By John Bassetti

Kyle Stadelmyer scored three times in the All-American Conference win at the Wildcats’ refurbished home.

STRUTHERS — On a night that was supposed to belong to Struthers with its new stadium facilities upgrade, Girard rode the back of Kyle Stadelmyer to a 29-13 victory.

While everything went right for Girard (2-0), the hometown Wildcats were still within 7-0 until the Indians scored on their opening drive of the second half.

Stadelmyer, who had 87 yards on 20 attempts while executing both quarterback and running back duties in the first half, scored three times, including an 84-yard kickoff return just seconds after Struthers pulled within 14-6 early in the fourth quarter.

“That kickoff return was the turning point,” Girard coach Bud McSuley said of Stadelmyer’s return. “He followed a couple nice blocks on the sidelines.”

That and Ryan Kirkpatrick’s third PAT gave the Indians a 21-6 lead with 10:28 remaining in the game.

A key play occurred seconds earlier when Girard stopped Terrance Meyers after the Indians were penalized for encroachment. Meyers was trying a two-point run following Joe Balog’s touchdown at 10:41. The 5-10, 160 Balog, a senior, ran 26 times for 132 yards for Struthers (0-2).

Stadelmyer was 2-for-8 passing for 51 yards (one interception by Tony Valiquette) and the 6-2, 210 senior had one catch for 14 yards. His other roles included kicking off, punting and linebacker.

One of Girard’s favorable moments came when Stadelmyer lost a handle on the ball during his TD return, yet had it bounce back into his hands while running full speed.

“Hats off to Struthers,” McSuley said. “They hit us and came after us all night long, but our guys responded and made plays when we had to make plays.”

Fourth-down conversions hurt the Wildcats, especially late in the second quarter when the Wildcats had an illegal procedure penalty on 4th-2 and eventually got pushed back to Girard’s 20-yard line. Michael Floravit then sacked Valiquette.

Girard’s fortune rose when a muffed center’s snap on a point-after attempt was successfully converted when holder Tony Cardiero lofted a pass to Tallen Birmingham.

Birmingham also made a one-handed catch while diving with his left hand extended.

Stadelmyer, who threw the 37-yard pass, said: “I thought I overshot him by a mile.”

Kyle admitted his ‘jack-of-all-trades’ effort, but said, “I wouldn’t have been able to do it; It’s all 34 guys who made it possible.”

Stadelmyer believed the turning point was Girard’s second-half intensity.

“We were ready to play. The whole second half was the same.”

Injured quarterback Adam Charles, on crutches in his No. 10 jersey, said he’s helping from the sidelines.

“I’m telling them what to do as much as can,” the junior said of helping the dual quarterbacks. Kyle’s doing an awesome job running the ball and Graziano’s doing the same as quarterback.”

Struthers coach Dallas Saunders said his Wildcats knew they’d have to tackle well to stop Stadelmyer.

“Because he’s a very physical back, those kinds of kids are going to make you look bad tackling. He ran guys over at the goal line to score. He’s just a special player. But we can’t have one-on-ones. We need to have more guys on the football. At times we did a good job containing him, but they got big runs and third-down conversions and we didn’t.”

About penalties, Saunders said: “We have to learn how not to make those mistakes. That’s the difference between possibly winning and losing and being in it until the end or being down by two scores. I think we need to learn how to turn that corner.”

Saunders didn’t think Meyers’ unsuccessful two-point conversion was so much a factor as Stadelmyer’s kickoff TD.

“We we knew all week that we were not supposed to kick to him and we end up kicking to him twice. It came back and bit us.”

Struthers noseman and extra-point man, Dave Mansell, was injured in a car accident on Thursday.

“He’s blessed that he escaped. We’re lucky that we’re going to have him back,” said Saunders

bassetti@vindy.com