SANDUSKY – Top seeded Perkins outscored visiting St. Marys 14-0 in the second half to survive the Roughriders upset bid with a 28-21 victory on Friday night.
Trailing 28-21 with under two minutes to go after being unable to pick up a key fourth down play, St. Marys defense gave their offense one final chance by stripping a Perkins receiver of the ball and racing into Pirates territory.
Unfortunately for the Riders their bid to tie the contest ended in heartbreak with :39 seconds remaining in the fourth with quarterback Cody Wallace being slammed to the turf at his own 40 by a Perkins linebacker.
“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.
St. Marys opened the contest with an 11-play drive of 80 yards that covered the first nearly seven minutes of the first quarter that saw the blue and gold pick up a pair of fourth downs including a 46-yard jaunt by Colton Mabry to give his squad a 7-0 lead.
Entering play on Friday night the Perkins offense averaged 46.6 points per game and wasted no time on this night tying the score at 7-7 as a 41-yard toss from Logan Lesch found the waiting arms of wideout Weston Sturzinger behind the opposing defense who slipped into the endzone for his 10th touchdown of the season.
On their second drive of the game starting with 4:11 remaining in the first the Riders again picked up a key fourth down to keep themselves alive on offense before Mabry cashed in his second touchdown of the evening, a two yard run to put St. Marys ahead for a second time by seven.
After a 74-yard kickoff return from Wyatt Nemitz put the ball at the Roughrider seven the Pirates seemed to be poised to tie the game but a pass by Lesch was pilfered by Jacob Kessler in the endzone to end the threat.
Starting from the Rider 24-yard line following a fumble the Perkins offense pulled a trick out of their opponents book and scored on a fourth down attempt with a play action pass to running back Isaac Bunts who sprinted 19 yards untouched to even the game at 14-14.
Moments before the half the visitors raced 69 yards to the Pirates goal line to set up to take a pre halftime advantage. QB Cody Wallace spiked the football to stop the clock with :01 remaining before the half and one play later handed to Dominik Osborne to take back the lead. Backup kicker Owen Lee sent an extra point attempt through the uprights to send the Riders into the break leading 21-14.
Eleven plays and over four minutes came off the contest to open the second half for the Pirates offense to draw even on a pitch and catch from two yards out from Lesch and four-sport athlete Braylon Collier made the score 21-21.
Perkins successful recovery of the ensuing onside kick led to the Pirates working from inside St. Marys territory at the 47 before a seven yard scamper from Bunts gave the hosts a 28-21 lead they would never relinquish.
St. Marys picked up four first downs and again converted on fourth down twice but were again forced to surrender the football as a rush by Cody Wallace gained just a single yard on fourth and long with 10 minutes remaining in the game.
Perkins (11-0) was led by a 14 of 18 performance from Lesch who accounted for three touchdowns and 193 yards and a pair of Jacob Kessler interceptions on the evening.
Leading the way for the Roughriders (7-5) 257-68 rushing yardage advantage was Colton Mabry who ended with 151 yards and a pair of scored on 28 carries.
Next week the Pirates will hit the road for the third round as they battle West Holmes, 22-19 winners over Galion on Friday night in Millersburg.