by Medina, OH – Tonight, the Buckeye Bucks continued their dominant 2025 football season, taking down the Saint Mary’s Memorial Roughriders, moving onto the third round of playoffs, and looking to make a push for a shot to compete for the state title! Despite the cold weather, the Bucks came out of the gates blazing hot and ready to do some damage.
The Bucks scored on the first drive of the game, after Turner Dolata launched a pass to Colton Homchik, who caught the ball and ran into the endzone for a 63-yard touchdown.
The next touchdown came at the start of the second quarter after a pair of first downs. With one yard to go, Ryan Wilhelm carried the ball into the endzone for the Bucks’ second touchdown of the night. The Bucks attempted to go for two but couldn’t convert, bringing the score to 12-0 in favor of Buckeye.
After a couple of empty possessions by both teams, the Bucks regained possession at the 0:20 mark of the second quarter. On the first play of the drive, Dolata handed the ball off to Liam Phillips, who ran the ball 80 yards right into the endzone, after some stellar blocking by his fellow Bucks, which allowed him to narrowly evade the Roughrider defense and squeeze into the endzone, bringing the score to 19-0 in favor of the Bucks after the extra point attempt.
The final highlight play of the first half came after senior Buck Logan Letner intercepted Aiden Meinerding’s hailmary into the endzone.
The final touchdown of the contest came at the 5:19 mark in the third quarter, where the Bucks achieved two first downs and capped the drive off with a five-yard carry into the endzone by Liam Phillips. The rest of the game was fairly uneventful, and the score remained at 26-0 for the remaining 17 minutes.
The Bucks’ player of the game had to be one of their core running backs, Liam Phillips, who carried the ball 17 times for 172 yards, tacking on two touchdowns as well. Colton Homchik also had a nice 63-yard reception and run, good for a touchdown in the first quarter.
Ryan Wilhelm had a solid night, too; despite carrying the ball only 6 times, he gained 22 yards and a touchdown. Roman Krettler came in during the second half and ran the ball for 30 yards as well.
It was truly a tale of two running backs tonight, and Turner Dolata got to rest his arm, connecting on three of his four passes, good for 86 yards and a 63-yard touchdown.
For the Roughriders, their player of the game had to be Caleb Schmidt, who carried the ball 16 times for 82 yards. Running back Dyllan Fink also had a nice outing, racking up 68 rush yards, including a nice 27-yard first-down carry.
While it’s an unfortunate end to the season for St. Mary’s Memorial and the Roughriders, it’s going to be one heck of a matchup next week for the victorious Buckeye Bucks, as they’ll host the Rocky River Pirates next week for the third round of playoffs here in Northeast Ohio! It will be an exciting contest, so stay tuned for my article next week.
