PARMA, Ohio – The Pirates were on the losing end of a 22-man game of keep-away for the opening 24 minutes of action, but Rocky River rallied with a tremendous second half to defeat Parma, 21-14, in a Great Lakes Conference battle under the lights on Friday. [broadcast]
The host Redmen had a stranglehold on the game clock in the opening half, running the football on 27-of-28 plays and stringing together 17 minutes and 29 seconds of possession time. Two early Pirate turnovers contributed to Parma’s dominance in possession time, if not the score, over the first two quarters of play. When Rocky River went into its locker room at halftime, it was trailing, 7-0, and had run only 15 plays on offense.
The Sons of Blackbeard charged back into the fray in the
third quarter. River would score on its first three possessions of the second
half and, in a final drive for the Redmen, force a turnover of its own in
pulling off the come-from-behind victory.
Parma’s first-half touchdown – a 1-yard run scored late in the second quarter and capping off a 15-play, nine-minute drive – was countered by Rocky River at the 9:35-mark of the third when sophomore quarterback Braedon Spies hit junior wide receiver Charlie Hudson in stride at the Parma 5. Hudson beat three defenders in sprinting across the goal line for his third TD of the season.
The Redmen battled back right away, pulling off an impressive
80-yard touchdown drive to retake the lead, 14-7. Quarterback Austin Vacca
highlighted the 5-minute-and-29-second drive with a 48-yard run on a third-down
conversion. The drive marked one of four Parma marches eating up more than five
minutes of clock time. But it was followed on the ensuing possession by a
10-play Rocky River drive, one fueled by strong running by sophomore running
back Tommy Bebie and capped off by a power run by Bebie for a game-tying TD.
The Pirate defense would force the Redmen into a punt from
the Parma 40 on the next possession. The Maroon & White took over at their
own 28-yard line, tied 14-14 at the 10:46-mark of the fourth quarter.
The River offense delivered. And in quick order.
On the first play of the drive, Tommy Bebie broke through a hole opened by Wesley Yuen, Sam Fuchs and Charles Sobol. Bebie made his way into the Parma secondary and was wrestled to the turf only after a 30-yard gain and with a facemask infraction whistled against his eventual tackler. The 45-yard play was followed by a 14-yard Spies run around the left side. The next play – the third of the drive – sent Bebie around the right end, toting the football and breaking three tackles on his way to paydirt. The Pirate back scored at the 10:01-mark; Owen Bebie’s extra point vaulted River back into a seven-point lead (21-14).
Now it was Parma’s turn. On yet another lengthy possession, the Redmen completed a couple passes and converted a couple third downs on their way into Pirate territory. On the 12th play of the drive, a
swarming River defense forced a fumble on an inside run from the 6-yard line.
The Pirates recovered, and at the two-minute mark, they had the ball and the
lead. The host Redmen still had all their timeouts. Rocky River would need
perhaps just one first down to seal the victory.
After two plays, he Pirates were staring at a third-and-five
and the prospect of having to hand the football back to the Redmen. But Rocky
River got a monster conversion on a heady, aggressive and athletic Braedon
Spies keeper on an option. The clock was flipped from enemy to ally, and the Pirates
finished the contest in victory formation.
The final stats were as close as the game score, with Rocky
River outgaining Parma, 286 yards to 277. The Pirates cranked out 216 yards in
their more productive second half. The GLC foes split 26 first downs, 13 a
side.
The Pirates got 182 yards on the ground and 104 through the air. River’s ground yardage marked the program’s most in a single game since Oct. 27, 2017.
Linebackers Matt George and Zack Wagner had standout games
for the River defense.
The Pirates (5-2, 3-2 GLC) have now won three consecutive
games. The Redmen (2-5, 1-5) have lost three of their last four. River has won
all five meetings in the Pirates-Redmen GLC series since 2015; the Pirates lead
the all-time series with Parma, 9-5-1.
by Skip Snow
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