ROCKY RIVER, Ohio -- Walking off the field after a game and feeling the sting of a home shutout loss is something the Detroit Road Buccaneers haven't felt since many members of the current team were attending classes at Goldwood Primary School.

Perhaps those youngsters played a game of touch football on a Friday night under the lights. Perhaps on a crisp, idyllic fall evening. For the touch-sters, their game was only kind of under the lights -- they were on a back field while the high school varsity game played out under the full shine of powerful lamps illuminating the gridiron of Rocky River Stadium.

On what was indeed a chamber-of-commerce-type autumn evening on Friday, Rocky River was shut out in a home game for the first time since Oct. 21, 2011. The Pirates were defeated by the Holy Name Green Wave, 34-0, in a Great Lakes Conference contest at the Gridiron in the Heart of River. Rocky River (1-1, 1-1 GLC) was held to just 124 total yards by a staunch Holy Name defense. The Pirates were held to just four first downs, and only twice during the evening did drives produce plays run on the Green Wave side of the field. Holy Name (2-1, 2-0) countered with a powerful running game and methodical scoring drives. In a game sped along by a running clock after halftime, the visitors scored on six of eight overall drives.

If ever the tone for a game was set by an early play or two, that certainly seemed to be the case on Friday. Holy Name running back Kriztion Sanchez gashed the River defense for a 12-yard gain on the first play from scrimmage. Running between the tackles on a second straight play, Sanchez bulled his way to a 13-yard pick-up on play No. 2. The rest of the night would see the sophomore runner bounce-off would-be Pirate tacklers and garner a slew of yards after contact. Sanchez logged a pair of rushing touchdowns, one in the second quarter and one in the third.

The Green Wave opened the game's scoring when they marched 70 yards in 16 plays before senior kicker Jonathan Stanislo split the uprights of the north goal on a 25-yarder at 4:40 of the first quarter. The punishing drive kept the Rocky River offense on the sideline for seven minutes-and-20 seconds.

The Pirate defense would force a three-and-out in Holy Name's next drive, but the Green Wave went on to score TDs in four straight drives after that, and the rout was on.

On offense, Rocky River was forced into two three-and-outs in the opening half. Those drives bracketed a turnover on a midfield fumble and a turnover on downs. The latter of those trips ended on the Holy Name 37-yard line. That particular drive was highlighted by a 37-yard, Braedon Spies-to-Charlie-Hudson pass. Unfortunately for the Pirates, that one aerial connection would prove to account for 30% of River's offense on the night.

With a couple key injuries working against them, things continued to go sideways for the Pirates in the running-clock second half. Spies and running back John Bebie got the Pirates going on their final drive of the night, but time ran out on River with the ball getting no further than the Holy Name 33. That grid line marked the closest the men in Maroon & White came all night to finding an end zone painted with that same color scheme. 

Overall, notable Rocky River performances were turned in by senior Joey Pike (11 tackles, interception), junior Patrick Lange (three tackles, sack, pass deflection), sophomore John Bebie (11 tackles, four receptions), and senior Sam Fuchs (seven tackles). Junior Aiden Andrako and senior Wesley Yuen turned in game efforts on both sides of the ball, and Braedon Spies had a solid night in punting the football. 

That last performance was just something of which the Pirates saw too much. And that is something no one dreamed of years ago on that back field full of nine-year old boys tossing around a poorly lit pigskin.


CANNON FIRE ...

BUCCANEER BAGELS: Prior to Friday's setback, the last time Rocky River had been shut out at home was in a 14-0 loss to Barberton on Oct. 21, 2011. ... River is 0-2 against Holy Name the last two years. Those losses come on the heels of the Pirates having won three straight in the series from 2016-18. Rocky River leads the all-time Pirates-Green Wave series, 5-4. Rocky River and Holy Name first met in 1922.

ON DECK: River's next game will be on the road. The Pirates will visit the Normandy Invaders at Byers Field in Parma, Ohio, on Thursday. Kickoff in the GLC tilt is slated for 7 p.m.


by Skip Snow