ST. MARYS – After a start that saw the Riders drop their first four games of the season, the team rebounded to win seven of their last eight games into the second round of the playoffs.
“We started extremely slow last year. We were very inexperienced but stayed the course and became a very good football team by the end” said St. Marys head coach Bo Frye. “Because of the roll we got on at the end of the year and the guys we have coming back, we have high hopes for 2024”.
Against #2 ranked Perkins the blue and gold jumped out to a 14-0 first half lead but faltered in the final two quarters as the Pirates ended the Riders campaign with a 28-21 comeback victory.
“I thought our kids played extremely hard and I’m proud of their effort. It was a game that I feel like we deserved to win but just couldn’t finish at the end” said Roughrider head coach Bo Frye.
Entering his fourth year at the helm of his alma mater with a 26-11 mark, the former standout running back will seek to find production in place of a decorated senior class that includes multiple All-WBL, All-District, and All-Ohio players.
“We lost a lot of guys who were a big part of our offense last year. Kevin Perry and Logan Compton were great leaders on our defense”.
This season the Roughriders will kick off the season with four of their first five at home starting with St. Henry on August 23rd and following with Grand Lake rival Celina a week later. St. Marys hits the road for the first and only time in the first month at Fred J. Brown Stadium in Defiance before a pair of conference clashes with visits from Wapak and Ottawa Glandorf.
Trips to Van Wert, Shawnee, and the Lima area duo of Bath and Elida highlight the second half of the season that will see the home fans just once at Roughrider Field against Kenton on October 11th.
Leading the way in the backfield for St. Marys will be the returning senior duo of Colton Mabry (5’10/210) and Dominik Osborne (5’9/190). Last season Mabry rushed for 1,458 yards on 221 carries with 19 touchdowns while Osborne stepped through defenders to the tune of 1,258 yards and nine scores on 198 totes of the football.
“At St. Marys there should always be the highest expectations. There are a lot of very good football teams in the WBL this season but our first objective is to win week #1 against St. Henry” Frye remarked of the upcoming campaign.
2024 will also be a special year for the Roughrider faithful as kickoff next Friday night will mark 20 years since the 2004 team reached the Division III state finals. Bo Frye was a key cog to that team at running back under his legendary father Doug and utilizes former teammates the likes of Nick Yahl on his own staff now two decades later.
St. Marys will be looking for revenge in their season opener as St. Henry defeated the Riders 17-0 in their first ever meeting last season.
Offensively the Roughriders scored 331 points (28.1) a year ago while surrendering 217 (18.1) under signal caller Cody Wallace. Wallace’s graduation will mean the Riders will be replacing their starting quarterback as well as their starting center for 2024.
“It’s always hard to replace a center and quarterback in our offense but we’ve got three guys who could possibly play the position who are battling hard right now led by Jacob Kessler.”
Each Friday night during the season the Roughriders can be hear locally on 94.3 WKKI starting at 6:30pm or online at https://streamdb4web.securenetsystems.net/cirruscontent/WKKI