ROCKY RIVER, Ohio (Sept. 21, 2022) -- News and notes after Rocky River's
23-21 loss to Elyria Catholic on Sept. 16 and heading into the Pirates' Friday game versus Bay ...
GAME 5: Rocky River (1-4, 0-1 Great Lakes Conference West) lost to the Elyria Catholic Panthers, who scored a go-ahead field goal with 36 seconds left to prevail 23-21. The Pirates scored the game's first two touchdowns (senior Johnny Bebie on a 13-yard run, junior Julian Patti on a 1-yard run) and looked to be on their way to grinding out a methodical 14-0 lead by halftime. But EC scored a late second-quarter TD and then got a an early-third scoop-and-score to knot the game at 14-14. After the Panthers (4-1, 1-0) got another score to take a 20-14 lead, the Pirates battled back. An 87-yard pass from Patti to senior wide receiver Mack Massad -- and a subsequent extra point -- vaulted River to a 21-20 lead with 4:23 remaining in the fourth. Elyria Catholic then leveraged decent field position and made its way to the Rocky River 7-yard line. The Panthers took the lead -- and the game -- on a 24-yard Nicholas Phillips field goal.
SCRIPT FLIPPED: For the Panthers and Pirates, Friday's game was similar to one the same combatants played last fall. Rocky River won last year's meeting 21-20 when it got a 47-yard yard field goal off the powerful right leg of Mack Massad as time expired. The kick -- the longest field goal in River history -- capped off a comeback from a 20-11 deficit. The River win went a long way to getting the Pirates into the 2021 GLC Championship game, a game they won to notch their 22nd conference title of all time.
RIVER OFFENSE: In a game effort from a banged-up Buccaneer squad, Rocky River got 49 rushing and 97 receiving yards from Massad on Friday. It got 146 passing yards from Patti and a 21-totes-for-101-rushing-yards performance from Johnny Bebie. The River offense came through with seven first downs on 11 third-down conversion attempts. Seniors Aiden Konet and Stan Heuler each tallied two catches. ... Bebie has now logged three 100-yard games this season.
PIRATE DEFENSE: The Pirates got 12 tackles from sophomore defensive back Josh Mommers and a combined 11 tackles and two sacks from senior bookend defensive linemen Aiden Andrako (4T, 1-1/2 sacks) and Stan Heuler (7T, 1/2 sack). Mommers and sophomore cornerback Cam Bulkowski (7T) registered interceptions. Other tackle leaders included juniors Andrew Lang (5T) and Ryan Ricketti (4T). ... Mommers has clocked a team-high 51T this season and has logged interceptions in two straight games. Aiden Andrako leads the squad in TFLs (7.5) and quarterback sacks (1.5).
EC DOES IT: The Panthers are 3-1 across their last four games against Rocky River. In an all-time series that dates back to 2011, EC is now 6-5 against the Pirates.
YOUTH NIGHT: Friday's battle against EC marked Youth Football Night. River youth teams and cheerleaders were recognized in a pregame activity.
PIRATE SALUTE: Friday's game against the Panthers also kicked off the Danny Scherry’s Salute to Service initiative with a food drive to benefit the Rocky River Assistance Program and local families in need. To learn more about Danny’s story or make a donation, visit neopat.org/salutetoservice.
MACK ATTACK: Senior kicker and utility back Mack Massad moved into 10th place on Rocky River's all-time points list with his seven points tallied against the Panthers. With three receiving TDs, two 2-point conversions, and 129 kicking points, Massad has scored 149 career points. The Pirates' all-time leading scorer is Tommy Bebie, who tallied 272 points from 2018-21. ... With his extra point, Massad moved past Matt Goepfert (2014-15) for the all-time Rocky River mark in that category. Massad now has 78. ... Massad also logged his seventh punt of the season inside the opponents' 20-yard line, Rocky River's single-season record is 11 such kicks, recorded by Patrick Green in 2017. Massad has averaged 39.1 yards per punt in 2022.
ON DECK: Game 6 of the 2022 season finds the Sons of Blackbeard hosting the 2022 War by the Shore. Rocky River will meet the Bay Rockets Friday at 7 p.m. A year ago, Rocky River has wrested the Helm away from Bay when it registered a
41-10 trophy-game triumph over Bay. ... Friday's game will mark Rocky River's 2022 Homecoming Game.
WAR OF '22: The Bebie brothers -- senior running back Tommy Bebie and then-junior running back Johnny Bebie -- combined to score all six River touchdowns in a 41-10 Pirate win over the Rockets. All the scoring in the came occurred before halftime. The Buccaneers cranked out 354 yards of offense over the first two quarters -- every one of them was on the ground. River had six possessions in the opening half -- every one of them resulted in a touchdown. The final 31-point margin of victory marked the Pirates' largest margin of victory against their rivals since Oct. 12, 2007 (50 points in a 56-6 contest). With River's 2022 win, the Sons of Blackbeard snapped a four-game losing streak in the War by the Shore. Bay’s streak was the longest in the now-83-game series since Rocky River won eight straight meetings from 2003-10. ... The Rockets lead the all-time series -- which dates back to 1935 -- 43-37-3.
SCOUTING THE ROCKETS: The 2022 Rockets are 3-2 overall and 1-0 in GLC West play. They defeated Westlake 28-21 on Sept. 16. ... On the season, Bay has thus far scored 20.4 points per game while yielding 23.8 PPG.
by Skip Snow