Announcement
Determined Buckeye Dominates Rocky River (9/3/2016)
YORK TWP. — The Buckeye football team’s defense was a little salty after last week’s overtime loss to Revere. Determined to make up for a disappointing opener, the Bucks completely dominated Rocky River to earn a 27-7 non-league win that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated. While Buckeye (1-1) struggled to get rolling on offense initially, the defense was spectacular. The Pirates (1-1) rolled to a 53-13 rout of Fairview one week ago behind Dameon Crawford (244 yards, 4 TD) and Matt Popovich (155). The Bucks limited the entire Rocky River offense to just 139 yards on 43 plays and bottled up Crawford (18 carries, 66 yards) and Popovich (2, minus-1) all night. “We knew from Revere that we needed to step up our game on defense,” defensive back Keaton Sandor said. “We moved some guys around. We moved Dominic Monaco to strong safety, and he really stepped up to the plate.”
The Buckeye offense was clicking at times in the opening 24 minutes, but badly timed penalties and turnovers kept the game closer than it should have been at 10-0. The defense continued to stand tall, forcing six straight three-and-outs and allowing just two first downs through almost three full quarters. After slotback-turned-quarterback Michael Doerge (8-for-12 passing, 105 yards, TD; 154 yards rushing, 2 TDs) scampered in from 24 yards to put the Bucks up 17-0, the defense showed a tiny crack.
Rocky River put up half of its offensive yardage on a pair of passing plays from Cameron Blue (6-of-18, 85 yards, TD, 2 ints.). Blue found Jack Rodgers for 22 yards, and one play later hit Michael Shoaf for 42 yards and a score.
The Buckeye defense responded, allowing just 14 yards the rest of the way and picking off Blue twice in the fourth quarter. Ricky VanBoxel snagged the first and Sandor the game-sealer. Doerge, who is starting for injured Adam Fauver, and Justin Canedy were all the Bucks needed en route to 433 yards. Canedy had 195 yards from scrimmage (154 rushing) on 29 touches. “We were motivated to come out and do our best to get this win,” Canedy said. “Everybody was saying we couldn’t do it and that motivated us even more. We had great blocking, and that’s why we were successful tonight.” Canedy was the workhorse early, while Doerge took over late.
The offensive highlight of the night came after Doerge faked a jet sweep to Canedy and ran untouched for 90 yards off the right side to knock most of the remaining life out of the Pirates. The score put the Bucks up 24-7 and cemented an important early season win. “They were really worried about the jet,” Doerge said. “So when we faked the jet and I went up there was no safety back there. The linebackers bit on the jet and I was just gone. I outran everybody.” Leading the way was the line of Hunter Gray, Dominick Kriz, Spencer Murphy, Luke Conrad, Cody Jackson and Turner Mitchell. “They did a great job,” Doerge said. “They just did their job. We had a little trouble in the first half running some of our counters and whatnot, but in the end I couldn’t have broken that 90-yarder without someone blocking for me.”
Contact Chad Grant at sports@medina-gazette.com
