by The Bay Village Rockets excelled in all three areas of the game tonight to put away arch rival Rocky River 34-17 in the Pirates Cove.
It was a big night in every phase of the game as they ran the ball great, had a huge passing play, a blocked field goal, turnovers on defense and just did the things a championship team needs to do in a big game.
The workhorse tonight was speedy tailback Nick Buttari. This five-foot, 11-inch, 175-pound speedster ran for a whopping 205 yards on 33 carries. He scored twice, including the touchdown that put the game away late in the fourth quarter.
Perhaps the even bigger star tonight was the fullback Joe Galati who had an incredible night creating large wholes for Buttari to run through.
Galati did more then just block however as he piled up 62 yards on 9 carries, also scoring once. Galati also hauled in two catches for 15 yard while he was it.
The man lighting the fire for the Rockets was quarterback Logan Lamere. He didn’t have to throw much, but when he did, he made it count. LaMere finished with 80 yards passing on 3 of 6 attempts with a game changing 66-yard touchdown strike to Jake Martin.
For the Pirates, it was all the names that Rocky River fans have come to know and love this year doing the bulk of the work on offense. Pirate quarterback Braedon Spies looked sharp at times tonight and showed his age at other times.
Spies will be a threat for a long time to come however as this sophomore has shown tremendous growth this season.
Tonight, Braedon finished with 145 yards and a touchdown on 10 of 23 passing with an interception, and a two-point conversion as well. It also must be noted that he did extremely well with his legs in the second half as well.
For the game, Spies ran for 84 yards on 9 carries. I’ll say it again, the sophomore is headed for huge things before his Pirate career is over.
His usual suspects were once again in full force tonight as Cristian Dean caught 4 balls for 55 yards while coming up with several big plays on defense and special teams.
Owen Bebie had perhaps the biggest Pirate night with 96 yards on 8 catches with a touchdown and two-point conversion.
His younger brother Tommy was somewhat held in check at times, but would erupt for 74 yards on 20 carries with a touchdown.
Both teams got off to red hot starts with touchdown runs as both teams stormed right down the field with no problem. Bay Village opened with a 2-yard touchdown run by Buttari on a 6-play drive in which he touched the ball on 5 of the plays.
River answered with a 3-yard Tommy Bebie touchdown run on their opening possession, to cut the lead to 7-6 as Owen missed the extra point.
They game stayed 7-6 until a wild flurry of points concluded the final five minutes of what became a fast and furious end to the second half. The Rockets extended their lead to 13-6 with a 1-yard QB sneak by LaMere.
Then, when it seemed as though they might try to run out the clock in the first half, they stunned River with a beautiful 66-yard pitch and catch from LaMere to Jake martin for 66 yards to score again when no one saw it coming. That touchdown drive was set up following a tipped ball from Spies that led to the pick.
Down 20- 6 with less than 90 seconds to go in the first half, it was Spies leading the Pirates on a well excited two-minute drive to score.
Spies performed brilliantly on the drive and capped it off with a rocket armed 36 yard over the shoulder missile to Owen Bebie to score.
Moments later the same two hooked up on the two-point conversion cut it to 20-14 at half. It was a crazy first 24 minutes that saw the Pirates pull off of a fake punt.
A rather calm third quarter saw the Pirates cut the lead to 20-17 heading into the final 12 minutes. From there it was all Rockets as their ground game absolutely took things over. They pounded it in again, this time it was Galati extending the lead to 27-17.
The Pirates had a chance to cut it to seven with a little over five minutes to go in the fourth quarter, but A Bebie field goal attempt was blocked.
From there, the air was let out of the stadium and the second touchdown of the night by Buttari ended it for good.
The Pirates will look to bounce back next week on the road as they travel to Buckeye. Bay Village returns home to host Parma.
You can listen to the game here –
