ST. MARYS – Friday night the Roughriders celebrated senior night in style as they defeated visiting Kenton 64-28 to move to 30-4 all-time at Grand Lake Health Systems Field.
Offensively, St. Marys could do nearly no wrong as they finished with 499 yards rushing while scoring on each of their eight drives and not being forced to attempt a pass.
“We continue to play our physical brand of football” said St. Marys head coach Bo Frye. “I’m proud of our seniors for continuing to improve, I feel we’re starting to peak at the right time.”
Senior Jacob Kessler, a jack of all trades for the Roughriders (6-2, 5-2) showed off his toughness and speed on the teams first drive of the game. After a successful fourth down conversion from classmate Dominik Osborne, Kessler bumped and raced his way down the sideline 62 yards to give the hosts a 7-0 lead.
Osborne who entered the night as the Western Buckeye League’s fourth leading rusher, accounted for two of his three scores on the ground in the first half en route to a 66 yard evening to help the Riders amass a 21-0 advantage before the second quarter.
Pinned back to their own nine yard line early in the second quarter after a Kenton punt, St. Marys marched 91 yards over 12 plays and nearly five minutes of game time to take a 28-0 lead on their fourth drive of the game.
Sophomore Dyllan Fink, a 5’7 speedster showed off his ability to gain yards in a flash as he cashed in from six yards away for the first of his two highlight plays on the evening.
Outside of their penchant for throwing the football to their opponents love to rush, Kenton’s ensuing possession seemed a lot like St. Marys previous one, a long drawn out drive that covered 80 yards for a score.
Quarterback Korbin Johnston, a multiple year starter for the Wildcats (1-7, 1-6), threaded the needle on a pass to freshman standout Maddux McFarlin from six yards away to trim the deficit for Kenton to 28-6. Unfortunately for the Wildcats however, their attempted two-point conversion pass attempt failed to find anything but the blue and gold turfed endzone.
Johnston passed for 291 yards on 28/42 with four scores, with Zayne Perkins (11/108/2) and Maddux McFarlin (10/119/2) teaming up as his two favorite targets.
Five different rushers including a 24-yard jaunt from Kessler (4 carries, 107 yards, 1 touchdown) set in motion a two yard plunge from Caleb Schmidt to send the hosts into the halftime break ahead 35-6.
“Jacob Kessler is a very good football player” said Frye. “He continues to get better and better and he’s always willing to play any position on the field. I’m proud of the progress he’s making, he really wants to win.”
On their first three possessions of the second half, the Kenton offense looked to be as potent as their counterparts from the days of Mauk.
Amassing half of their 294 passing yards on the night the Wildcats and Johnston spread the ball around for two Zayne Perkins 11-yard touchdown receptions, and a 26-yard hookup with McFarlin. Kenton hit on two of their three two-point conversion attempts to run their tally to 28 points.
A pair of one yard scores from quarterback Aiden Meinerding, his third of the season, and Osborne’s 13th of the year increased the Roughrider lead to 48-20 early in the fourth quarter. Needing a two-point conversion to be successful for a running clock, the hosts Caleb Schmidt rumbled in to move the advantage to 50-20 with 9:49 left in the game.
Over the course of just under one minute of play and with just over one minute remaining, the Riders added the final 14 markers to their lead on two highlight worthy efforts.
Sophomore Tre Moore who a week ago caught the only touchdown pass of the season thusfar for St. Marys used his running ability with 1:14 left on third down as he raced 51 yards down the field and into the endzone. Classmate Dyllan Fink ended the night moments later with a pick of an attempted Kenton screen pass from backup quarterback Anden Goldsmith into a 44-yard score.
“Tre and Fink are the future in our backfield and in our secondary” said Frye. “They’re still young but they’re finding ways to contribute to the varsity’s success.”
On the night the Riders rushed for 499 yards on the ground on 58 carries also ended the night a perfect 6/6 in the redzone while their counterparts Kenton finished with just 51 yards on 22 carries.
St. Marys has now knocked off the Wildcats nine times in a row and have amassed a point differential of 423-180 in the same span.
Kenton will host Van Wert (3-5) next week at Robinson Field in an attempt to halt a five game slide. The Roughriders will hit the road to visit Kraft Field in Elida (2-6) in week nine.