Dutchmen run down Mounties

Ron Bracken For the CDT

PHILIPSBURG — Two second-half drives told the story of Friday night’s game between St. Marys and Philipsburg-Osceola.

One, a 5-play, 66-yard march that ended in a touchdown for the Flying Dutchmen to start the second half, proved to be the spoiler in the Mounties’ Homecoming.

The other, a 13-play, 50-yarder by the Mounties that ate up 6:50 of the fourth quarter, proved to be a march to nowhere and sentenced them to a 19-6 loss on a quagmire with yard lines at Memorial Stadium.

St. Marys, holding a 12-6 lead coming out of the halftime break, got the ball and promptly drove from its own 34 to the end zone with fullback Kyle Schneider finishing the trip from two yards out. The drive, which featured runs of 19 and 25 yards by Schneider and a 19-yard burst by Kevin Hoy, used up only 1:51 of the clock. Scott Barber kicked the final point of the game.

“That drive to start the second half was key for us,” said St. Marys coach Joe Schlimm. “We only used two basic plays, a sweep and a fullback trap. We did a nice job of running the perimeter.”

Hoy, who weighs in at 210 pounds, finished with 167 yards on 20 carries. Schneider, who weighs 195, chipped in with 82 yards, mostly in the second half when St. Marys did not throw a pass.

“We’re built for these conditions,” Schlimm said. “I’m not going to complain about the rain or a muddy field because power football is what we do best. We feel like we have a good offensive line and strong backs.”

“We basically gave up a short drive to start the second half,” said Mountie coach Jeff Vroman. “What was it, five, six plays? They came out and blocked off tackle. The low man wins and they were low man. They got after us. They got us blocked.”

P-O missed its best opportunity to get back in the game when it began a drive on its own 21 with 9:44 left in the game. But the march stalled 13 plays and 6:40 later when Mike Marcinko’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete at the St. Marys 29 with 2:54 to go.

“With the Wing-T, it’s tough to play catchup in these conditions,” Schlimm said. “In the fourth quarter they converted some third downs but it took them a long time to get down there.”

“At times we executed well,” Vroman said, “especially in these conditions. We had some momentum but then in the second half we gave up that long drive.’’

St. Marys scored the first time it got the football. A punt of minus four yards gave the Dutchmen the football on the P-O 40 and they moved to the 17 where, on fourth-and-10, Greg Simchik found Justin Quiggle along along the sideline at the Mountie 8. One play later, Simchik hit Sean Sadowsky in the back of the end zone for the touchdown with 4:55 left in the quarter. The PAT kick was blocked.

St. Marys went on another scoring drive the next time it got the ball, this march ending with Hoy bolting 39 yards for the score on the second play of the second quarter. The pass for the two-point conversion was incomplete.

The Mountie offense sprang to life midway through the second quarter when they went 99 yards in seven plays, finishing when Marcinko ran a keeper around the left end and went 63 yards untouched for the score. The kick of the PAT was no good.

“Overall, I was proud of the effort, especially with these field conditions,” Vroman said. “We’ve just got to learn from this and get better. There are still a lot of (playoff) points out there to get.”