Rocky River’s Billy Terry, far right, signals touchdown as teammate Ben Hofecker scores the game winner in the second overtime period last Friday night at Westlake. (West Life photo by Larry Bennet)

River stuns Demons in OT
By Jim Horvath
Sports
Published Sept. 16, 2009

The Westlake Demons had seen this ending before.

So had Rocky River.

In a stunning instance of Déjà vu, the Rocky River Pirates got a touchdown from junior Ben Hofecker in the second overtime to defeat Westlake, 23-17, last Friday night at Lou Duchez Field.

It was the Pirates’ second straight double overtime win over the Demons in as many seasons. Last year, River stopped the Demons on a two-point conversion at home to get the hard-fought 21-20 win.

Both teams had their chances and made big plays in the two overtime periods.

In the first overtime, Westlake senior defensive back Pete Nolan picked off a fourth down pass from River quarterback Robbie Plagens. He ran it all the way back down the home sideline for an apparent game-winning touchdown.

No so fast. In high school overtime, the rules read that an interception results in a dead ball, prohibiting the intercepting team from advancing it. When all the excitement faded, it was still 17-17.

That didn’t dampen the Demons’ spirit, however, as they took their turn at the 20-yard line. Westlake ran the ball on three plays to the River 11-yard line, where senior Nick Tecco took a shot at a 27-yard field goal, well within his range.

River senior Bobby Porter, however, blocked the attempt to send the game into the second overtime.

Westlake’s second possession was comprised of two runs resulting in a loss of six yards, a dropped pass and a quarterback sack. That gave the ball back to the Pirates, who gained four yards on a Nick Breidigam run before Plagens dropped back to pass on second down.

Westlake fullback Jake Gonsir racks up yardage during last Friday night’s game with Rocky River at Lou Duchez Field. (West Life photo by Larry Bennet)

Plagens found his target, senior tight end Trevor White, wide open in the end zone. But the pass was dropped, and it was third down and six yard to go. From there, it was all Hofecker.

Hofecker ran the ball seven yards to the Demon 9-yard line. He got the call again on first down, driving his legs hard behind the River offensive line and get ting down to the four for another five yards.

His third run got it to inside the one. Westlake stacked up its defense and was ready for another Hofecker run, but the River junior bulled in by the slimmest of margins for the game winner.

“Our young kids are getting the experience now,” said River head coach Rick Adams of his now 2-1 squad. “They’re growing up by leaps and bounds, and a lot of guys stepped up tonight to help us pull out this win.”

Players had to step up for the Pirates since Westlake had taken a 14-0 lead in the first half.

The Demons, coming off a big win against arch-rival Bay, took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter as a 33-yard Mike Massaad-to-Joe Lowe pass eventually led to a 8-yard scoring run by senior Aaron Perkins. Tecco drilled the extra point, and it was 7-0, Demons.

On its second possession of the half, Westlake went on a 76-yard, 15-play drive that resulted in a 1-yard scoring plunge by senior fullback Jake Gonsir. Tecco converted to give the Demons that 14-0 advantage with 10:30 left in the first half.

But Rocky River, which had moved the ball on its first two possessions of the game, eventually answered on its fourth shot with the ball. After the defense pinned the Demons deep, River took the ball on the Westlake 32. Breidigam ran it 21 yards to the 11-yard line, then two plays later Plagens hit White on a 6-yard scoring play. Senior Andy Krause kicked the conversion to bring River back into the game at 14-7.

River scored again quickly after recovering a Westlake fumble at its own 49-yard line. On one of the most picture-perfect double reverse pass plays one will ever see in a high school game, junior Kyle Dunne took the handoff and rolled to his right, finding a wide-open Jack McDermott behind the Demon backfield.

The River senior went into the end zone untouched, and Krause’s extra point tied it at 14-all with 3:46 left in the half.

“I have to give credit to my assistant coaches on that one,” Adams said. “They’ve worked a lot on that play in practice, and they made the call.

