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The number seven seed, the Northwest Indians traveled to Rocky River to play the number two seed Pirates tonight for a division IV first round matchup. Rocky River came into this game with a very strong undefeated regular season, winning every game but one by two or more scores, awarding them a first-round bye. Northwest had a strong season, but dropped two games last month to conference opponents, leading to a second-place conference finish. Northwest beat Cleveland Central Catholic last week during the first round. Both teams looked to keep their seasons alive and advance to the next round on this cold Friday night. Rocky River won the toss and chose to defer.
The Northwest Indians received the Rocky River Pirates squib kick and started the game on their own 34-yard line. The Indians first tried to begin their run game but were stopped near the line twice by the defensive line, including a stop by Tom Van Meter. This is when they tried the ball over the air where quarterback Brayden Venables completed his first pass of the night to Sanad Abueteen for a nice 10-yard gain. Moving down the field, the Indians utilized both Conner Stephenson and Jakob Garber in their run attack, who advanced them to around midfield. After a pitch to Garber went for a short gain, the Indians ran the same pitch action but had Venables keep the ball up the middle for a well-designed fake pitch that netted the Indians a first down in Pirate territory. On the next set of downs, Rocky River’s defensive line shut down Northwest’s, and forced a punt.
After a very short return, the Pirates started their first drive of the playoffs on their own 10-yardline. Rocky River started off hot, picking up two first downs in three plays with help from a catch from Rowan Kennedy and a nice 10-yard rush for Rocco Baon. After an underthrown pass and a stuffed run, Rocky River looked at a 3rd and long, where quarterback Carter Atwater found wide receiver, and Kentucky commit, Tristin Hughes wide open over the middle, who then made a defender miss and finally ran out of bounds after gaining 24-yards. The Indians are able to force another third down. However Rocky River’s quarterback Atwater while under pressure, is able to move the defense around by directing his receivers.
Once he saw a commitment to the run he dumped the ball off to Rocco Baon who was now wide open, and he moved the ball up for a big first down inside the red zone. After a big penalty from the Pirates, they are looking at a 2nd and goal from the 17-yard line. They gained the yards back on a run to Tristin Hughes up the middle and now looked at a 3rd down with 9 to go to the goal line. Atwater steps back in the pocket and looks to his number one receiver Tristen Hughes who makes an incredible one-handed catch inches from the goal line. Not perturbed by this stop, the Pirates ran the ball to the left side with Steven McHenry leading the way for Tristin Hughes to walk right into the end zone for a touchdown and the first score of the game. After a extra point, Rocky River leads 7-0 with 11:57 to go in the 2nd quarter.
The Pirates kicked the ball back to the Indians and quickly forced a three and out with help from a defensive stop by Hughes and good pocket pressure by the Rocky River line. The defensive stops did not slow down there as the Pirates partially blocked the kick forcing a short offensive field. On the first play of their new drive, Rocco Baon found a huge hole on the right side of the offensive line, created by Beau Resar and Steven McHenry, and took the ball all the way to the end zone for a 55-yard touchdown. After the extra point, Rocky River led 14-0.
Rocky Rivers defense stayed locked in, and on a third and short, Tristin Hughes came up with a one-handed interception giving the ball right back to the Pirates. With the ball back, the Pirates do not have a hard time moving back down the field and find themselves just outside of the red zone on a long first down brought on by a penalty. This is when Carter Atwater dropped back and saw Rowan Kennedy had beaten his man and threw him a perfect ball which he caught in stride, in the end zone for another unanswered Pirate score. After Connor Milane sent a ball through the uprights, Rocky River led 21-0 with 7:39 to go in the half.
With the ball back Northwest needed to kickstart their offense now. Quickly they are faced with a third down look, but a nice catch by Ty Lipkins gives them a much needed first down. The Indians really started to run the ball after this, with 6 positive rushing plays in a row that led them down to the 10-yardline. Northwest set themselves up at the line and ran a pitch to Conner Stephenson who followed Jakob Garber right into the end zone for the Indians first score of the night. After a made extra point, the score was 21-7 with 3:15 to go in the half. With the final possessions from both teams ending in punts to each other, the clock ran out to the end of the 2nd quarter.
The rain has started coming back from halftime, and the Northwest Indians decide to go for an onside kick and nearly recover it. This gave the Pirates a short field to start their second half. Their offensive dominance did not continue this drive, punting the ball after three short downs. Northwest’s offense took back the field and immediately started gaining positive yards from their confusing and hard to stop running scheme. When you think that Stephenson will have the ball, Venables or Garber are already moving in the opposite direction from the fake handoff.
This strategy continues to work, gaining all their yards on the run this drive. This is when they ran the same pitch play that they scored on earlier to Garber, who was stuffed at the line by Connor Novosel and Jackson Greear. Seeing the Pirates reading into their plays, the Indians lined up in the exact same formation, ran the same play, and had Brayden Venables keep the ball up the middle to walk into the end zone untouched. After going down three scores the Northwest Indians are right back in it 21-14 with 5:00 to go in the third.
Rocky River started with the ball back on their own 20-yardline and looked to stop the second half scoring shutout by the Northwest defense. Due to the rain, the ball was fumbled in the backfield and after two more plays of no gain, the pirates had to punt again. This is when the ball sailed over the punter’s head, out of bounds for a safety, and bringing the Indians within striking distance. The Indians, now down only 21-16, have the ball and look to lessen the score or take the lead entirely.
This is when Rocky River phenom Tristin Hughes had a second interception that he brought back more than 50-yards for a huge defensive touchdown that really changed the game. The Pirates now led 28-16 taking the game further out of reach with 2 minutes to go in the 3rd. With this boost of energy, the Pirates defense retook the field and immediately got the ball back with an interception by Baon. This excitement was short lived as Jakob Garber for Northwest picked the ball right back off, giving the Indians a very short field for the start of the 4th quarter.
The Northwest Indians started to move the ball down the field with their rushing game, and overcame a big 4th down on the ground, and a huge pass on 3rd and long down the sideline to Ty Lipkins. They are on the 5-yard line and look to score and bring this game back. They went with a rush up the middle that fell into a mob of bodies, and the ball popped out near the 1-yard line, which was recovered by Michael Bebie stopping a huge touchdown from happening right at the goal line.
Tristin Hughes was able to get the Pirates off the 1-yard line, and Rocco Baon found another huge hole and raced the Indian secondary downfield for a 60-yard gain. Just outside the red zone, the Pirates started to work their run game under the center to protect the ball and drain the clock. This is when faced with a 3rd down and long, the Pirates went to their guy Tristin Hughes who is able to follow his blockers perfectly and outpace the defense for his third touchdown of the day. Pirates now led 35-16 after the extra point and looked to close out this game.
The Indians were able to make one last drive down the field, dotting the sideline with catches by Ryker Griffin and Sanad Abueteen, making their way all the way inside of Rocky Rivers’ 10-yard line. After a dropped pass, and one knocked away by Hughes, Venables drops back and airs it out to the end zone where Rowan Kennedy came up with the interception to ice the game.
The player of the game for Rocky River was Tristen Hughes, who had two offensive touchdowns, an interception and a pick-six that turned the tide of the game immensely for the Pirates. The players of the game for Northwest were Conner Stephenson who scored a touchdown and was one of the focal points of the offense, and Jakob Garber who also kept the Indians offense moving and contributed an interception.
Rocky River goes on to face Beloit West Branch at Rocky River on November 11th at 7:00 P.M.
