North Ridgeville rarely held a lead against North Royalton, on Sept. 1.
The Rangers tied the game, 17-17, with 2:58 left in regulation, forced a turnover, drove down the field and ended it with a 23-yard walk-off field goal from Austin DeShazo to win, 20-17.
“This was a great win for our program,” North Ridgeville Coach Bryan Morgan said. “North Royalton is a great program. (North Royalton coach Nick Ciulli) does a great job and they have a great all-state running back. A win like that for us, gives us a lot of confidence going into (the Southwestern Conference schedule) that we have struggled with for the past two years.”
The Rangers had to overcome a poor first-half performance that resulted in three turnovers inside the red zone.
The Bears consistently converted on third downs. That changed in the second half, in which North Ridgeville dominated possession. Rangers running back Zack Barnhart scored the game-tying touchdown.
“We couldn’t get off the field on third down (in the first half),” Morgan said. “We would have a penalty, or they would hit a pass. In the second half, (North Royalton) didn’t have the ball very much, because our offense kept dominating time of possession. We were fresh going out on defense and we got off the field.”
The defense locked down North Royalton’s rushing attack in the second half. All-Ohioan running back, Cody Miller, rushed for around 30 yards in the second half.
North Ridgeville defensive lineman DeShazo strip-sacked North Royalton to force a turnover and give North Ridgeville the ball on the Bears’ 30-yard line.
North Ridgeville improved to 3-0 on the season. On Aug. 8, the Rangers will play Olmsted Falls, on the road. The Bulldogs will also come into the game 3-0.
