High school football: Wapakoneta tops St. Marys in overtime

ST. MARYS – St. Marys was running wild in the second half.

But with the game on the line in overtime, Wapakoneta made the key stop to the St. Marys running game.

Wapakoneta scored in overtime and posted a 29-22 OT victory over St. Marys Friday at St. Marys.

It marked the third time in four years that the two teams went to overtime.

St. Marys is 2-1, 1-1 in the Western Buckeye League. Wapak is 2-1, 2-0 in the WBL.

Wapakoneta had the ball first on OT and scored on a Caleb Moyer 1-yard TD sneak.

Wapak got to the 1 on a 17-yard pass from Moyer to Jordan Schneider.

That gave the Redskins a 29-22 lead.

St. Marys had the ball at the Wapak 17 on a fourth-and-7. Quarterback Cody Wallace ran a keeper around the right side.

Wapak’s Jayden Rampulla met him after a 2-yard gain to end the game.

“I just saw the lead blocker and I went out and chased him down,” Rampulla said. “It felt great. I’m really thankful I was able to do it with my team.’’

Rampulla said the defense hit another gear in the OT period.

“I feel we could have lost right there (in regulation), but we stepped it up and made the plays when we had to.’’

Wapak coach Travis Moyer said, “I thought we won it on early downs (in overtime). I thought we had the line of scrimmage in overtime. Credit our front for making plays.

“We knew coming into this season if we were going to be successful, we had to play really well defensively. We knew the strength of our team was our defensive line. … We know big-time players make big-time plays and obviously there were a lot of players who made big plays tonight. It was another great game between two great schools.’’

For Wapak, Jace Knous had 15 carries for 96 yards.

Wapak freshman quarterback Caleb Moyer completed 6 of 8 for 82 yards. He ran for 27 on 11 carries.

For St. Marys, Brayden Sullivan had 28 carries for 124 yards and one TD.

Aiden Hinkle had 74 yards on 15 carries, but he didn’t play in the backfield in the second half. Keegan Sharpe had 67 yards on seven carries.

Wapak held a 22-8 lead with 8:32 left in the third quarter when St. Marys began ramming the ball down the Redskins’ throat.

First, St. Marys went 80 yards in 14 plays.

Sullivan scored on a 2-yard TD run to bring St. Marys within 22-15.

Sullivan had 10 carries for 52 yards on the drive.

Then, St. Marys went 80 yards in 10 plays.

Sharpe broke two tackles at the line and turned the right corner for a 45-yard TD.

That tied the game at 22 with 7:38 to go.

St. Marys lined up for a 37-yard field goal on the final play of regulation, but the kick was blocked at the line.

Last season Van Wert and Wapak shared the title at 8-1. St. Marys was third at 7-2.

Wapak scored the first time it touched the ball, as the Redskins cashed in on a big punt return to take over at the St. Marys’ 30.

Wapak went 30 yards in five plays to score.

Moyer went off left tackle for a 2-yard TD to give the Redskins a 7-0 lead.

That came with 8:01 left in the first quarter.

The TD was set up on a 21-yard slant pass from Meyer to Grant Jolly, which took the ball to the St. Marys’ 7.

The next two TDs, one by each team, were set up off fumbles.

Wapak’s Kaden Ware recovered an Hinkle fumble and took over at the Wapak 45.

From there, Wapak went 55 yards in eight plays for a score.

Moyer snuck it over from the 2 for the TD. With the two-point conversion after a botched snap for the extra-point kick, Wapak led 15-0 with 10:07 left before halftime.

With 2:24 left before the half, Moyer tried to run up the middle and was stood up and popped by Hayden Davis at the line of scrimmage.

The ball came loose and St. Marys’ Keegan Sharpe recovered.

After the fumble return and a penalty on the return, St. Marys took over at the Wapak 27.

The Roughriders took six plays to cover the 27 yards for the TD.

Hinkle went off left tackle for a 3-yard TD. With the two-point conversion, St. Marys cut the Wapak lead to 15-8 with 25 seconds left before halftime.

WBL history notes: St. Marys owns 25 Western Buckeye League football titles, the most in history. Wapak has 13 WBL football titles, which is third.

Since 2012, Wapak has won five WBLs outright or shared it. St. Marys has three titles since 2012.

Tom Usher wrote this story for The Lima News. Reach The Lima News sports department at 567-242-0451.