ST. MARYS – Senior Aiden Hinkle continued his one man assault against Grand Lake rival Celina on Friday night as he scored all four of St. Marys touchdowns in a 28-21 come from behind win over the Bulldogs.
Opening with the football for the ninth time in ten games the Roughriders were able to move the chains from their own 29 and into Celina territory but were unable to pick up a fourth down conversion on the 13th play of their first drive when the Bulldogs defensive line stopped Hinkle short of the line to gain.
After an 11-yard punt by the hosts the Bulldogs punched in the opening salvo on a two yard effort from Zander Jones to take a 7-0 lead with 11:30 to go in the second period. On the play previous to the touchdown the visitors executed a double reverse pass to set themselves up on the Roughrider doorstep.
Celina appeared to be heading for another short field score late in the same stanza but saw the Roughriders flip the field to the green and white 10 on an interception and nearly 40 yard return by defensive back Tristan Gardner.
Two plays, ten yards is all the blue and gold needed on the ensuing drive as Hinkle rumbled in for his league leading 18th rushing score of the season to tie up the game following a Logan Rush extra point at 7-7.
Following a forced three and out on the defensive end the Roughriders pushed themselves into the lead for the first time just :54 before halftime when Hinkle cashed in again, this time from a yard away to cap off a 71-yard, 10 play drive for his second of the night.
Opening the second half trailing 14-7 the Bulldogs wasted little time getting back to even thanks to the arm of Nick Adams and the hands of his wideouts. Braylon Gabes snagged an Adams offering on the ninth play of the Celina drive with 8:26 and raced past the would be defenders for his lone score of the evening.
Celina took over the football with 3:23 remaining on the stadium scoreboard in the third and utilized their short passing game to pick up four first downs and a score over 70 yards when Adams fired a pass through the middle of the field that was caught by Adam Faber (9 catches, 109 yards, 1 td) at the goal line with 9:59 remaining in the fourth to make it a 21-14 Bulldog advantage.
Twelve plays, 63 yards over 4:51 and anchored entirely by eight carries by Hinkle and four from teammate Colton Mabry tied up the contest at 21-21 with 5:00 thanks to Hinkle’s third score and 20th of the season.
With Celina again held to a three and out on the offensive side the Riders turned back to the duo of Hinkle and Mabry who were joined by senior teammate Brayden Sullivan to give the Roughriders first and goal from the six. Similarly to his four touchdown game against the Bulldogs in 2020, Hinkle thundered in again for a score, this time from six yards away to put his squad on top 28-21 with under a minute remaining.
Starting from their own 32 with just a single timeout remaining, Celina quickly struck to near midfield on a 16 yard pass play and even deeper just two plays later inside St. Marys territory on a 22 yard hookup.
Following a spike to stop the clock with under :10 to go in the game and inside the 30 the Bulldogs pass from Adams under heavy pressure sailed past it’s intended receiver and into the waiting arms of Brayden Sullivan who secured the victory with the second defensive interception of the evening.
Celina (6-4, 5-4) outgained the Roughriders 287-274 overall, including a 238-0 advantage through the air by Adams who ended 21/35 for 194 yards to go along with his two scores and two picks.
St. Marys (8-2, 7-2) was paced by Aiden Hinkle’s 174 yard and four touchdown performance on the strength of a season high 38 carries. Hinkle’s four touchdown performance joins DJ Manning (2011), himself (2020), and head coach Bo Frye (2004) as the only players in Roughrider history to rush for four scores against the Bulldogs in a single game.
In his four career games the WBL’s leading rusher and scorer carried 88 times for 505 yards and 11 touchdowns while helping push his senior class to a 4-0 mark against their rivals.
Next up for the Bulldogs is a week 11 playoff contest on the road while the Roughriders are likely to host a game at Grand Lake Health Systems Field, a field in which they improved their all-time mark at to 20-2 with tonight’s seventh consecutive series victory over Celina.