CELINA – Two teams who were shut out in week one will hook up at Celina Stadium on Friday night as Grand Lake rivals Celina and St. Marys meet for the 105th time.
Recent success has favored the Roughriders who have won the previous seven meetings by a combined score of 254-47 and have pitched a trio of shutouts at their green and white neighbors.
Last season St. Marys senior Aiden Hinkle thundered in from six yards out with just :57 remaining for his fourth score of the evening to give his squad a 28-21 victory.
During their last trip to Celina in 2021 the blue and gold jumped out to a 21-0 lead at the end of the first quarter while out rushing the Bulldogs 289-7 en route to a 35-0 win.
Celina ended their first game of the 2023 campaign with a 26-0 setback in Versailles while the Riders dropped their first ever matchup with St. Henry by a 17-0 score.
“In all three phases we just had too many five or six plays in that first half that got us behind the eight ball early” stated Celina head coach Brennen Bader on last week and finished by opining “we started moving the ball and getting some stops but right before the half Versailles made a great catch and instead of being down 13-0 or 13-7 we’re down 20-0 and that’s nearly impossible to come back from against a good team like Versailles”.
Junior quarterback Bobby Morris finished 6/13 passing but led the offense to just 27 yards while throwing three interceptions against the Tigers defense. Jon Lutz pushed through for 57 yards on five carries on the ground but was unable to held the Bulldogs dent the scoreboard and avoid the shutout.
St. Marys themselves never found paydirt against the Redskins and ended the evening unable to convert third and fourth down opportunities, finishing 4/18 while also being out gained 297-131 overall.
“I think in all phases of the game we got out coached, we got out hustled, we got out executed, credit to St. Henry, they did everything better than us” stated St. Marys coach Bo Frye on his teams week one performance.
Asked about the rival Bulldogs this week Frye remarked “Celina is super gifted and they return the most starters from last season, we knew they were going to be pretty good going into the year”.
Friday night will mark the 100th year the two schools have played one another on the gridiron which dates back to a 24-0 and a 13-12 pair of victories in 1923 when the programs would meet twice a season.
Kickoff from Celina Stadium will come at 7pm and can be heard live on 94.3 FM K94 starting with the pregame at 6:30pm: https://streamdb4web.securenetsystems.net/cirruscontent/WKKI&