YORK TOWNSHIP, Ohio – The Buckeye Bucks ran roughshod over the Rocky River Pirates in Great Lakes Conference action on Friday night.
A senior-laden and talented Buckeye squad powered its way to 439 rushing yards on offense, while forcing turnovers and stifling Rocky River’s run game on defense. Eight total touchdowns were scored in the game; the Bucks scored the first six in a 42-15 victory over the Pirates.
With the loss, the Pirates (5-4, 3-4 GLC) have now dropped
two in a row. Against Bay (Oct. 18) and Buckeye, River was outscored, 76-32.
With their win, the Bucks have now won six of their last seven
this season. Buckeye is now 5-0 all-time against Rocky River.
The opening half saw the host Bucks put together touchdown drives of 70, 23, 62, 48, 73 and 90 yards. The 90-yard drive – a march which commenced at the 6:15-mark of the second period – put Buckeye up, 42-0.
The offense that produced those 42 points was 100% cranked
out on the ground. The Bucks offensive line created space for the running
backs, and those back did their thing, rolling up yards after contact in
bunches. Senior quarterback Jacob Doerge was the tip of the spear, putting
together several big gains en route to piling up three rushing touchdowns and over
150 yards in the opening half.
Doerge and company also benefited by a slew of missed Pirate
tackles. Buckeye rattled off 42 points on 25 running plays in its first six
drives. On no less than 10 of those plays, Bucks ball carriers were rambling
into the Rocky River defensive back field after running through arms and
busting over pad-to-pad contact.
The Maroon & White did manage a score on their final
drive of the first half. The eight-play, 70-yard drive was highlighted by two
plays: a 51-yard Braedon Spies-to-Cristain Dean bomb that got the Pirates into
Buckeye territory and then Spies and Dean connecting again on a 7-yard
back-corner fade. The latter was the touchdown play, and Dean leapt over the
Bucks defender to haul in what was a magnificent six-point catch 21 seconds
before halftime.
The second half started with a running clock. The mercy time-keeping rule was in place until River scored at 4:01 of the fourth. On that play, Spies found Owen Bebie on a long pass, and the fleet-footed senior receiver turned it into an even longer gain. Bebie outraced the Buckeye backfield and reached paydirt on what marked the Pirates’ second-longest play of the season, an 86-yarder.
Spies would finish the game 13-of-22 (59%) for 254 yards, a total that marks the sophomore’s second-most this season (299 vs. Fairview, Sept. 13).
But the play amounted to too little too late. A solid Bucks defense, led by the strong tackling of linebacker Cam Stout and defensive lineman Zach Radon, accomplished something no other teams has done this season – hold Rocky River to two scores.
The Pirates went into Friday’s road tilt averaging 28.8 points per contest and averaging 146.6 rushing yards per game. At Buckeye, River managed just 85 rushing yards on 25 carries (3.4 yards per attempt). The Bucks put together their 439 ground-game yards on 39 plays from scrimmage. Buckeye ran just one passing play -- a mistimed lateral pitch that ended up being an accidental forward pass. The Bucks were all-ground attack all-the-time in notching their 450 total yards for the game. Buckeye bolted to 366 yards in the first half alone.
The host Bucks (7-2, 6-1) had five running plays of 15 yards-plus. They finished with 17 first downs (to River’s 11) and only had five third-down situations in rolling up that total (they went 3-of-5). Buckeye finished the game as a plus-2 in turnover margin – the Bucks came up with a first-quarter interception near midfield and a third-quarter pick at their own 10-yard line.
Despite the team’s troubles on defense, junior linebacker Matt George had a big game for the Sons of Blackbeard. George had multiple stops at or near the line of scrimmage in notching a double-digit tackle total. He’s now registered over 35 tackles over Rocky River’s last three games.
Rocky River will host another GLC power – the Elyria Catholic Panthers – next Friday. The 7 p.m. kickoff will be preceded by a Senior Night recognition.
by Skip Snow
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