Riders race past Cats to open season

 

LIMA - The St. Marys Roughriders opened their 2020 season with a sluggish first half but found a way to pull it all together in the second half as they raced past host Bath 27-7 on Friday night. 

Though they were forced to punt four times and turned the ball over twice in the first half, the Roughriders offense utilized short fields on five of their second half series to push points onto the Bath scoreboard. 

Twice in the first half the St. Marys offense found themselves inside the Wildcats 20 but were forced to send out the defensive unit thanks to a fumble at the goal line and a turnover on downs. 

Bath's offense fared about as well as the Riders did in the scoring department as they saw their first drive come to an end on a Tanner Howell forced fumble and followed by a plethora of punts on their remaining opening half drives. 

On the second play of the third quarter it was Howell again who victimized the Cats offense as he stepped in front of a pass from freshman QB Bradyn Fleharty and sprinted into opponent territory before being hauled down. 

After being backed up on their own side of midfield the Riders reached into the offensive playbook and settled on a screen pass to Aiden Hinkle for a 48 yard gain deep into the Bath red zone. 

Starting QB Gavin Reineke dove under a pile from a yard out to put the visitors on top 6-0 before a Brandon Bowers extra point with 8:28 left in the third to break the scoreless tie.

Fleharty wasted no time on the ensuing Bath drive to tie the contest as he connected on two quick passes to Blaine Albright of 19 and 27 yards to even the game once his own kicker Keaton Liles converted with 6:49 to go in the period. 

Last season when the two squads met in St. Marys, then junior returner Dylan Trogdlon returned a kickoff 71 yards for a touchdown. This season the now junior nearly pulled off the same trick as he raced over 50 yards to the Bath 22 on the next ball put in play. 

Following three successful rushes by Ethan Wedding the Roughriders pushed across for good on the scoreboard on a three yard run by Tanner Howell to take a 14-7 advantage at the 5:20 mark of the quarter.

Similar to what transpired in the first half the punters found themselves in high demand for the next five possessions as St. Marys Brandon Bowers and Bath punter Lex Boedicker traded boots to end their teams possessions. 

Ross Henschen's scamper of seven yards capped off a seven play 71 yard drive in just under three minutes for St. Marys to give his squad a 21-7 lead with 5:08 remaining. Henschen was the key cog on two plays of the drive as he took an earlier handoff 45 yards through the heart of the Bath defense and into their half of the field.

Bath wideout Griffen Mikesell caught and found himself dislodged of the football on the next go round for the Wildcats and was forced to the sideline while St. Marys set up at his teams 34 yard line after a recovery of the football by Hunter Fraley.

Five plays in 2:20 for the Roughriders offense ended with a six yard rush by Dylan Trogdlon for the final score of the game for St. Marys with 2:30 to go for a 27-7 lead. Brandon Bowers extra point failed to connect as it missed left. 

The final possession of the ballgame for Bath came to an end on a turnover on downs despite being able to move the football through the air and signaled the end of the contest when Reineke took a knee to seal the Riders victory. 

St. Marys (1-0) has now defeated Bath (0-1) for the fifth straight season and will head back home to open the Grand Lake Health Field portion of a two week home-stand as they welcome Auglaize County rival Wapakoneta in for a Week 2 battle. 

Next week the Wildcats will take on 1-0 Kenton. 

Bradyn Fleharty connected on 20 of 35 tosses on the evening in his first career start for 162 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception for the Wildcats while his top target, Blaine Albright hauled in 8 passes for 68 yards and a score. 

St. Marys rushed 49 times for 220 yards and was led by the duo of Ross Henschen (7 carries, 76 yards, 1 touchdown), and Ethan Wedding (13 rushes, 72 yards) on the offensive end while their defense held Bath to just 28 yards on 18 rushes for the game.