North Olmsted Rallies to Defeat Bay 14-10

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NORTH OLMSTED, OHIO – Down 10-0 midway through the third quarter, North Olmsted began a tremendous and focused comeback to defeat Bay 14-10 at home tonight.  The Eagles are now one missed call against Rocky River away from being 4-4 at this point, albeit now at 3 – 5 and winners of their last 3 out of 4.  This team once left for dead, is now in the heat of the playoff picture in Division II Region 6 with a winnable game next week at home versus Valley Forge.

The Eagles showed tonight when they are focused on the run, both stopping it on defense and moving it with several weapons on offense, they can compete with anyone.  Rocco Ereditario of Bay started the game with a 61 yard touchdown run but then the Eagles made an adjustment, and held Rocco to just 62 yards the rest of the way.  They also kept Charlie Rodgers in check, holding him to just 29 yards.

The Rockets defense looked tremendous in the first half, holding the Eagles to zero points.  However the Eagles came out a different  team in the third, and began to slowly chip away at the Rocket defense.  Quarterback Tommy Horsfall finished with 86 yards on the ground on 17 rushes with a touchdown.  Horsfall also threw for 87 yards with his main receiver Michael Passafiume finishing with 2 catches for 17 yards, while also rushing for 40 yards on 7 carries.

The Rockets capitalized on an early turnover to score just two plays into their first possession when Rocco Ereditario took it 61 yards past Eagle defenders to spark the Rockets to the early 7-0 lead.  The quick strike came with 7:40 left to play in the first. The score held that way to the end of the first quarter.

The Eagles began the second quarter with a methodical drive that saw them stack up several first downs with a nice run pass combination including a power eye on third and one. The drive stalled however and was turned over on downs at the Rocket 31.  The game went to half with the Rockets still up 7-0.

The Rockets started with the ball to open the second half with a long drive. They chalked up 60 plus yards and ran more then six minutes off the clock before booting a 20-yard field goal to extend the lead with 5:29 to play in the third quarter.  This stop and hold to a field by North Olmsted proved to be gigantic, and in the end, made all the difference.

The Eagles began to answer with an incredible drive that saw big runs by Chalkwater and Passafiume.  Eventually the Eagles got it to the Rocket 18-yard line when Tommy Horsfall took off with it and stormed past some Rockets on his way to a score.  This bolt by Horsfall cut into the lead 10-7, with 1:26 to play in the third quarter.

The Rockets went almost an entire three quarters without throwing the ball until they finally did when quarterback Michael Farrell tossed it directly into the hands of North Olmsted Eagle Lawrence Stanley to close out the third quarter, giving the ball to the Eagles at the Rockets 28-yard line to start the fourth.

A Horsfall run up the gut got the Eagles moving quickly to the Rockets 15-yard line. A few plays later, he hit Passafiume to bring it down to the 4-yard line for a goal to go. A Tanner Thorne touchdown moments later gave the Eagles their first lead at 14-10 with 8:23 to go.  From there, they stopped the Rockets one more time, before salting away the clock for the win.

PLAYER OF THE GAME – Lawrence Stanley with the game changing interception on Bay Villages only pass all night.  It led to the game winning touchdown shortly after.