ST. MARYS — St. Marys set the tone on both sides of the ball right from the opening kick on its way to a commanding 34-7 victory over Ridgway at Dutch Country Stadium Friday night.
The battle of unbeatens saw the Dutchmen defense open the game by forcing a three-and-out despite back-to-back offsides penalties.
St. Marys then started its first drive of the night just shy of the 50 at its own 49-yard line.
James Davis, who broke out for a huge night on the ground, opened the drive with an 18-yard burst before Christian Coudriet connected with Michael Fitzgerald for 17 yards as the Dutch quickly found themselves in the red zone.
Davis then used a pair of 8-yard carries, the second of which going for a touchdown, to put the home side on the board just 3:18 into the game.
Vinicius Nunes added the extra-point to put St. Marys ahead 7-0.
“I thought the defense set the tone right off the bat and got our whole team confidence going and got us momentum,” St. Marys head coach Chris Dworek said. “In high school that momentum is so important and it was just a perfect start.”
On the night, Davis finished with 168 yards rushing on 25 carries while also coming up with an interception on defense for the Dutch.
The Elkers were able to pick up one first down on their second drive of the game by virtue of a penalty on the defense, but were eventually forced to punt from near midfield.
Starting on its own 9-yard line, St. Marys’ offense continued to roll, driving back into the red zone, with the big play coming on a 22-yard connection between Coudriet and Mitchell Reiter.
Coudriet finished the game 16-of-24 passing for 200 yards and three touchdowns to one interception.
Reiter accounted for 97 of those yards on six grabs, while Fitzgerald made seven catches for 78 yards.
Coudriet looked to find the end zone with his legs on a 2nd-and-8 play from the 11, but had the ball jarred free just outside the end zone, as the Elkers’ Domenic Allegretto recovered in the end zone for a touchback.
St. Marys eventually took a 7-0 lead into the second quarter, as a lengthy 11-play drive that stretched from the first to second quarter gave it a two-score lead.
Coudriet capped the drive with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Logan Mosier on a third-and-goal play to make it 14-0 with 8:01 left in the second quarter.
Ridgway later capitalized on an interception by Tyler Merritt to put up its lone points of the night.
The pick set the Elkers up just shy of midfield, as the big play of the drive came when Ben Briggs hit Wil Howard on a wide receiver screen for a 40-yard pickup.
Camron Marciniak found the end zone on the next play, punching it in from five yards out on the ground to cut the score in half at 14-7 with just under two minutes remaining in the half, as St. Marys eventually took the seven-point lead into the half.
The Dutchmen opened the second half on a strong note with an 11-play, 68-yard drive that saw Coudriet go 5-of-7 through the air.
The fifth of the junior’s completions on the drive went to Fitzgerald on a slant route across the middle, as he beat his defender and stretched out to make the catch at the goal line for a 21-yard touchdown.
A missed extra-point left the score at 20-7 with 7:32 to go in the third quarter.
The Elkers looked for a response, but Briggs had his 3rd-and-17 pass across the middle intercepted by Davis, setting the home team’s offense up in plus territory at the 27.
Five plays later, on a 3rd-and-10, Reiter hauled in a pass from Coudriet at the near pylon for a 15-yard score just 3:30 after Fitzgerald’s score to balloon the lead to 27-7.
Another long drive, this time 12 plays and 65 yards led to the final score of the game, as Davis punched it in from four yards out with 56 seconds left in the game to bring the final score to 34-7.
“After playing pretty well the first three games, we play everybody again, so it’s going to be a lot tougher,” Dworek said.
“That’s what we’re going to stress Monday, there are a lot of areas we can improve on.”
Both teams are back in action next week at home, as St. Marys (3-0) welcomes Kane while Ridgway (2-1) hosts Bradford.
COUDERSPORT — A fast Falcon start proved to be the difference as Coudersport topped visiting Elk County Catholic, 39-20.
Coudy (3-0) raced out to a 24-0 lead after the first quarter by way of a four-yard Hayden Keck touchdown run, a 49-yard pass from Keck to Dalton Keglovits, a 36-yard Gavyn Ayers run and a safety. The Falcons never relinquished that lead the rest of the way.
Keck finished with 81 yards passing and the one score on a 2-for-8 night, but ran for 108 yards and three scores. Ayers amassed 99 yards and his score on eight rushes, while Brandt Kightlinger ran for 120 yards on 20 carries.
ECC (1-2) managed to trim the Coudy lead to 24-14 in the second quarter after tailback Sam Kaul hit paydirt from 19 yards out and then hauled in a 15-yard scoring pass from Mason McAllister. That was as close as the Crusaders got, however, as Keck ran in his second rushing score just before halftime to push the Coudy lead back out to 32-14 before the break.
The quarterback scored again in the third on a 40-yard run to cap the Falcons’ night, while ECC picked up one final touchdown from Nick Crisp on a two-yard scamper.
Kaul ran for 168 yards and his score on 17 carries for Elk Catholic, while Crisp added 86 yards and a touchdown on 23 rushes.
Keglovits had two receptions for 81 yards and a score in the Falcons’ pass attack.
ECC has a short week, as the Crusaders host Port Allegany (0-3) on Thursday night in St. Marys. Coudersport visits Otto-Eldred (1-1) on Friday.
AT COUDERSPORT
ECC 0 14 6 0—20
Coudy 24 8 7 0—39
TEAM STATISTICS
First Downs: ECC: 19, Coudy: 19; Rushes/Yards Rushing: ECC: 45-261, Coudy: 42-334; Yards Passing: ECC: 49, Coudy: 81; Comp-Att-Int: ECC: 6-16-0, Coudy: 2-8-0; Penalties: ECC: 7-65, Coudy: 5-40; Fumbles-Lost: ECC: 2-1, Coudy: 3-1; Total Yards: ECC: 310, Coudy: 415; Offensive Plays: ECC: 61, Coudy: 50
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Passing: ECC: Mason McAllister 6-16-49-1-0; Coudy: Hayden Keck 2-8-81-1–0
Rushing: ECC: Sam Kaul 17-168-1, Nick Crisp 23-86-1, Raivis Bobby 1-11, McAllister 3-5; Coudy: Brandt Kightlinger 20-120, Keck 12-108-3, Gavyn Ayers 8-99-1, Josh Ross 1-5, Owen Deutschlander 1-2
Receiving: ECC: Kaul 2-16-1, Ryan Schatz 2-16, Joe Tettis 1-14, Crisp 1-3; Coudy: Dalton Keglovits 2-81-1
Scoring summary
First quarter
Coudy: Keck, 4-yard run (2-pt conversion run), 8:58
Coudy: Keglovits, 49-yard pass from Keck (2-pt conversion run), 4:08
Coudy: Safety, 2:07
Coudy: Ayers, 36-yard run (2-pt conversion failed), 1:06
Second quarter
ECC: Kaul, 19-yard run (2-pt conversion failed), 11:52
ECC: Kaul, 15-yard pass from McAllister (2-point conversion run), 9:48
Coudy: Keck, 2-yard run (2-pt conversion run), 2:09
Third quarter
Coudy: Keck, 40-yard run (Keglovits PAT), 10:14
ECC: Crisp, 2-yard run (2-pt conversion pass), 6:18
Fourth quarter
No scoring.
