The extra point

Welcome to the extra point.
It's little saturday morning follow up to the game I covered on Friday; a bric-a-brac of notes and observiations from last night's Ritchie County-St. Marys game.
St. Marys' 53-6 win over the Class AA Rebels was both thorough and complete. It also makred the seventh straight time the Blue Devils have beaten Ritchie.
That's right, the Rebels haven't notched a win over their inter-county rival since 2001.
Even though St. Marys dominated the game, it sputtered early, most of which could probably be chalked up to Game 1 jitters.
Once the pads started cracking the Blue Devils got in step and walked right over Ritchie.
Nothing against Ritchie County, it was simply overmatched. Quarterback Andy Liscomb has a strong arm, but he was pressured all night and overthrew the majority of his recievers. Richie's corps of running backs found no running room.
The offense punted nine times. I don't remember the last time I saw a team punt nine times in a game.
Though, that's not entirely a negative.
Credit the Rebels for hanging onto the ball. They had only one fumble all night. No turnovers. So there is upside.
In addition to having a lot of new coaches, the Rebels also have Lou Nocida to count on. The old Sistersville coach has been helping out all summer. And he was at the game Friday. He wasn't in the coaches' box until the second half, and by then the game was well in hand for St. Marys.
The Blue Devils counter with longtime Mid-Ohio Valley coach and St.Marys resident Bill Hanlin.
Nocida and Hanlin used to but heads on the prep fields about 30 years ago. Now, here they are again, still at it.
In addition to having two fine runners in Zac Anderson and Derek Spitzer, St. Marys also showed off some up-and-coming talent in Derek Renner, Dylan Brizendine and K.D. Arnett.
St. Marys was without the services of massive lineman (6-6, 297) CJ West, who did not dress for the game.
Before the game everyone was touting the additon of former Calhoun County player Nick Whytsell to the St. Marys team. Whystell was a first-team all-state kicker. St. Marys was so inept in its kicking game last year it usually went for two instead of the PAT.
Whytsell has a leg - he booted several kickoffs that went for touchbacks.
But the Blue Devils field goal unit still has some work to do.
St. Marys missed two extra points, including one by Whytsell, and a had another blocked.
*** One more thing: Is it really too much to ask that our newspaper be provided a copy of each team roster before the game? Every year, it's the same thing at St. Marys; I have to purchase or beg a program out the boosters to obtain a roster. Most anywhere else I go, rosters are willingly provided- as is a place to sit (but that's another story). At St. Marys, it is struggle every game.
Now I know you're thinkig I'm some tight-ass who won't fork over $3 bucks for a program. That's what the guy selling programs thought last night.
While that's partially true, the idea of forking over $3 every game for program of which I only need and care about two pages in order to do my JOB, gets old. It also adds up to about $30 bucks a season.
. Hey Denny Venderlic how 'bout helping a poor old sportswriter out here?