Big Walnut holds off St. Marys

LEWISTOWN - St. Marys had its chances in the final quarter.

But each time, it was turned away by the Big Walnut defense.

Sunbury Big Walnut held on a for a 17-12 victory over St. Marys in the Division III football regional semifinals Saturday at Indian Lake High School.

St. Marys led 12-0 after the first quarter and 12-7 at the half. Big Walnut's offense came alive in the second half and its defense turned back the Roughriders to post the victory.

"Big Walnut is a quality football team and we had some quality opportunities we didn't cash in on and really should have," St. Marys coach Doug Frye said.

Big Walnut took the lead to stay on a 2-yard run by quarterback Johnny Cannell around the left side to give the Golden Eagles a 14-12 lead with 3:15 left in the third quarter.

Jeremy Frey paced the St. Marys' offense with 171 yards on 27 carries with a 32-yard TD.

Defending state champion Big Walnut (10-2) advances to the regional championship game against the Avon-Tiffin Columbian winner next Saturday at a site to be named. St. Marys ends the year 9-3.

The game came down to the final quarter when it appeared Big Walnut was trying to drain the clock with a 17-12 lead. However, Buddy Carrel lost a fumble straight up in the air after a 22-yard gain and St. Marys' Cory Dammeyer plucked it out of the air like toast flying from a toaster. He recovered the ball at the St. Marys 34 with 6:20 to go.

On the first play after the fumble for St. Marys, Aaron Homan went 36 yards to the Big Walnut 30. But on a fourth-and-3 at the Big Walnut 23, Homan went into the line for no gain and that turned the ball back to Big Walnut with 4:30 to go.

St. Marys did get one more shot. It started on its own 26 with 1:50 left. The Roughriders reached their own 40 until Jake Taylor was picked off by Nick Heiden at the Big Walnut 46 with 1:15 to go.

St. Marys began the game mixing up the run and the pass and went 51 yards in eight plays for score on its first drive. Taylor hit Cody Martin for a 23-yard TD to give the Roughriders a 6-0 lead.

St. Marys made it 12-0 on its next drive (five plays, 80 yards) when Frey got loose up the middle for a 32-yard touchdown with 4:24 left in the first half.

"The first half they kind of knocked us on our heels and we were kind of backpedaling," Big Walnut coach Scott Wetzel said. "To get that score before the half was huge for our momentum."

St. Marys' Taylor completed 7-of-19 for the game for 100 yards, but was picked off twice. A critical Taylor interception came with just 49 seconds left in the first half. Jacob Delledesco made the pick at the St. Marys 39. Four plays later, Big Walnut scored on a 15-yard pass from Johnny Cannell to Bret Meyers to get within 12-7 with 21 seconds before halftime.

"That was bad," Frye said of the interception. "And they capitalized on it. ... We should have been able to run more effectively in the second half and because we couldn't, that was the difference."

Cannell worked mostly out of the spread and completed 6-of-16 for 72 yards. Eugene Cannaday ran for 68 yards on two carries, including one for 40 yards out of the wildcat formation. The last 10 yards on the 40-yard run Cannaday ran backwards. Four plays later, Cannell scored from the 2 for the go-ahead score.

"We were deep in our playbook. I'll tell you that," Wetzel said. "I think it might be empty. We threw everything that we possible could at them."