by The Firelands Falcons won a nail biter against the Rocky River Pirates. A late game touchdown with 10 seconds left in the game by running back Weston Strader broke the tie that was 24-24 and making 31-24, helping the Falcons avoid overtime.
Firelands had four running backs running the ball and would routinely switch them out to make sure they were preserving the legs of the others, Weston Strader, Evan Tester, Josh Kovach and Collin Scott. Those four just kept taking turns running through the Pirates defense until they got to the goal line to start the game, and Josh Kovach rushed in for the 1 yard touchdown making the score 7-0. All of the running helped the Falcons chew off 7 minutes in the first quarter, giving the ball to the Pirates with 5 minutes left.
When the Pirates got the ball, they were off to a slow start and the possession was short-lived, with the Falcons being able to stop the run on all plays and forcing the Pirates to punt. When the Falcons received the ball back, they did the same as their first possession and just kept running the ball through the Pirates defense all the way to the goal line with time running out in the first quarter.
In the second quarter the Falcons ended up back near the 20 yard line with a couple bad plays, making them settle for a field goal from Kicker Rocco Lafolla, nailing the field goal from 29 yards and making the game 10-0.
With Firelands being up 10-0 they seemed to let off the gas a little, because Rocky River was able to break away for some big yard gains due to their running back Johnny Bebie who seemed to be the focal point of their offense.
Rocky River kept feeding Bebie the ball and he was able to bring them close to the Falcons 20 yard line. Julian Patti then threw a 23 yard pass to Mack Massad for the touchdown to make the score 10-7 after the extra point was made.
When Firelands got the ball back they were not successful at moving the ball down field. The running game was working decently but the passing game was not connecting for them, forcing them to punt the ball away. Rocky River was able to move the ball downfield again with their run power and a pass from Julian Patti to Trent Delventhal for 25 yards, getting them to the goal line. Then Johnny Bebie punched in the 2 yard running touchdown to make the score 14-10 after the extra point was made.
The third quarter began, with more of the same for the Pirates as they just fed the ball to Johnny Bebie. Bebie was able to get them within the Falcons 10 yard line and Julian Patti made the connection to Stan Heuler for the 8 yard touchdown, making the score 21-10 after the extra point was made.
This gave Rocky River a lead of 11 in the third quarter. Luckily for the Falcons they had a few big runs that kept them in the game, including a 43 yard run by Evan Hester scoring a touchdown to close the gap and make the score 21-17 after the extra point was made.
With Firelands they just continued to run the ball and were able to get near the goal line for Josh Kovach to be able to rush in the ball making the score 24-21 after the extra point was made, Firelands was up once again.
The Pirates got the ball back and made a push down the field and within one of those plays, Julian Patti connected with Stan Heuler on a 20 yard pass, bringing them near the Falcons 15 yard line. The Pirates were not able to do much when they were near the end zone, so they settled for a field goal by Mack Massad as he made the 20 yard field goal kick, tying the game.
The Falcons got the ball back and there was about 2 minutes left on the clock and they were looking at just killing the time out, anything to avoid Rocky River getting the ball back. Firelands was able to get down the field, wasting almost all the time as they scored with 10 seconds left in the game with Weston Strader getting the 1 yard touchdown to potentially save his team from going into overtime, making the score 31-24 after the extra point was made.
The Falcons hung on to win from there.
The Players of the Game:
Firelands Falcons running back Weston Strader with 31 rushes for 113 yards and 1 touchdown.
Rocky River Pirates running back Johnny Bebie with 21 rushes for 126 yards and 1 touchdown.
