backs, it was junior Kayden Sharpe who capped it off with a 14-yard scoring sprint. Following Bowers' fifth PAT of the contest, which gave St. Marys the 35-0 lead, it was time for the running clock.

On the ensuing series for Defiance, Dammeyer corralled an interception on the first play from scrimmage and raced 22 yards to the house, and the Blue and Gold rolled from there, as touchdowns from Colton Mabry and Jacob Kessler sealed things up with the 56-point victory.

Despite the dominance for 48 minutes, Frye still feels there is room for improvement.

"There are still a few issues and some little things to work on, especially on the offensive line. That's where I coached previously so I definitely noticed that," said Frye. "It's still early in the year, though, and nothing is a finished product. We played hard and were physical, so those are the two main takeaways from tonight."

Offensively, the Roughriders racked up 333 yards of total offense (all rushing), to go with their seven touchdowns, while defensively they held Defiance to just 99 total yards and forced five turnovers - two interceptions and three fumbles.

Mabry finished the night with 91 yards on the ground, leading St. Marys in rushing for the second week in a row, while Henschen finished with 58 yards and three touchdowns.

St. Marys is back on the road next week when it travels to Wapakoneta to face the Redskins.