ST. MARYS – The Roughriders have been looking for a first half spark all season long and were finally able to find it on Friday night as they blew out their Grand Lake rival Celina 49-6 behind a career high performance from Aiden Hinkle.
Hinkle, a 6’0 225 pound sophomore back who tallied 52 yards and a score a year ago scored four times this time around as he carried 27 times for 223 yards on this night to top his previous high of 171 yards on 39 rushes and three touchdowns set last year against Shawnee.
Celina won the toss and chose to take the football first but were quickly forced into their first punt of the contest after a three and out.
St. Marys marched 55 yards on six plays and into the Bulldogs endzone on the first of Hinkle’s touchdown runs on the evening, a seven yard thumper at 8:43 for a 7-0 lead.
Hinkle struck once again with 3:16 remaining in the opening stanza and capped off a 53 yard drive that saw him personally carry on seven of his teams 10 totes of the football and in on a three yard scamper and a 14-0 advantage.
Forced to punt away the football after their third straight three and out possession the Bulldogs were unable to slow down the high octane Riders offense who tallied their third score, a four yard scamper by QB Gavin Reineke at 8:48 to finish off a 76 yard drive that began late in the first quarter and ended in the middle of the second to make it 21-0 St. Marys.
Roughriders corner Aidan Eigenbrod’s interception of a jumped route of a Celina receiver gave the home team the football at their opponent 35. Similarly to how they had been able to move the football up to this point in the game the Riders once again struck quickly for a score as Hinkle sprinted through the Bulldog defense for a 29 yard score at 7:48 and a 28-0 score.
Both teams were able to move the football on long drives through the rest of the half but neither were able to score as the hosts would race into the locker room with a four score advantage.
Though a pair of first down runs started things off for the Roughriders first drive of the second half it was senior Ethan Wedding who finished off the drive and kicked the running clock into gear as he scored on a 34 yard rush at 11:02 for a 35-0 St. Marys lead.
Dylan Trogdlon, Ethan Wedding, and eventually Hinkle himself all carried the offense 57 yards for a 42-0 lead with 4:10 to go in the third quarter as the sophomore back ended his night with his fourth running score of the game and joined a select company of Rider backs to accomplish the feat.
Celina QB Cooper Jones put the visiting Bulldogs on the scoreboard to break up the shutout with 11:39 left in the contest as he broke out of a would be tackle and through the heart of the Rider defense for a 44 yard touchdown. Unfortunately for Celina the ensuing extra point bounced off of the right upright and was no good as the score read 42-6 St. Marys.
St. Marys added the final score of the ballgame with 7:53 remaining on a one yard touchdown run by Hunter Fraley who began the drive with a pair of first down runs that included a 36 yard scamper before he was pushed out of bounds for a 49-6 lead.
On the evening the Riders rushed 63 times for 440 yards and seven touchdowns while holding the Bulldogs to just 53 yards on 18 carries on the evening and 129 yards overall.
Cooper Jones connected on 11 of 24 passes for 76 yards and an interception. Quinn Andrew snagged 5 balls for a team high 39 yards to lead the green and white attack
Celina (3-3) will play host to Dayton Carroll in the first round of the playoffs next Friday evening at Celina Stadium.
St. Marys (4-2) has now defeated their rivals five straight times and have outscored the Bulldogs during the streak 161-26 and sees head coach Doug Frye’s personal mark move to 16-2 against Celina.
Next week the Roughriders will be home at Grand Lake Health Field for the first round of the postseason as they play host to an 0-6 Greenville squad that has scored 25 points on the season.