The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)

Pirates lose to Valley Forge

Rocky River lead 21-0 at halftime; Valley Forge scores 22 unanswered, including game-winning touchdown late in fourth quarter to win

- By Rob DiFranco RDifRanco@MorningJou­rnal.com

After a dominant first half, Rocky River’s defense got all it could handle and more from a dangerous Valley Forge rushing attack.

The Pirates built a 21-0 lead heading into the half, but gave up 22 unanswered in the second half, leading to a 30-29 defeat in their first Great Lakes Conference game of the season.

Rocky River falls to 2-1 with the loss and will host conference upstart Lakewood in Week 4.

“We were sluggish and didn’t execute,” Rocky River head coach Josh Wells said. “We were pretty dinged up heading into this and that caught up with us. It limited our game plan a little bit, but our kids fought, I’m really proud of them.”

Things turned quickly in the third quarter after three straight Rocky River punts.

The Patriots offense turned those into points every time with Purdue commit Kentrell Marks scoring on a pair of long runs.

Marks was held relatively in check during the first half, collecting 41 yards. The Pirates defense forced a pair of turnovers on downs in the first half and got a strip sack from Braedon Spies.

Spies cashed in on that turnover he created with a 14-yard touchdown scamper that put the Pirates ahead, 14-0, at the end of the first quarter.

Rocky River couldn’t find that same magic in the second half as Marks and Eddie Starks laid down several crushing runs.

Marks finished with 162 yards and a pair of scores on the ground, including one from 50 yards out that made it a one-possession game with just over four minutes left in the third quarter.

Starks finished with 51 yards only because his teammate took up large portions of the Forge drives in the second half with bigtime scoring runs.

“We’ve been playing the Marks kid for three years now and we know you can’t arm tackle him. He hurt us and he hurt us pretty bad,” Wells said. “They took advantage of some different times in the game where we didn’t have certain personnel on the field.”

The Pirates built a threescore lead in the first half on the backs of Johnny Bebie and Braedon Spies.

Spies had the strip sack and the rushing touchdown — he also added a passing touchdown to Patrick Lange to open the scoring. Spies finished with just six incomplete passes and 118 yards through the air, but just 18 of those came in the second half, and half were on his final touchdown of the night.

Bebie had five carries for 70 yards and a score before exiting in the second half with an injury.

His brother Tommy also left with an injury in the third quarter, but returned with a 36-yard run that set up the Pirates’ final score of the game. Spies again connected with Lange in the fourth and added a twopoint conversion to Mack Assad to put River up by seven.

But three minutes later, Valley Forge hit an uppercut for the win.

“Our kids believed. They had a lot of heart and they fought and dug deep today,” Valley Forge head coach Marcello DeAngelis said. “That was incredible, the heart and the guts that that showed was amazing.”

 ?? AIMEE BIELOZER — FOR THE MORNING JOURNAL ?? Brandon Spies of Rocky River runs the ball against Valley Forge on Sept. 2.
AIMEE BIELOZER — FOR THE MORNING JOURNAL Brandon Spies of Rocky River runs the ball against Valley Forge on Sept. 2.

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