“McDermott made one of the toughest catches you can make because he was all alone on an island out there. The exchanges have to be good, then you have to get the pass there,” Adams said. “It was a well-executed play.”

River took the lead with 4:38 to go in the third quarter on a 27-yard field goal by Krause, But Westlake answered that in the fourth with 2:44 left in regulation on a 20-yarder from Tecco.

The Pirates had one last try in regulation. But a fumbled shotgun snap and a holding call eventually helped send the game into overtime.

“I have to give our kids credit,” Adams said. “Because when we were down 14-0, they just kept going. They refused to give up. I thought our defensive coordinator, Mark Wagner, did a great job with our defense tonight. We wouldn’t have been in the game without our defense tonight.”

Adams also took that moment to congratulate Wagner on his 200th game as a coach.

After talking to his team, Westlake head coach Mark Campo felt his team had improved from the first two weeks of play despite the loss.

“We want to be 3-0 right now, so we’re not on schedule,” Campo said when asked about his team’s progress. “We can’t look back, though. We can only look at what’s coming up, and that’s Berea next Thursday night.

“We’ve made some big strides from our first two games,” Campo said. “I’m proud of our players. They played hard-nosed, physical football. They played the game the way it was meant to be played. We just had a lot of mental mistakes, mistakes with technique, things that can be fixed.

“There were a lot of positive things going on out there, and we’ll point those things out to the kids when we watch the film tomorrow morning,” Campo said. “Seeing those things will give us more confidence. Like I said, the mistakes are correctable. They’re just lapses in technique or assignments. They are definitely things we can straighten out.”

In other action involving Westshore teams last Friday night:

Bay 34, Toledo Libbey 8
The Rockets took a 13-0 lead in the first quarter and never looked back in raising their record to 2-1 on the season.

Nathan Baumgard scored on a 6-yard run to open the scoring for the Rockets, then scored again later in the quarter on a 7-yard run. Alec Petro made the conversion kick.

Spencer Dalton had a pair of touchdowns for Bay. He had a 3-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, then tacked on another 3-yarder in the third. Zach Anderson scored a touchdown on the defensive side of the field when he intercepted a Libbey pass in the second quarter and returned it 27 yards for a score.

On the night, Baumgard had 141 all-purpose yards, while Matt Shepard recovered two fumbles for the Rockets. Bay will travel to Firelands Friday night to open up West Shore Conference play. The Falcons (2-1) lost to Keystone, 40-26, last Friday.

Clearview 21, Fairview 13
The Warriors led 13-7 at halftime, but allowed third and fourth-quarter touchdowns by the Clippers at Tom Hoch Field.

The Warriors, now 1-2, will host North Ridgeville this Friday night to open the WSC season. The Rangers come in at 3-0 after edging Cloverleaf, 28-21.

Against Clearview, Taylor Melton scored on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Don Posladek in the first quarter. Brad Snow kicked the extra point, and it was 7-0, Fairview. The Clippers tied the score in the seond quarter, but the Warriors regained the lead on another Melton scoring catch, this one on a 32-yard pass from Posladek.

Posladek threw for 162 yards, while Melton had four receptions on the night for 111 yards.

North Olmsted 14, Lakewood 13
The Eagles moved to 2-1 on the season as Joseph Lumpkin scored what proved to be the game-winner in the third quarter on a 1-yard run.

John Rodriguez’s conversion kick gave the Eagles a 14-7 lead heading into the fourth quarter. That proved to be the difference as Lakewood scored a touchdown, but missed the extra point to clinch the win for North Olmsted.

North Olmsted opens Southwestern Conference play Friday night by hosting Amherst. The Comets, 2-1, drilled Vermilion, 42-14, last Friday night.

Mayfield 31, Olmsted Falls 6
The Bulldogs fell to 1-2 on the season and could manage just one score, a 33-yard touchdown pass from Brennan Laird to Corey Maddocks in the second quarter.

Olmsted Falls will host Avon Lake Friday night to open the SWC portion of the season. The Shoremen pounded Elyria, 48-15, last Friday night to move to 1-2 on the season.