The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Bebie, O-line lead Rocky River past Firelands
Bebie rushed for 150 yards and four touchdowns
When talking about the best players in the area, you don’t have to look far to find Rocky River’s Tommy Bebie.
The running back, middle linebacker and Wake Forest commit has had an incredible start to his season, scoring four touchdowns against Firelands on August 26 and leading the Pirates to a 45-14 win. Bebie had 150 yards on the ground to go with his touchdowns.
“It’s just every week,” Rocky River coach Josh Wells said. “I can’t think of enough words to describe Tommy. He is a kid that doesn’t worry about stats. He doesn’t worry about his own accolades or any of that. He just wants to win football games with his teammates. And that rubs off on guys. We have so many different playmakers and they are all unselfish.”
According to Bebie, he is just the stat guy. The work happens in front of him.
“Nothing happens without the guy’s up front,” Bebie said. “Aidan (Coyne), Charlie (Sobol), Jackson (Hermann), (Evan) Merk, (Aidan) Andrako and all the guys that come in and out.”
“They work their butts off and they don’t get any recognition.”
Bebie added “the stuff they do drives this offense and it all starts with them. That is how I am able to be successful.”
The offensive line and Bebie are both to credit for the Pirates dangerous running attack. Johnny Bebie, Braedon Spies and Nick Disalvo got in on the action for the Pirates as well.
“We have an experienced team,” Wells said. “We have a lot of veterans and two and three years starters and they don’t fold when stuff gets hard. We have great leaders in Tommy and Braedon. I could go down the list. It isn’t just one guy. They rely on each other; they trust each other and that is how you get through those situations.”
The Pirates (2-0) led Firelands (0-2) 21-14 at the half but were able to lock up on defense in the second half and continuously expand on their lead.
“Every single week we try to get better and better,” Bebie said. “Coach (Mark) Hogya always says that he wants to see us from week one to week two and every half and every quarter, improving is the goal. Improve every snap, quarter and game. The offense and defense have had success with that.
“We struggled in the first half defensively but we all came together at halftime and got ourselves together and shut them out,” Bebie added.
The biggest play of the game happened in a 24-14 game early in the fourth quarter when Braedon Spies found Johnny Bebie over the top of the Falcons defense for 50 yards on third down, leading to another Tommy Bebie touchdown and expanding the Rocky River lead to 31-14.
“We went in and wanted to establish the run early and try to shorten the game a little bit,” Wells said. “They are a really good football team. We knew we had to take control and obviously running the ball with Tommy or Johnny or Braedon or whoever it was, that sets it up. We are a run first football team and stuff is going to open up. It was a great call and great execution.”
Firelands has a solid one-two punch on offense with Kyle Ransom and Corey Newark, but the Pirates were able to control the Falcons on offense and not let them get any big plays.
“That’s a really good football team,” Wells said. “Coach (Ryan) O’Rourke has those guys ready to play. Everyday.”
Rocky River won their first game of the season 5624 over Midview and used the second half of that game to pull away as well.
“The positive thing is we can execute when we are tired,” Wells said. “We were wiped out in that second half. To fight through cramps and exhaustion. Executing and coming through in key situations and a lot of fourth down stops, interceptions and big plays.”