ROCKY RIVER, Ohio -- How do you protect a lead in football? A rock-solid run game is a good start. And how do you run the ball effectively? A rock-solid offensive line is a good start.
River's run game was dialed in Friday night. In the middle of it all ... and on the edges ... and pushing through its Firelands counterparts in the trenches ... was the Pirate offensive line. The big Buccaneers on the line gave the scrimmage scrum a consistent push on a night that saw the Pirates push their record to 2-0 with a 45-14 victory over the Firelands Falcons.
The most impressive push on the sweltering evening under the lights at Rocky River Stadium came over the final 16 minutes of clock time. Over the second half, the Pirates pushed a 21-14 halftime lead to a 45-14 tally at the finish line. They did so with big plays on special teams (career-long 38-yard field goal by Mack Massad) and defense (key interception with a long return by Johnny Bebie). But it was all stitched together by the River running game. Brother Tommy Bebie turned Johnny's near-pick-6 into a 5-yard touchdown run at the 8:50-mark of the fourth quarter. The score was Bebie's fourth of the contest and his seventh of the season.
One of those scores came on a wild, zig-zag run that saw Bebie pinball has way to paydirt on a 28-yard scamper. The senior tailback was nearly taken down in the backfield on that play. The rest of Bebie's 137 yards on the night were paved by the offensive line.
It was Firelands scoring first, with quarterback Kyle Ransom running in an 8-yarder on the Falcons' first drive of the game. River's signal caller, Braedon Spies, answered with a TD run of his own at 3:48 of the first. It was Tommy Bebie and the offensive line setting up that score, and it was the line reaching the endzone a step ahead of Spies on the touchdown.
The Detroit Road Buccaneers took a 14-7 after a brilliant, 56-yard Spies punt pinned the Falcons back deep in their own territory early in the second. The kick was followed by senior linebacker Patrick Lange picking off a Ransom pass at the Firelands' 10. It was a Tommy Bebie 7-yard TD run that vaulted River to its lead.
But that lead was short-lived. The Falcons leveraged a key, third-down encroachment penalty against the Pirates (one of three such infractions on Ransom hard counts in the opening half) on a drive eventually tying the score, 14-14, at the 2:51-mark of the second. The Pirates answered almost immediately, with Tommy Bebie scoring on his 28-yard, serpentine, parkour challenge of a run at 2:21.
Rocky River (2-0) cleaned up its penalty issues in a second half that was all-Pirates in a methodical shutdown of the visiting squad. Firelands' second-half possessions went thusly: punt, turnover on downs, interception, punt, end of half. River countered with: run left, run right, run middle, rinse, repeat.
The way it was X'd and O'd on the chalkboard. Straight down the line. On a Pirate gridiron bunch off to a good start.
CANNON FIRE ...
FROM THE BUCS SCORE: Rocky River finished the game with 237 rushing yards on 27 carries (8.8 yards per attempts). Tommy Bebie carded his 137 yards on 16 carries. Johnny Bebie added 28 yards on four totes. A big 51-yard rushing chunk came from sophomore Nick Disalvo, who covered that expanse in a flash to provide River's final score of the night. The TD came on Disalvo's first career carry. ... The Pirates only ran 34 plays from scrimmage in the game. Credit some clutch plays from Firelands for keeping the ball away from the Double-R offense. The Falcons went 8-of-16 in converting third-downs. ... Tommy Bebie registered a double-digit total in tackles for a second straight game. The heady linebacker made 10 stops against Firelands. Stan Heuler added five tackles, a sack, and a pass deflection. Braedon Spies had five tackles; Charlie Fadel had four.
SUPER TOE: Mack Massad's 38-yard field goal in the third quarter split the uprights and cleared the crossbar with ease. The impressive boot surpassed the junior's previous long by 3 yards. Massad is 6-of-6 on three-pointers over his career.
DID YOU KNOW: With Friday's victory, Rocky River is 2-0 to start a season for the first time since 2014 when the Men in Maroon started 3-0. ... Friday's tilt marked the seventh all-time meeting between Rocky River and Firelands. River is 7-0 in the series and has only allowed 54 points over the seven games.
TOUCHDOWN TOMMY: With his four TDs Friday, Tommy Bebie has now scored 25 in his Pirate career (20 rushing, three receiving, two interception returns). His 132 career points rank 10th in program history. That top-10 includes 2020 graduate Owen Bebie, who scored 177 points.
by Skip Snow
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