The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Bulldogs defense decides wild offensive game
In a game that was full of offensive highlights and in need of defensive plays, Olmsted Falls came up with big stops when needed to escape with a nail-biting 42-35 win over North Ridgeville on Sept. 22.
The Bulldogs defense made a critical fourth-down stop from inside their own 1-yard line, and came up with two second-half interceptions, including Jaden Mandeluk’s 66-yard interception return for a touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter.
“The stop was everything,” Olmsted Falls coach Tom DeLuca said. “We decided to suck it up at the end and did a great job on the stand. But I’ve got to give all the credit to (North Ridgeville coach) Luke Durbin. He’s a heck of a coach. They were ready to play football tonight. Our kids battled back and did a nice job at the end.”
Jack Spellacy ran for three touchdowns for Olmsted Falls (4-1, 3-1 Southwest Conference), including the go-ahead score from 5 yards away that was set up by Braden Galaska’s interception in the end zone that ended a North Ridgeville drive.
Shomari Williams carried the ball 35 times for 182 yards and two touchdowns for the Rangers, who looked like they might pull off their first win of the year
(0-5, 0-4 SWC). But, on the fourth-down play that ultimately decided the game and everyone certain he would carry the ball, the Bulldogs beat the blocking and met him in the backfield for a 3-yard loss.
“We fought like crazy, and I’m proud of them — especially with the way the season started and it not going the way we want it to go, but there’s no quit in them,” Durbin said. “We had trouble stopping them all night, but we came up with a couple big stops in the third quarter that gave us a chance, but we’ve got to take care of the football.”
“We were that close in a game we feel like we should have won, and we’ve got to use that next week,” Durbin said.
North Ridgeville, clinging to a narrow 28-27 lead at halftime, forced a threeand-out to start the third quarter and extended its lead when Williams broke loose up the middle for a 17-yard touchdown run to make it 35-27.
Olmsted Falls fumbled on its next series, and the Rangers drove into Bulldog territory and could have made it a two-possession game, but Mandeluk had other ideas, catching a tipped pass and racing up the left sideline to the endzone to cut the deficit to 35-34.
“We played the screen better on the pick. We were upfield in the first half, and didn’t play the screen well,” DeLuca said. “We played it better and got the tip (on the pass) and Jaden was in good position, where he and our guys weren’t in the first half but were in the second.”
In the first half, the Bulldogs relied on their special teams to set up two short scores. Trailing, 7-0, early in the first quarter, Michael Howard returned the kickoff 70 yards to the North Ridgeville 20-yard line, and Spellacy carried in from the 3 three plays later to knot the game, 7-7. In the second quarter, with the game knotted 21-21, the Bulldogs recovered a muffed punt snap, setting up Luke Lombardo’s 3-yard run for a 2721 lead.
The Rangers answered that score with a 14-play drive in which Williams carried the ball 11 times for 54 yards, including the last yard to reclaim a 28-27 lead.
North Ridgeville’s 21 first-quarter points equaled its total output in the last two games combined, with Matt Steinmetz accounting for all three scores. The Rangers scored on the third play of the game, with Steinmetz finding Cannon Kerr over the middle for 79 yards. The junior QB kept the ball on a sneak on the next drive, and connected with Chad Williams for a 72-yard scoring play on a play-action pass over the top of the Bulldog defense to claim a 21-14 lead going into the second quarter.
“He hit those and it forced them to change the way they played us defensively and opened up the run game,” Durbin said.
Spellacy finished with 69 yards on the ground on 11 carries (he had a 19yard TD in the first quarter) and Lombardo had a team-high 78 yards on 15 carries and two TDs. Quarterback Teddy Grendzynski completed 5 of 6 passes for 70 yards, with Nick Daily catching three passes for 40 yards and adding 35 rushing yards.
Steinmetz finished with 179 yards passing — 168 yards coming in the first half — and completed 6 of 10 passes. Williams had two receptions for 78 yards.
The Bulldogs hit the road next week to take on Amherst (4-1), while the Rangers are back at home against Avon Lake (3-2).