Flyers set record for points in 65-7 win

"We had a size advantage and we thought we could exploit that, but they were simply too quick and that's the way it went all night."- Western Reserve head coach Mike Stoll after his team's 65-7 loss at St. Paul.

NORWALK – The St. Paul Flyers home game with Western Reserve Saturday night at Warren Whitney Field wasn't hard to figure out, as the entire contest can be summed up in one word.

The Flyers erupted for 37 points in the second quarter, good for a new school record, which then led to a 58-0 halftime lead, another record for points in a half. After the dust settled, the end result was a 65-7 win over the Roughriders to improve St. Paul to 7-1 overall and 5-0 in the Firelands Conference while Western fell to 3-5 overall and 1-4 in the FC.

The old record for points in a quarter came in 2000 at Plymouth and in 1997 against Western Reserve, which was 35 points. The previous record for points in a half was 55, which came on four different occasions, twice each vs. Mapleton and Plymouth.

As has been the case throughout much of the season, senior Joe Graziani opened the scoring with three touchdown runs of 4, 4, and 22 yards each as Wes Stein made three of his nine extra points on the night to give the Flyers a 21-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Meanwhile, the defense was busy limiting the Roughriders to just 16 yards of offense in the first quarter and as Graziani and Matt Wilde continued their scoring spree in the second 12 minutes, the defense decided to get in on the scoring fun to help break the record for points in a quarter.

Wilde scored on a 10-yard run with 10:01 left in the half for a 28-0 lead and Graziani added his fourth touchdown, and 24th overall on the season, with an 11-yard run at the 7:14 mark of the half for a 35-0 lead. After the Flyer kickoff team pinned Western at its 5-yard line, the 'Riders tried running a screen out of the back of the end zone that was snuffed out from the very beginning as Dominic Dellisanti laid a big hit on Chad Fitch for a safety and a 37-0 lead with 6:23 left in the half.

After the Flyers received the free kick off the safety, quarterback Eric Schwieterman hit Wilde for a screen pass and the junior was able to maneuver his way through the 'Rider defense for a 65-yard touchdown catch to make it 51-0 with 3:42 left in the half. The final punctuation mark of the half and perhaps the evening came when Western quarterback Brent Stoll was intercepted by Ryan Frank, who found a seam and returned it 29 yards for yet another touchdown for a 58-0 lead with 1:56 left in the half.

"Obviously the kids came out ready to play," St. Paul head coach John Livengood said. "I think the turnovers in the first half got the momentum going in our direction. Our defense played really well and set us up with good field position, created some turnovers and got some scores...they got the momentum going for us and it just kind of rolled from there."

In the first half, St. Paul held a staggering 365-27 edge in total offense while limiting Western to no first downs as the Roughriders turned it over three times in the half and fumbled six total times in the game while losing three of them to go along with a turnover on downs.

Once again, play slowed considerably in the second half as the Flyers worked in all of the subs on a 74-man roster. The lone scores came when Western's D.J. Hall caught a 45-yard touchdown pass from Stoll with 3:42 left in the third quarter while Zac Blair had an 8-yard run with 10:26 left in the game to close out the Flyer scoring.

"That is a very good football team and I wish them luck," Western coach Mike Stoll said of the Flyers. "I think they will be fine in the playoffs as they are awful quick. That speed they have matters out there and they have it at just about every position. I thought my offensive line would do a bit of a better job then they did tonight, but their quickness up front beat us.

"They get in those gaps and they move up and down the line and they have good strength up front too. We thought we could do some of the same things like last year but we didn't get it done up front...we had size advantage and we thought we could exploit that, but they were simply too quick and that's the way it went all night."

In all, the Flyers ran for 375 yards while passing for 71 as Wilde led the ground attack with 112 yards on 16 attempts while Graziani finished with 94 yards on 11 attempts. Schwieterman was 2-of-5 passing with Cory Schaffer catching a 6-yard pass to go along with the touchdown pass to Wilde. The 'Riders had 138 yards of total offense with fullback J.J. Boyce leading the way with 49 yards on 17 attempts.

St. Paul will now travel to Community Recreation Park next week to play an improved New London team, who is 5-3 overall for the first time since the 1998 season while boasting a three-game winning streak and a 4-1 mark in the Firelands Conference. Meanwhile, the Roughriders will host Crestview (3-5, 2-3).