by The 24’-25’ High School Football season kicked off tonight, starting with a matchup between the Solon Comets and the Olmsted Falls Bulldogs. This was a very fundamentally sound game that came down to the wire, with Olmsted Falls coming out victorious, winning the game 16-13 over the Solon Comets.
The Comets came right out of the gates looking to set the tone for this week 1 matchup. Solon’s star Sophomore quarterback, Jack Sanders, capped off an astonishing 11-play, 86-yard drive with a rushing touchdown. Solon came out running the ball early utilizing Sanders and their star running back, Henry Sharpley.
The Olmsted Falls Bulldogs came out firing with a few nice plays right out of the gates. However, this was quickly shut down by the Comets defense that wanted to send a message. Solon’s Davon Simmons made a nice sack that set the Bulldogs offense back a few yards. It was all Comets defense after this tone-setting sack, forcing the Bulldogs to have a quick 3 and out. Olmsted Falls is forced to punt and puts it at the 21-yard line.
Hoping to have another great drive after scoring quick to start the game, the Comets came back out a little sloppy fumbling the ball on their own 19-yard line and losing it to the Bulldogs. Luckily for the Comets, the Bulldogs had a personal foul that they committed that set them back 15 yards. This marked the end of the 1st quarter.
The Comets had yet again another great defensive stand holding the Bulldogs to only 3 after fumbling it in their own territory. However, this field goal finally put Olmsted Falls on the board and it was 7-3 Solon at the 9:06 mark in the 2nd quarter.
The score was 7-3 Solon going into the break. Players of the half were Solon’s Jack Sanders with a touchdown and Solon’s Henry Sharpley with 9 carries for 122 yards.
Olmsted Falls got the ball back after the break and quickly came out running and gunning. The Bulldogs quickly marched down the field to start this second half and the running game was the reasoning behind it. Olmsted’s Owen Singleton had a nice run of 17 yards and Brendan Hearns had a run of 11 yards to get the Bulldogs down to the 7-yard line. Olmsted Falls punches in a quick 1-yard 3rd quarter touchdown by Jimmy Rosol. The Bulldogs take a lead of 10-7.
The Comets were pushing right down the field hoping to score again for the first time since the very first quarter. Sanders scrambled around eventually finding his tight end Sean Richardson in the middle of the field scoring a touchdown. Solon ended up scoring a last-second touchdown to end the 3rd quarter to once again take the lead, however, their extra point got blocked. Solon goes into the fourth quarter up 13-10.
Olmsted Falls retained possession with a little over 5 minutes left to go. They came out moving the ball slowly but surely, chewing the clock away in hopes of having a game-winning drive. The Bulldogs at this point were having their way with Solon, doing whatever they wanted in regards to the run game. The Bulldogs got all the way down to the 1-yard line and got a rushing touchdown by Owen Singleton. They scored with 2:09 left on the clock. The Bulldogs attempted a fake extra point and didn’t get it; Giving the ball back to Solon and obtaining a 16-13 lead.
Solon’s quarterback Jack Sanders re-entered the game and was firing on all cylinders. Solon was hurrying up the offense and the connection between Sanders and Miguel Sierra was nothing short of there. Sanders had a beautiful pass down the sideline to Sierra to help them not only gain yards but get out of bounds to stop the clock. Sanders took matter into his own hands and had a huge run of 22 yards to get out of bounds. Sanders got the ball down to the 45-yard line with 55 seconds left on the clock.
Some late-game mistakes by the Bulldogs made it 2nd and 5 on the 40-yard line. The Sanders to Sierra connection is still there late for the Comets offense. Solon started to utilize their timeouts in hopes of making a comeback to win this ball game. Sanders had yet another run for 7-yards to get down to the 27-yard line. Sanders to Sierra once again connected for another big play.
The Comets got stopped and were forced to attempt a 37-yard field goal to win the game with 10 seconds left on the clock. The Comets snapped the ball to attempt the field goal but the ball was blocked by the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs offense stepped back onto the field one more time with 4 seconds left to kneel the ball. The Bulldogs won 16-13 over the Solon Comets.
