ST. MARYS – Friday night St. Marys celebrated senior night at Grand Lake Health Field and shut out visiting Bath 28-0 in a Western Buckeye League showdown.
On their first offensive possession of the game the Bath offense found themselves able to dodge the raindrops and and Roughrider defenders for twelve plays and nearly 70 yards but saw their chances at taking an early lead end when Jace Schaefer recovered a Wildcat fumble at the Riders 9.
Utilizing their #1 ranked running game the St. Marys offense marched a season best 91 yards over the course of 10 plays and into the endzone on a one yard plunge from QB Gavin Reineke to take a 7-0 advantage at 10:54 in the second period.
One play before Reineke’s score St. Marys junior rusher Aiden Hinkle thumped his way through the Bath defense and nearly picked up a score himself before being tackled just short of the line for a 34 yard gain, his best run of the year.
Though Bath was once again able to move the football on the Roughrider defense on their ensuing possession it was once again the hosts who would be next to turn in a score on a 75 yard punt return touchdown by Braeden Hemmelgarn to take a 13-0 lead with 5:55 remaining before the half.
With only a missed extra point by kicker Brandon Bowers working against building their lead on the evening the Roughriders capped on an 88 yard drive with a six play effort on a 53 yard hookup from Gavin Reineke to wideout Keegan Sharpe. Brayden Sullivan’s successful two point conversion run pushed the advantage to 21-0 with 1:12 left in the period for St. Marys.
Three punts opened the second half before the Roughriders found themselves in possession of the football on their second drive of the half at their own 48.
First down runs by Hinkle and Hemmelgarn moved the offense to the Bath 25 before Hemmelgarn himself sprinted in for his sixth score in the last three games to give his squad a 28-0 lead with the Bowers extra point at 11:43 to go in the final period.
Turnovers haunted the Wildcats throughout the evening as they would succumb to an interception by Keegan Sharpe and a fumble recovery by Braxton King before the contest drew to a close.
Bath (5-4, 4-4) has now dropped back to back games and will be in action for Week 10 at league leading Van Wert needing a win to keep themselves in the hunt for a spot in the Division 5 playoffs.
Ian Armentrout finished 16/26 through the air for 133 yards and an interception while his offense was held to just 42 yards on 30 carries as a group.
St. Marys picks up their second shutout win of the season and improves their record to 7-2 on the season, 6-2 in Western Buckeye League contests.
Gavin Reineke finished 2/2 for 66 yards and his third touchdown pass of the season through the air while Hemmelgarn led the ground attack with 66 yards and a score on five carries for a Roughrider offense that outgained their Bath counterparts 288-175 in total yards.
Next up for the Roughriders is their annual Battle of Grand Lake matchup at rival Celina that can be heard live on WKKI beginning at 6:25 P.M.