by Try as he might to enjoy one of the biggest victories of his young coaching career, North Ridgeville football coach Bryan Morgan knew better than to celebrate too much his team’s 43-17 victory Friday over Olmsted Falls.
The Rangers dominated the second half of the clash of unbeaten teams, amassing 291 yards of offense to just 16 for the Bulldogs, breaking away from a 10-10 halftime score.
But rather than spend too much time basking in the glory of the victory, Morgan knew that he has an even bigger mountain to climb next week, as the Rangers play at Avon, the bullies of the Southwestern Conference for several years.
“In the SWC you can’t enjoy anything for very long,” he said. “The good thing is, we’re healthy coming out of this game. We got a nice, solid win against a great opponent. We’ll enjoy it tonight, but tomorrow it’s all about Avon. There’s no better challenge in Northeast Ohio right now than the Avon Eagles. Our kids will be fired up for that challenge.”
North Ridgeville showed just what it can do when it gets fired up, as the Rangers seemed to be embroiled in a close battle in the first half, only to turn it into a laugher after a fiery meeting in the halftime locker room.
“Our D coordinator was in the coach’s office, and he came out and started yelling at us,” said senior linebacker Austin DeShazo, one of the leaders of the defensive effort. “We got fired up. We knew it was going to be a good half for us.”
That’s putting it mildly. What follows is the statistics that the Rangers compiled for the game, with their numbers from the second half in parenthesis: First of all, the team totaled 460 yards of offense (291 in the second half).
Charlie Steinmetz carried the ball nine times for 115 yards (45 yards on four carries); Zack Barnhart carried the ball 17 times for 105 yards (79 yards on nine carries); Ta’Vion Swain carried the ball eight times for 43 yards (39 yards on six carries); Cole Miller carried the ball five times for 37 yards (42 yards on four carries). Miller also completed 11 of 16 passes for 129 yards, going 5 of 7 for 66 yards in the second half. Everyone mentioned above scored one touchdown, and Barnhart had two.
“They’ve got a lot of two-way guys and they’re young,” Morgan said of Olmsted Falls. “Coach (Tom) DeLuca does a great job with that program. We knew that we were going to get a really good football team tonight, but at halftime we said, ‘They’re tired. We can just keep on going, keep on going, keep on going. Our offensive line just kept getting a surge, and we had a great second half.”
It appeared the undersized Bulldogs might have been worn down by the size of North Ridgeville, which averages close to 285 pounds on the offensive line. But DeLuca wasn’t sure that’s what happened.
“I want to watch the film to see if that’s the case,” he said. “They were more physical than us in the second half. I don’t know if we were worn down in the second half or if we just didn’t come out in the half ready to play. We could not handle them up front tonight. That was pretty evident. They’re a talented team. Give them credit.”
While the North Ridgeville offense was running wild, the defense was just as dominant. With just over a minute to play in the game, the Bulldogs and their vaunted Wing T, triple option offense was held to just 16 yards on 10 plays in the second half, 82 yards for the game.
“The Wing T is always complex,” DeShazo said. “You never know what you’re going to get. The guards are always shifting around. There’s always all kinds of motion in the backfield. We all had our assignments, and we worked on them all week. Our inside guys were all focused on the dive, and then our outside guys would cover quarterback to pitch.”
As DeLuca said, the Rangers were dominant on the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. But while the offensive line is filled with veterans, the defensive line was an area of concern early in the season for Morgan and his staff. But new players have stepped up and taken on big roles.
“We had some question marks going into this year,” Morgan said. “We had a few guys that we didn’t know if we could replace them. But Hemzah Fahmawi is a big guy, an aggressive guy and a strong kid. Other guys like Braydin Laszlo and Christian Ensley, they came in and they played well. We now have a little depth there. We were able to make some plays, and that was big for us.”
After a tight first half, the Rangers took control on the opening drive of the second half, needing 10 plays to cover 72 yards, taking a 17-10 lead on a 6-yard run by Steinmetz. The scoring run came on a counter play that is something like a reverse. Miller handed the ball off to a back going one direction, who then handed it off to Steinmetz going the other way.
Olmsted Falls managed just six yards on its next possession, and a short punt gave North Ridgeville the ball on the Falls 46-yard line. This time it took only two plays to reach the end zone, as Barnhart bulled his way for 44 yards on a simple dive play and then backed it up with a 2-yard touchdown run.
Olmsted Falls had a flash of hope on the ensuing kickoff, as junior Logan Connelly took the ball back for a 92-yard return for a touchdown, cutting the margin to 17-10, but the Bulldogs would not score again for the remainder of the night and the Rangers pounded their way to victory.
Player of the game (North Ridgeville): The entire defense. The Rangers completely shut down Olmsted Falls and its option running game, holding the Bulldogs to just 82 yards of offense for the game, 16 yards in the second half.
Player of the game (Olmsted Falls): Logan Connelly. There weren’t many bright spots for Olmsted Falls, but one came from the junior, who returned a kickoff 92 yards for his team’s only score in the second half. He also carried the ball 10 times for 37 yards and handled his team’s punting duties, including a 56-yarder in the first half.
