St. Marys quarterback Jeremiah Demoss (11) signals for a safety during Friday night’s game against Frontier. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

NEW MATAMORAS — Frontier’s assortment of athletic players left quite the impression on St. Marys football coach Jodi Mote.

The Blue Devils, however, dominated the trenches and running back Eli Wilson took full advantage. The senior gained 150 yards on 19 carries and caught all five completions from quarterback Jeremiah DeMoss for another 121 yards while handing the Cougars a 37-14 defeat in the renewal of the “Battle for the Bridge.”

“I’m very proud of the guys, especially in the second half,” said Mote after his ballclub improved to 3-2 with two weeks until the season resumes Oct. 10 at Gilmer County. “I really believe they had the best athletes, but thankfully our guys played tough. Jeremiah and Eli had a tremendous night.”

The two schools, separated by the Ohio River and only 15 miles apart, met for just the second time since 2009. The theme of the night was devoted to cancer awareness.

“The cancer awareness for both schools was better than a win, lose or draw,” Mote said.

St. Marys’ Eli Wilson (44) carries the ball as Frontier’s Hunter Ruble (8) goes in for a tackle during Friday’s game. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

Wilson, who surpassed his rushing total from the previous four games of the season in just the one game against Frontier, accounted for all five St. Marys touchdowns – four rushing and one receiving on a screen pass he caught at his ankles then sprinted 71 yards for the first score of the game.

“It’s just one of those things where it just happened,” Mote said. “He’s been bottled up at times this season, but tonight he had a tremendous game. I’m very proud of him.”

DeMoss added to the ground game success for St. Marys after rushing for 95 yards on 22 attempts.

St. Marys scored first and never trailed, even while leading by the slimmest of margins at 8-6 when halftime arrived. A Blue Devils barrage over a six-minute span created breathing room with three Wilson rushing TDs to increase the gap to 30-6 with practically a full fourth quarter remaining.

Not helping the Frontier cause was a second-quarter safety when a backwards pass deep in its own territory missed its target and rolled out of bounds beyond the end zone.

Frontier’s Austyn Kephart (20) runs with the ball as St. Marys’ Ethan Pierce (40) wraps him up during Friday’s game. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

The second half included a red zone stop by St. Marys when defensive back Kaige Winland returned an interception more than 85 yards to set up a Wilson TD. On the ensuing kickoff, Blue Devils’ Noah Dawson was able to do what a handful of St. Marys and Frontier players couldn’t and that was pounce on the ball.

The St. Marys win overshadowed a passing game from quarterback Aaden Bills, who threw for 255 yards and two touchdowns. His first TD found Caleb Kirkpatrick in stride down the middle of the field for a 67-yard score with only 18 seconds remaining in the first half.

In the fourth quarter, Bills laid a dime down the sidelines to Avery Powell, who made a sensational one-handed grab for the 40-yard TD reception.

Kephart finished with eight catches for 167 yards, while Powell had four catches for 61 yards and a TD.

Frontier (2-4) was still in the conversation down 30-14 with 8:09 still showing on the clock.

“With as explosive as Frontier showed on film and as the game went tonight, you just never felt comfortable until the horn sounded,” Mote said.

Frontier coach Damon Metheney pointed to several areas where the Cougars could have taken advantage and possibly flipped the script.

“It was just a lot of failed execution,” Metheney said. “That’s what I told the guys after the game. We just shot ourselves in the foot. We had some costly turnovers, including two in the red zone where we should have scored when it was a two-point game. So that was a momentum killer.”

Between St. Marys’ success moving the ball on the ground and Frontier’s struggles to establish a run game was another area Metheney addressed.

The Cougars ran the ball 18 times for 39 yards and did not record their first rushing first down until midway into the third quarter.

“We have a lot of young guys starting up front, so that makes it challenging when you get pushed around sometimes,” Metheney said. “Because they are young guys, we try to find creative ways to get guys the ball. But it can be challenging.”

With four games remaining on the docket, coach Metheney still believes his team can make a run – starting with next Friday’s contest at Conotton Valley.

“I preached to the guys there’s still a lot of football left,” Metheney said. “Conotton Valley would give us a ton of points. River would give us a ton of points. And Shenandoah beat Trimble this year. There is still a lot of opportunity in front of us.”

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com