Opening night football returned to Northeast Ohio, as North Ridgeville hosted North Olmsted Aug. 18 to start off the 2023 season.
While the game remained tied at the half, the Rangers took advantage of turnovers and pulled away late in the third and early fourth quarters with 27 unanswered points for a resounding 41-7 win.
“Two years ago, we lost to that team 51-7 on this field in the exact same situations,” North Ridgeville coach Bryan Morgan said. “For us to be 41-7 and get them on a running clock in this game means our guys really matured and we’re hopefully getting to the point where we can play some good football.”
North Ridgeville went three-and-out on their first drive and went for the punt from their own 25. As quick as a laser, Logan Dangerfield burst through the line on the blocked punt and returned it for six for a quick score. With the point after attempt made, the Eagles found themselves up, 7-0, with 9:53 remaining in the opening quarter.
“The first couple of minutes were solid,” North Olmsted coach Tim Brediger said. “You practice special teams a ton, we do a lot of it. That (block) was something we had drawn up from something we saw last year in a scrimmage. It worked and I think their snap was a little high, which helped.”
On the ensuing kickoff, Dangerfield was a danger to the opponents once more, jarring the ball loose on the return and recovering the fumble at the Rangers’ 17 yard line.
Not much came of it, as an aborted snap on third and 3 from the 9 went over quarterback Tommy Horsfall’s head and recovered by North Ridgeville at their own 34.
“We come down and steal the kickoff and we don’t put it in,” Brediger added. “It’s a different start to the game if we get the two scores right away in the first couple of minutes.”
The North Ridgeville defense came to play, and stepped up to the plate the rest of the way.
“The defense really stepped up after that,” North Ridgeville tight end Charlie Steinmetz said. “We just have to forget about those things and move on and just keep playing the game.”
While their were several runs and incomplete passes for the next few possessions, North Olmsted wasted little time to open the second quarter, going 28 yards on a short Eagles punt to the end zone, capped off by a Zack Barnhart 7-yard touchdown run on second-and-1 with 9:26 remaining in the second quarter.
Neither side managed to score the remainder of the opening half, with North Olmsted getting the ball to open the third quarter in a close battle.
After getting the ball back from the Eagles with 9:42 left in the third quarter, North Ridgeville started at the North Olmsted 48 and drove 47 yards but got stuffed at the goal line by the Eagles defense for a turnover on downs.
The Eagles’ next drive off that turnover was short-lived, with the Rangers coming up with a pick off of Horsfall at the North Olmsted 20-yard line.
In three plays, the Rangers took advantage of that turnover, going three plays capped by a 5-yard Cole Miller quarterback keeper to go up 14-7 with 5:25 remaining in the third period as the North Ridgeville crowd started to get amped up.
As the clock ticked away, North Ridgeville’s Steinmetz burst through the line and rumbled for 39 yards with seconds to play in the third quarter to go up 21-7 over North Olmsted, as the Rangers defense finally took control with a second interception off Horsfall to start the fourth quarter.
That pick proved costly, as Steinmetz rolled in for a 17-yard touchdown a few plays later. He gained more than 150 yards of total offense with nearly 10:45 remaining in the game. He’d add another touchdown through the air on a 20 yard catch from Miller on a long third-down play to go up with a 27-point lead with 4:45 left and reach 194 yards of total offense on the night.
The Rangers love to run, and Steinmetz had a blast.
“We love to do that,” Steinmetz said. “The O-line does a real nice job of blocking too so we can make cuts and get open and stuff like that.”
Capping off the night for the Rangers was senior defensive back Xavier Compton’s 60-yard interception return that made it 41-7 and started the running clock.
“The ball was just in the right spot,” Compton explained as he walked through the play. “Cayden Reed tipped (it) and all of my defense was blocking for me. Just cleared the whole sideline for me. It was great.”
Asked if he knew he’d scamper all the way down the sideline into the endzone, Compton said “It looked pretty nice” with the running lane in front of him.
North Ridgeville will play another home game Aug. 25 when they host the Valley Forge Patriots while North Olmsted hosts Midview that same night.
