Roughriders run their way past Bulldogs

ST. MARYS - Celina knew exactly what St. Marys was going to offer offensively.

The problem for the Bulldogs was trying to stop it.

Freshman Bo Kuenning rushed for 182 yards as the Roughriders snapped the Bulldogs' two-game win streak in the Battle of Grand Lake with a 21-13 Homecoming win at Skip Baughman Stadium.

The win moves St. Marys to 3-3 overall and 2-3 in the Western Buckeye League. Celina also sits at 3-3 and 2-3.

"I think our kids played with a physicalness and a belief tonight," said St. Marys coach Doug Frye, who improves to 11-1 against Celina while coaching the Roughriders. "We had our best week of practice (for) the entire season. ... I thought the Celina kids did a good job, too. It's a great rivalry. A clean football game. ... I just thought our kids picked up their game about 4-5 notches."

St. Marys had the Wing-T offense going from the opening drive, moving 64 yards on 14 plays, all on the run and the majority coming from Isaac Fitzgerald, who punched in from two yards out to make it 7-0 midway through the first quarter.

Celina, though, responded with a long drive of their own, taking up the remainder of the first quarter as Caleb Hoyng mixed the run and pass well before finding Zack Marks for a 14-yard score with 11 minutes left in the half.

The Bulldog defense stepped up, forcing a punt on St. Marys final two series of the first half. Between the punts, Hoyng converted twice on fourth down on a 65-yard drive, taking 14 plays and nearly six minutes off the clock. Hoyng put Celina in the lead with a nine-yard run with 3:16 left in the half.

With the momentum, Celina took the ball to start the second half, unfortunately, the momentum did not carry over as the Bulldogs managed just five yards before punting.

The momentum changed when St. Marys faked the punt on a fourth-and-3 from their own 49. Fitzgerald found Cameron Swanson for a 21-yard pass play to put St. Marys at the Celina 30. Four Kuenning runs and a Clayton Trogdlon PAT later, the Roughriders led 14-13.

"They didn't do anything. It was all us," Celina coach Trent Temple said regarding anything St. Marys did to slow down his team. "They didn't change their defense or offense. We quit playing."

The Bulldogs looked ready to answer the score, getting the ball down to the St. Marys' 28, but a holding call moved the team back to the 45. Hoyng was sacked on second down and an incomplete pass on third down forced a punt.

That proved to be the final nail in Celina's coffin, as Fitzgerald capped off an eight-play drive with a 36-yard score with 10:24 remaining in the game to push it to 21-13.

Sean Kirk tried to get Celina back with a long kickoff return to the St. Marys 30, but a missed pass on a fourth-and-2 from the 24 gave St. Marys the ball back. The Bulldogs last chance to score came with 6:37 left after a recovered fumble at the Celina 30, but three plays resulted in no yards. Hoyng's punt got a good bounce and put St. Marys at their own seven-yard run with 5:40 to play.

"Celina's got a great offense. I can't say enough about our defensive kids," Frye said. "We've got seven kids that are sophomores and juniors. We're playing our quarterback (Dustin Howell) both ways and (we're) playing new schemes. I thought our kids responded well.  "Nick (former St. Marys standout linebacker and current defensive coach Nick Yahl) and I spent about eight hours in here on Sunday ... trying to straighten everything out. Nick responded well. We changed a lot of things we're doing on defense."

The Roughriders finished how they started, with healthy doses of Fitzgerald and Kuenning to get four first downs and force Celina to use all their timeouts to end the game.

Kuenning, who had been playing primarily junior varsity and freshmen football, had a breakout game in his first start, carrying 20 times for 182 yards.

"I guess a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while," Frye said with a grin. "It worked out pretty well. I told Bo I don't think he'll be playing anymore JV football."

Fitzgerald added 154 yards on 29 carries as the Roughriders rushed for 351 yards on 56 carries.

"We obviously didn't do a good job up front," Temple said. "They pretty much had their way with us up front. ... That falls back on me. We have to get that figured out because there's four games left. If we don't get it figured out, we're in trouble."

Garett Winget led Celina with 60 yards rushing. Hoyng carried the ball 18 times for 47 yards and was 10-of-18 passing for 70 yards.

St. Marys travels to Defiance next Friday to face the winless Bulldogs. Celina returns home to face Van Wert.