TIPP CITY – Friday night the second round of the playoffs will see eighth seeded St. Marys travel south to take on top seeded Tippecanoe.
Last week St. Marys survived a visit from Miami Trace 28-24 while Tippecanoe blew out visiting Talawanda 49-7.
“That was a wild game,” said Roughriders head coach Bo Frye. “I thought it was the worst we have executed the entire season, luckily in the end we were able to find a way to move on.”
Trailing 24-21 with under a minute remaining and no timeouts, the Riders found themselves forced to throw the football. Junior quarterback Aiden Meinerding found a wide open receiver in sophomore Parker Beam waiting at the end of a 41-yard heave to send St. Marys fans home happy and move on in the playoffs.
Meinerding’s 4/6, 106 yard passing performance broke a string for St. Marys of 45 consecutive games without a 100+ yard passer. Gavin Reineke accomplished the feat last for the Roughriders in a September 10th, 2021 loss to Ottawa Glandorf that saw him finish 9/19 for 142 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions.
“Parker Beam has been making catches like that since the seventh grade,” exclaimed Frye.
Tippecanoe enters play Friday night with an 11-0 record and a high powered offense scoring 42.4 points per game. Led by dynamic 5’10 sophomore signal caller Larkin Thomas, the Red Devils have scored 40 points or more six times this season.
Thomas, the leading passer in the Miami Valley League has completed 163/238 passes for 2,482 yards and 36 scores while tossing just six interceptions. Junior Xavier Melton paces the ground attack with 11 touchdowns and 859 yards for the Red Devils on the season.
“We have to tackle, play better defense, and don’t let balls go over our head,” opined Frye on how to slow down the opposing offense. “We have to play fundamental football, I compare them to a mix of Celina and Van Wert from the last couple of years, they sling the ball all over the field.”
This season the Roughriders (9-2) have gained 334.1 yards per game on the ground, and have rushed for 6.1 yards per carry. First team Western Buckeye League selections Dominik Osborne (1,269 yards, 20 touchdowns), and Colton Mabry (911 yards, 11 scores) anchor the backfield for St. Marys. Junior Caleb Schmidt this season has rushed for 865 yards and seven touchdowns and provides a third option for opposing defenses to worry about.
“We have to do out responsibilities, we’re a gap defense,” said Tippecanoe head coach Matt Burgbacher. “Can we go toe to toe with them size wise? No. We have to move around and use our athleticism, the things that have gotten us to this point. St. Marys can run anything out of any formation and we will need to get in the gaps to try to slow them down.”
Friday night will be the fourth all-time meeting between the two schools. St. Marys won on the road at Tippecanoe in both 2006 and 2008 by a 21-14 margin thanks to late rushing scores from Scott Laman (2006), and Josh Zimmerman (2008).
WKKI, K94 will have coverage of the contest beginning at 6:30pm locally on 94.3 FM and online at https://streamdb4web.securenetsystems.net/cirruscontent/WKKI with Chase Dettrow and Dennis Cisco on the call.