ST. MARYS – Legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi once stated three things can happen when a team throws a pass—one good, two bad but on Friday night Roughrider QB Cody Wallace completed two good tosses for scores on the way to a 42-31 victory over visiting London.
Wallace, a junior starter who tossed just 14 passes during his injury riddled sophomore season hooked up twice in the second half with Brayden Sullivan and Keegan Sharpe for touchdowns on his only two attempts on this night.
St. Marys opened with the football and found themselves deep inside Red Raider territory quickly on the first drive of the game, but saw it end with a fumble that gave the visitors the ball at the Rider 31.
One play was all it took for London to dent the scoreboard at Grand Lake Health Systems Field first as the duo of Damian Roby and Connor Lacey hooked up for the first marker of the evening with 9:06 left in the opening period.
Trailing 7-0 but starting at the Red Raider 40 thanks to a trio of incompletions and a short punt the Roughriders tied the contest with 4:09 remaining by finishing off a two minute drive on a 19 yard scamper from Sharpe around the right end and sideline to bring the home fans to their feet.
Now feeding off of the energy of their own faithful, the Riders again marched into the endzone by utilizing a short field to begin when senior Aiden Hinkle notched his 23rd career score from a yard out with 9:37 to go before the half to finish off a nine play drive and push St. Marys into the lead for the first time.
Despite losing a good majority of standout players from a 10-3 2021 campaign the Red Raiders showed this years squad is able to execute a balanced attack on their final possession of the first half when they tossed and rushed their way to a score.
Starting at the St. Marys 42 after forcing a turnover on downs London’s balanced playcalling resulted in a plunge from a yard out by Noah Sollars to tie up the game at 14-14 with 1:04 left before the break.
Fueled by the need for speed and perhaps inspired by Top Gun, the Roughriders raced 57 yards in just :44 seconds on a four play drive to recapture the lead when Wallace tossed a perfect ball over the top of three would be defenders into the waiting arms of Keegan Sharpe with 19.3 seconds left to go back on top 21-14.
Opening the second half with great field position thanks to a big return from Elijah Mitchell, London seemed prime to knot the score but found themselves searching for a long field goal attempt after a sack of Damian Roby on third down. Returning starter Kyle Fullmer expanded his range from a season ago to cut the deficit to 21-17 as he knocked down a 38-yard attempt with 8:32 showing on the stadium scoreboard to give the Red Raiders the first score of the second half.
Three first downs on their first four plays from scrimmage to open the second half quickly pushed the Roughriders across midfield on their first possession. Using time provided by his offensive line, Wallace fired a strike down field to Brayden Sullivan who raced past the London secondary for a 33-yard score and a 28-17 advantage.
Though the game was perhaps trending away from them in the momentum category, London fought back again to within a field goal on their ensuing possession as they nearly six minutes off of the clock on a 12-play, 80 yard drive that finished on a third down connection from Roby to Elijah Mitchell. St. Marys stopped the would be two-point conversion run and kept themselves in front 28-25 to begin the final stanza.
Nine plays, all runs for the Roughriders on their next chance with the football proved to be fruitful once again to taking back a bigger lead as the blue and gold finished off nine play output with Hinkle’s second score of the evening, a nine yard rumble with 8:13 left in the fourth.
Back on offense after clamping down and forcing a punt, St. Marys upped their lead to 42-25 with 7:06 remaining in the fourth thanks to a 40-yard sprint from Sharpe for his third score of the night on the only play needed for the drive.
London finished the games scoring as time expired on their 11th and final drive on their 14th play to cap an 86-yard drive with a 26-yard pass pass from Roby to 5’8 sophomore June Turner that provided the last moment of a 42-31 Rider triumph.
Roby led the air attack for the Red Raiders (0-1) hitting on 18 of 31 passes for 225 yards and three touchdowns and was joined by Noah Sollars who added 30 yards and a score on 11 carries.
St. Marys rushed 50 times for 301 yards in the win and was paced by a trio of backs in Keegan Sharpe (88 yards, 2 touchdowns), Aiden Hinkle (87 yards, 2 scores), and Colton Mabry (80 yards) on the ground. Cody Wallace finished off his first home start with a 2/2 performance for 77 yards and a pair of scores through the air.
The Roughriders improve to 61-39-6 all-time in season openers and improve their Grand Lake Health Systems Field mark to 16-1 with the victory.
Next week London will take on Chillicothe while the Roughriders head north to take on a 1-0 Defiance Bulldogs squad who were victorious over Napoleon 28-7 to open the season.