By JOHN DYSERT
The Evening Leader

LIMA - Brandon Meyer and the Roughriders received a heavy dose of varsity football Friday evening.

After gathering 171 yards on the ground last week against still-winless Elida, Meyer got bangeed up and knocked around against Bath's top-rated defense, only netting 15 yards on 14 carries.

The rest of St. Marys' offense didn't fare much better, as it produced a mere 91 yards of total offense in a 32-0 loss.

Bath's defense was stellar - Wildcat linebacker Chris Walsh was everywhere, knocking St. Marys' offensive linemen around and sealing the corners so Roughrider backs couldn't make it outside.

Bath's offense, while by no means mistake free - it lost three fumbles, surrendered an interception and was plagued by penalties - was clearly superior in the trenches and in the air.

Junior Nate Sites rushed for 200 yards and quarterback Tim Sielschott threw for 127 yards and two touchdowns. Bath produced 454 yards of total offense.

"They physically got after us tonight," said St. Marys head coach Doug Frye. "I give Coach [Jerry] Cooper a lot of credit. He's a first-class individual with a first-class program."

St. Marys hung close through the first half, only trailing 15-0 at the half.

And to start the third period, momentum shifted toward St. Marys after Brian Christopher ended a five-minute Wildcat drive by scooping up a fumble at St. Marys' 14-yard line.

The Roughriders responded by going three and out, but on the ensuing punt, Bath's Greg Wolfe fumbled Terry Halko's punt, which Christopher recovered.

St. Marys' second gift was further aided by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty by Bath Head Coach Jerry Cooper, which gave the Riders possession at Bath's 31-yard line.

But St. Marys' threat ended when quarterback John Meinerding lost a fumble to Bath's Eric Markley at Bath's 43-yard line while attempting a pass.

"That was a big play," Cooper said. "We made a lot of mistakes, but from that point on we really dominated. If we didn't lose some of those fumbles, we could have put up 50 points."

Bath took the fumble and made the score 18-0 after Josh Basset kicked a 23-yard field goal. The Wildcats then forced a quick St. Marys punt and struck again with a 13-yard screen pass from Sielschott to Travis Lamb.

Bath's final score came early in the fourth period on a drive where Sites shredded the Roughrider reserves for an easy 65 yards, including a ten-yard scoring run.

"It doesn't matter what you do X's and O's-wise, you gotta play hard," Frye said. "Bath has a group of people that plays the game exceptionally hard. We have a group of people that have to learn some of that again."

The loss drops the Roughriders to 3-3 overall and 2-3 in Western Buckeye League competition.

Bob Huttis led the St. Marys rushers with 51 yards on 12 carries. Andy Slone picked off a pass in the contest.

"Every program goes through a transition from time-to-time," Cooper said of St. Marys. "One thing I can tell you, though, is that those kids [St. Marys] are disciplined and team-oriented. They'll get better as time passes."

St. Marys hosts Celina next Friday night.