Keith passes Western by Margaretta

COLLINS — Hayden Keith was ready from the first snap. The junior quarterback connected with Brexton Fraelich on the first play of the game for 52 yards. "We came ready. After last year, we wanted to set a tone," Keith said of a tight one-point Western Reserve overtime win over Margaretta last year. "We wanted to come out firing early and that's exactly what we did." Two plays later, Keith found Landyn Wiegel for a 17-yard touchdown and the Western Reserve offense hardly relented. Keith completed 13-of-16 passes for 335 yards and six touchdowns, leading the Roughriders to a 42-14 non-conference win over Margaretta on Friday. "The win is nice, but those numbers feel great," Keith said. "I've been wanting that for forever." Keith was 9-of-10 for 264 yards and four touchdowns in the first half as WR (2-0) led 28-14 at the break. "He had a great night," WR coach Ty Stevenson said. "We have really good skilled guys. I thought Hayden played a great game, especially throwing the ball. The receivers are good. "Like I talked in the preview, they're really good at being sporty kids and they understand how to run routes and how to get open." Keith was phenomenal for the 'Riders, but Western Reserve got a couple of big stops and forced a turnover to really put a stranglehold on the game. The Polar Bears (0-2) trailed 28-7 after Keith's fourth touchdown pass of the first half. Margaretta responded with a solid drive before the half, capped on a five-yard touchdown run by Tripp Limberios. The extra point from Jake Bouy cut the lead to 28-14 at the half. Margaretta also had the ball out of the half and really guzzled clock. The Polar Bears went from their own 26 to inside the WR red zone. But the 'Riders got a big stop on first down to put Margaretta behind the sticks. The Polar Bears couldn't convert and a pass batted down by Dom Edwards ended the 14-play, 8:18 drive without points for Margaretta. "That hurt and then we gave up big play after big play after big play," Margaretta coach Gary Quisno said. "It was very disheartening. We thought going in maybe we matched up OK. Obviously that was not the case." Western Reserve took advantage, but not initially. The 'Riders went three-and-out and punted, but it was muffed at midfield. That ignited Keith who completed a pair of passes before Chase Hipp caught a nine-yard touchdown. The two-point run failed, but WR was up 34-14. "We had a huge stop," Stevenson said. "I talked to the guys that we really played complimentary football. We got a stop and scored." That score didn't remain long as Margaretta fumbled the ensuing kickoff and it was recovered by Jared Hipp, the Roughriders' lone senior. Western Reserve went for the jugular and got it as Keith found Fraelich in stride for a 41-yard touchdown dagger. Keith finished off his ultra-impressive night with a two-point conversion to put WR up 42-14 with 45 seconds to go in the third quarter. "You don't win games doing that and giving up so many plays over 50 yards," Quisno said. The 'Riders forced a turnover on downs by the Margaretta offense in the first quarter and didn't wait long to expand the lead. On the third play, Fraelich caught a 57-yard bomb from Keith. The run failed, but Western Reserve was ahead 14-0 just over seven minutes into the game. "We thought we had some matchups with our slot receivers especially," Stevenson said. "We thought we could get them open. We had some different routes down the field. I thought we did a good job of that." Margaretta settled in a little bit from there. The Polar Bears kept things moving and got inside the WR redzone. A penalty wiped a touchdown pass off the board, but Margaretta persevered as Bouy hit Carter Luzader for a 11-yard touchdown. The extra point by Bouy brought the Polar Bears within 14-7 early in the second quarter. The passing attack by Western Reserve kept coming as Keith completed four straight passes - the last a 26-yard touchdown throw to Chase Hipp. On the next Margaretta drive, Jared Hipp caught a tipped pass by Bouy for the interception. He took it back to the house for a touchdown, but a penalty negated the return. That just gave Keith and company the ball. The big-play ability was showcased again as Wiegel caught a wheel pass and was behind the defense already for what became an 80-yard touchdown catch. Jared Hipp ran in the two-point conversion to make it 28-7 with 3:34 to go until halftime. "If you can throw it like we can, you're going to get lighter boxes," Stevenson said. "Then you can run the ball a little bit. I thought our guys really took advantage of that and took what they gave us." Bouy was good for Margaretta. He completed 21-of-27 passes for 154 yards. Limberios ran 27 times for 109 yards. Kale Bailey led the Polar Bears with 10 catches for 93 yards while Luzader hauled in eight passes for 48 yards. "We knew Keith could throw, but I thought if anything, he'd hurt us more running the ball," Quisno said. "They didn't really run it because why would they when they can throw the ball all over the field." Fraelich caught three passes for 150 yards while Chase Hipp had five catches for 38 yards. Wiegel had four catches for 128 yards — all in the first half — and added a 55-yard run in the fourth quarter with the game out of reach. "They love each other and they play really hard," said Stevenson of his young squad. "We love watching them work hard in practice and in the weight room and really in the classroom too. They're really all good students." Margaretta 0 14 0 0 — 14W. Reserve 14 14 14 0 — 42ScoringWR — Landyn Wiegel 17 pass from Hayden Keith (Brexton Fraelich pass from Keith)WR — Brexton Fraelich 57 pass from Keith (run failed)MRG — Carter Luzader 11 pass from Jake Bouy (Bouy kick)WR — Chase Hipp 26 pass from Keith (run failed)WR — Wiegel 80 pass from Keith (Jared Hipp run)MRG — Tripp Limberios 5 run (Bouy kick)WR — Chase Hipp 9 pass from Keith (run failed)WR — Fraelich 41 pass from Keith (Keith run)