by STORY BY VINCE MCKEE
Berea- The Bagley Cup and a share of the SWC title was on the line tonight as the Olmsted Falls Bulldogs traveled to Berea-Midpark to take on the Titans. It was a high scoring affair that saw the Bulldogs defeat the Titans 63-49 as Rocco Conti scored 7 touchdowns. The Bulldogs win the cup this year and tie the Avon Eagles for a share of the SWC Championship.
As mentioned, young Rocco Conti had a night to remember during a season that he has leapt out to become one of the top rushers in the state. Conti would finish with 217 rushing yards to go along with the 7 touchdowns. He did all of this on 21 carries.
He had plenty of help back there as Charlie Ciolek ran for 107 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. Ciolek is one of the best rushing quarterbacks the SWC has ever seen. Michael Candow got in on the fun with 45 yards on 9 carries while Clay Vormelker had 40 yards on 10 carries. Luke Dieckman stayed hot as well this week, scoring again and also rushing for 36 yards on 12 carries.
While the Bulldogs went to the ground, the Titans put on an air show that is also to be remembered for a long time to come. Senior quarterback Luke Devins tossed for 270 yards on 22 of 35 passing with 2 touchdowns and 2 picks in his final home game as a Titan quarterback. Luke also ran for 24 yards with 2 touchdowns on 9 carries. It was my pleasure to cover Luke these past 3 years, a great young man from a great family.
His younger brother Hudson Devins also had a nice night with 58 yards on the ground and 20 yards receiving. Hudson had a touchdown run as well.
What can I say about this Titan receiving core? They are incredibly talented and dangerous and showed why again tonight. Devin Johnson had 111 yards receiving on 8 catches with 2 touchdowns as he was everywhere tonight. Jack Arnold had 7 catches for 74 yards and a touchdown. DeAngelo had another fine game, one of many for him this season as he had 75 yards receiving on 4 catches.
The Bulldogs used their vaunted run game to march down the field on the game’s opening drive. They went 75 yards in 8 plays to score on a Rocco Conti one yard touchdown rumble. 7 of the 9 plays were runs that accounted for all of the yards. The big play coming from a Charlie Ciolek run that went 39 yards. They missed the kick however, and the game remained 6-0.
The Titans would answer right away the first time they touched the ball. A 7-play drive mixed perfectly with Hudson Devins runs and Luke Devins pass connections to Devin Johnson, Jack Arnold and DeAngelo Borders led to pay dirt. The drive capped off with a 9-yard pitch and catch to Devin Johnson to tie the game at 6. The game remained tied as their point after attempt was blocked.
The next Bulldog drive would be halted by a leaping Cameron Cupach interception. It was another nice mixture of run and pass on the ensuing Titan drive yet again. Once again everyone got in the mix with runs by the Devins brothers and sharp passing to Devin Johnson, Jack Arnold and DeAngelo Borders. A 2-yard Aquan Bell touchdown run would finish it off. Moments later it was Bell catching a two pointer in the corner of the endzone to give the Titans a 14-6 lead with 56 seconds to go in the first quarter.
A 48-yard Rocco Conti kickoff return would set the Bulldogs up in great shape as they started their next drive on the Titan 41. Rocco would then do the bulk of the damage on the drive as well as he accounted for all the yards and finished things off with a 33-yard touchdown run. Conti is just fun to watch! The two-point conversion attempt failed, and the score remained 14-12 Titans.
The Bulldogs would get the ball back a little bit later in the second quarter and go right back to work on the ground as they methodically paced their way towards the endzone. Big runs by Ciolek of 15 and 10 brought them inside the redzone. Finally, another 15-yard run by Ciolek would finish it off. They’d go for two points yet again and this time get it in with another Ciolek run to lead 20-14 with 8:31 to go in the opening half.
The Titans were not fazed by the sudden deficit, and began their next march towards scoring. This time, it was capped off by a Luke Devins dash up the middle to make it 21-20 Titans with 6:04 left in the half. The drive was aided by a long pass interference call on the Bulldogs.
A Rocco Conti 44-yard touchdown run would get called back moments later, but that didn’t matter, because a few plays later it was Conti speeding in from 35 to score for the Bulldogs. A two-point conversion was successful, and just like that, it was Olmsted Falls leading 28-21 with 1:23 to play in the half.
Conti would punch it again to make it 35-21 as Conti had four touchdowns in the first half alone at that point. A two-minute drive by the Titans was halted on a Jack Pinchek interception returned nearly 70 yards to the Titan goal line with exactly one second to go. Then the Bulldogs called up Conti one more time and he put it in to make it 42-21 at the half. A 5-touchdown performance in the first half alone as the Bulldogs scored 35 second quarter points.
Down 42-21 to start the second half, the Titans came out a hungry team and Jack Arnold took the opening kickoff all the way to the Olmsted Falls 27-yard line. A 13-yard pass to Arnold moments later put them in scoring position. A few Hudson Devins runs would eventually set up a Luke Devins touchdown scramble to cut it to 42-27 as the kick was missed. With 9:40 to go in the half.
The Bulldogs and Titans would continue to trade touchdowns as the third quarter pressed on. By the time the quarter came to an end, it was 49-35 as we entered the final 12 minute of the game.
The Bulldogs began the fourth quarter where the third quarter left off, running the ball! They were aided by great field position from a recovered onside kick to start things off in Titan territory. They kept running the ball, grinding up clock and yards before Conti punched it in for his 6th touchdown of the night and the Bulldog lead grew to 56-35.
The Titans wasted no time flying down the field as Devins carved up the secondary. They would cap off the mad dash for points with a beautiful touchdown pass in the corner of the endzone to Jack Arnold from 18 yards out to cut the lead to 56-42.
Rocco Conti scored his 7th touchdown of the night to stretch the lead to 63-42 with 1:58 to play. The Titans would answer one more time with a Devin Johnson touchdown catch. It was too little too late as the game concluded 63-49.
When these two teams hook up, you can always count on plenty of points being scored. 2017 and 2018 both saw the teams combine for over 120 points each game. Tonight was no different as the combined for 16 total touchdowns and 112 total points.
Players of the game are
Olmsted Falls RB Rocco Conti with 217 yards and 7 TD’s
Berea-Midpark receiver Devin Johnson 111 yards on 8 catches and 2 TD’s
Stat Keepers Bill Patterson and Carl Hamilton for keeping track of these video game numbers.
Good article as usual
Thanks for the ink.