ROCKY RIVER, Ohio (Oct. 20, 2023) -- Rocky River clocked a 40-0 win over Fairview in a rainy Battle of Wagar Road contest Friday night. After a slow start with a pair of early turnovers, the Pirates got their offense cranked up and scored touchdowns on six straight possessions from the first quarter through a running-clock third.
Senior quarterback Julian Patti threw three TD passes -- his 39th, 40th, and 41st of the season, and senior running back Nick DiSalvo scored a pair of rushing TDs as the Double-R won its 10th straight against the Warriors. The win marked River's seventh in a row, and it closes out a regular season that had already seen the Buccaneers clinch a Great Lakes Conference West Division title. The 2023 Pirates (9-1, 5-0 GLC West) boast the best River regular-season record since 2007, when RRHS went 10-0 en route to an 11-1 overall campaign.
River's big-play offense turned in three scores in excess of 20 yards. Another touchdown was scored on a 1-yard run (Patti) the play after Patti and Rowan McDougal had hooked up on a 37-yard pass. McDougal would later haul in a touchdown pass as did receivers Oran Grieve and Ryan Ricketti. DiSalvo's TDs -- his 23rd and 24th of the year -- were on 37- and 24-yard runs.
Connor Kane and Ryan Ricketti registered solid games on both sides of the ball. On defense, they were joined by Cam Bulkowski, Trent Delventhal, Josh Mommers, and Michael Worgull in leading the team to its first shutout since Oct. 2, 2020 (31-0 vs. Lakewood). The Pirates had three takeaways -- all on interceptions, and they held the Warriors (1-9, 0-5) to a combined 3-of-14 mark in converting third and fourth downs.
Rocky River, which went into the game tabbed fourth in the DIII Region playoff rankings, had superior field position throughout the rain-drenched contest. The Pirates' average drive start was on the Fairview 47-yard line. River scored its 40 points on just 312 total yards. It nearly doubled up Fairview in that department; the Warriors managed just 167 total yards.
[Full game stats not available at time of publication.]
The Pirates have not lost to Fairview since 2013. Friday's game at Rocky River Stadium marked the last GLC meeting between the Pirates and Warriors. Fairview will be joining the Chagrin Valley Conference next season. In a series that dates back to 1935, River is now 56-29-2 against its neighbors to the south.
To the south, traveling on a road called Wagar. And on this night, perhaps in a canoe.
CANNON FIRE ...
UP NEXT: The Pirates will host a Buckeye State playoff game next Friday at 7 p.m. The opponent will be announced at a later date after the state's computer rankings tumble through their algorithms. The postseason appearance will mark River's 10th overall and a program-record fourth in a row (2020-23).
STREAK SENSE: Rocky River's seven-game win streak is its longest single-season streak since 2015. The @015 Pirates won seven in a row from Sept. 12-Oct. 23.
PIRATE PAYDIRT: The Sons of Blackbeard have tallied 421 points through 10 games. Their scoring average (42.1 points per game) marks a would-be program record. The current school record is 40.2 PPG, set by a 6-5 River team in 2014.
by Skip Snow
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