LIMA – The St. Marys running game did most of the damage in its 35-7 win over Elida , but it was a pass play at the end of the first half that really spelled doom for the Bulldogs in the Western Buckeye League tilt Friday night.
With just 48 seconds left in the first half, the Roughriders, after giving up a touchdown to the Bulldogs, took over at their own 35 yard line. After three plays the Riders pushed the ball to the 49 yard line. On third down, Rider quarterback Dustin Howell faked the handoff and rolled right with many of the Elida defenders chasing him. This left Rider running back Eric Spicer wide open in the flats on the left The fleet-footed senior grabbed the ball at the 40 and outran the Bulldogs for pay dirt with just over 20 seconds left in the half.
With the 21- 7 lead going into the second half, the Roughriders were able to sustain big drives and keep Elida’s offense off the team and score two more touchdowns of their own to outscore the Bulldogs 14-0 in the second half. Minus the late fourth quarter possession at the end of the game, Elida had the ball just three times in the second half.
“That was an important touchdown I thought in the ballgame,” St. Marys head coach Doug Frye said. “We really felt we should have punched the one in on the drive before that and I was upset with that but you have got to give our kids credit for their resiliency and their continuing to play. Since the opener this has been our tightest game so it was good to get into a situations like that and get tested.”
Elida head coach Bill Speller called the touchdown at the end of the first half a “backbreaker.”
Speller added that his team had too many dropped passes and the offense moved the ball but made key mistakes when it counted.
“We had some open guys and some dropped balls and that put us into bad situations. I thought we ran the football very well but then we would get ourselves in bad situations and it hard to dig out when you have just the running game there.”
For the game Spicer led the Roughrider rushing machine with 139 yards on 14 carries and two touchdowns. Backfield mate Dustin Fisher also eclipsed the century mark in rushing, going for 115 on 30 carries and one touchdown. Even Roughrider fullback Bo Kuenning produced a season-high 71 yards on 11 carries. For the game, the Riders had 355 yards on the ground.
For Elida, McAdams was the leading ground gainer for the Bulldogs with 65 yards on 14 carries and scored Elida’s lone touchdown.
But McAdams running was one of the few bright spots for the Bulldogs offense which managed just 190 total yards and were manhandled in the second half. The Roughriders recorded two interceptions and five sacks for the game.
The Roughriders made it look easy by scoring on their first two possessions. On the first scoring drive the Roughriders, utilizing their stable of running backs, marched 70 yards on eight plays for the touchdown. Fisher capped off the drive when he rumbled in from six yards out.
Thanks to a Roughrider interception at the Elida 46, St. Marys did not have to travel as far for their second touchdown. Unlike the previous drive, the Riders mixed in a couple of passes in the scoring drive but the result was the same as they traveled 46 yards in seven plays. Spicer did the honors this time as he raced in untouched from 17 yards out.
Despite the early 14-0 deficit, Elida came storming back on their next possession. Set up by a nice punt return by De’Angelo Woods, the Bulldogs began their drive at Roughrider 45 yard line. Giving the Roughriders a little dose of its own medicine by running the ball six straight times to hit paydirt. McAdams, who had 37 of those yards, raced in from 17 yards for the Bulldogs first touchdown. After the successful extra point, Elida had sliced the Roughrider lead in half, 14-7 with a little more than two minutes left in the half.
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