by MEDINA, OH – The North Olmsted Eagles took a trip south to face the Buckeye Bucks and walked away with a win.
To start the contest, Buckeye received the opening kickoff and picked up two first downs through the air on their first drive. The drive stalled after two sacks by Eagles standout defensive lineman Gavin Beasley.
On the ensuing drive, the Eagles were not able to take advantage of the excellent play by their defense and were forced to punt. Despite excellent field position following the punt, the Bucks drive once again stalled out due to Bealey’s third sack already in the game.
On the next drive, the Eagles made the bold decision to go for a fake punt and ran the ball with Daniel Furdui. He was tackled two yards short of the first down and Buckeye took over on the Eagles 49-yard line. That would wrap up the scoreless first quarter.
At the start of the second, Beasley would pick up his fourth sack of the night and force the Bucks into a decision on 4th and 1. They opted to go for it and Beasley once again stood tall for the Eagles defense. His stop of QB Casey Murray on the sneak gave the Eagles the ball back on their own 38-yard line.
The defensive battle continued as Ben Midea of Buckeye dropped Eagles QB Xavier Balson. The sack was a loss of 14 yards that once again forced a punt. Following the punt The Bucks once again were gifted excellent field position.
On a 4th and 8, Murray heaved one towards the endzone. The despartation attempt led to an interception by cornerback Collin Willard. Willard returned the pick all the way to the Bucks 48-yard line, the best starting field position for the Eagles so far on the night.
On the Eagles first play from scrimmage Balson called his own number and ran it 52 yards to paydirt. The first score of the night for either team came with 7:01 left in the second quarter.
The next drive for the Eagles once again ended in a touchdown. Balson found Willard on a slant play across the middle and Willard went in untouched from 38 yards out. The Eagles missed the extra point and the half would end 13-0 in favor of the visiting Eagles.
The Eagles came out swinging on their first drive of the second half. The combination of running back Logan Dangerfield and Jared Kelley appeared unstoppable. The drive was finally capped off with a 26-yard touchdown run from Kelley. With 9 minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Eagles found themselves sitting pretty with a comfortable lead.
The Bucks finally began to find their way on the next drive. They were aided by an unsportsmanlike penalty on Gavin Beasley and later running back Troy McCann found paydirt from three yards out. The touchdown run made it 20-7 still in favor of the Eagles.
After a three and out, the Eagles tried to punt the ball but because Rodriguez had to kneel to take the snap, he was ruled down with a 15-yard loss and the Bucks took over on the Eagles 30-yard line.
The massive mistake allowed the Bucks to get right back in the game. They struck quickly and scored on a 5-yard run from running back Brandon Hayner. The Bucks now only found themselves down six with 3:04 remaining in the third quarter.
The Eagles started their next drive on their own 40 and were stymied for much of the drive. Kelley broke free on a 3rd and 26 and pulled off a near miracle. The massive 58-yard touchdown put the Eagles up 26-14 after a failed two-point conversion.
To start the 4th quarter the Bucks went three and out due to two additional sacks by Beasley. The Eagles then tried to drain some clock with the ground game and went nowhere.
The Bucks responded with a 3-yard run by McCann, making it 26-21 still in favor of North Olmsted. With 6:41 remaining in the fourth quarter, there appeared to be plenty of time for Buckeye if they could just get a stop.
Thanks to Jared Kelley, Buckeye could not get the stop they desperately needed. Kelley broke four tackles prior to taking it to the house on a 65-yard touchdown run.
On Buckeye’s next drive, they found themselves needing to go for it on fourth down once again. They failed and turned the ball over on downs.
The Eagles finally capped off the game with a 7-yard touchdown run by Balson. With only 70 seconds remaining in the game it appeared like 40-21 would be the final score. The Bucks never gave up fighting and put up an additional score prior to the game going final. Troy McCann added six more on an 8-yard TD run and the made PAT finished the game off at 40-28 in favor of the Eagles.
The North Olmsted Eagles player of the game is DL Gavin Beasley with an astonishing 8 sacks, 15 total tackles and one pass break up.
The Buckeye Bucks player of the game is RB Troy McCann who ran for 68 yards and 2 touchdowns.
North Olmsted (2-2) hosts Fairview Park next week.
Buckeye (3-1) hosts Valley Forge next week.
