PARKERSBURG - Noah Spitzer tallied twice, one on a fumble return, while Andrew Cosper and David Gray teamed up for a 73-yard scoring strike as visiting St. Marys posted a 20-7 victory over Parkersburg Catholic Saturday night at Stadium Field.
The win boosted the Blue Devils' mark to 2-1 while the loss was the second in three games so far this season for the Crusaders.
St. Marys scored on its initial possession of the game on the 73-yard Cosper-to-Gray aerial hookup for a 6-0 lead at 8:52 of the first quarter.
Cosper aired out a deep throw down the middle that Gray went up to snag at the PC 40, then was off to the end zone.
The game then turned mostly defensive with several key plays, although none led to any points for either team. St. Marys' Dylan Wolfe blocked a PC punt, Catholic's Nick Roedersheimer intercepted a pass and Logan Arnold recovered a Blue Devil fumble at PC 27 after which Catholic reached the SM 40, but no further, in the last minute of the first half.
In the third quarter, Spitzer picked up a Crusader fumble and dashed in for a touchdown from 40 yards out at 8:20 for a 12-0 advantage.
The final period saw St. Marys intercept two passes sandwiched around another PC fumble recovery before the Blue Devils notched their third TD as Spitzer took a pitch to the right and sped to paydirt with just 2:33 left to play for a 20-0 lead,
Catholic wan't quite done though, averting a shutout in the final two minutes. Jake Boice rambled 32 yards with a Payton Sturm pass to the St. Marys 34 and Mitch Davis scampered 19 yards to the 15 before a pass-interference penalty versus SM put the pigskin at the 8 with 1:06 remaining.
On 4th-and-goal from the 16, Sturm tossed a swing pass to Davis and he took it back across the field and into the end zone with only 5.9 seconds left, and Peter Keiser added the PAT.
