LIMA – St. Marys moved one step closer to clinching a home first round playoff game on Friday night as they defeated Bath 35-7 in their regular season road finale at Bath Stadium.
Opening their eighth game of the season with the football the Riders wasted no time launching into a prototypical St. Marys style drive as they punched their way down the field 72 yards over 11 plays in 4:51 of game action for the first score of the evening. Sophomore running back Colton Mabry notched his third touchdown of the season, a 10 yard jaunt to put the Riders up 7-0 with 7:07 to go in the first period.
The most important drive of the entire evening came for St. Marys on their second drive as quarterback Cody Wallace was knocked from the game and did not return after being hit by a Bath defender on an incomplete pass. Unfortunately for the Roughriders their bit of attempted trickery of a halfback pass resulted in an interception by the Wildcats.
Fourteen plays and almost seven minutes elapsed for Bath on the ensuing drive that saw the hosts pick up five first downs but end without a score as the Roughrider defense tossed a goal line stand at their hosts and forced a turnover on downs just outside the one on a fourth down stop.
Aided by a 49 yard jaunt from Mabry the Riders wasted no time stretching their advantage to 14-0 on just five plays thanks to the sixth rushing score of the season by Brayden Sullivan who swam untouched through the defense for a 23 yard score with 5:43 remaining before the halftime break.
St. Marys Aiden Hinkle entered the week nine matchup as the league’s leading rusher with 1,044 yards and found himself tied for the conference’s lead in ground scores with 15. On this night the 6’0, 210 pound senior helped push his lead in both categories as his next two touches of the evening would result in scampers of 39 and 89 yards for touchdowns to push the St. Marys lead to 28-0 at the halftime break.
Colton Mabry opened the second half following a Bath punt with the third consecutive play for a touchdown on the ground for the Roughriders by sprinting 36 yards for his second rushing marker of the evening to give the visitors a 35-0 advantage with 10:13 left in the third and send the game into a running clock mode.
Punts, a Brayden Sullivan interception, turnover on downs, and fumbles led the rest of the ballgame as the Roughriders began to work in their bench against the Bath first and second team units.
Bath’s lone touchdown of the evening and third offensive score of the season came with just :06 showing on the stadium scoreboard thanks to a heavily pressured pass from freshman Zach Welsch found a way into the hands of 6’3 sophomore wideout Ethan Cole who raced to the endzone for a 65 yard score.
The Wildcats (0-9, 0-8) amassed 155 total yards on the evening paced by Mikey Hale leading the ground patrol with 76 yards on 22 carries and Welsch tossing for 93 yards and a score on 7 of 13 with one interception through the air. Bath will finish their regular season next Friday night as they take on Van Wert.
St. Marys (7-2, 6-2) collected all of their 475 yards on the ground and were led by the duo of Aiden Hinkle (12 carries, 193 yards, 2 touchdowns), and Colton Mabry (8 carries, 123 yards, 2 touchdowns) who each collected over 100 yards in the same game for the first time this season.
Up next for the Roughriders is a Friday evening clash of the Battle of Grand Lake against rival Celina (6-3) that can be heard live on WKKI K94.3 FM.