High school football: Elyria moves the ball but can't find the end zone enough in loss to Olmsted Falls

OLMSTED TWP. — Elyria had the red zone blues Friday at Olmsted Falls. Three times in the first half the Pioneers marched the ball inside the Bulldogs 30-yard line only to come away with zero points. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs marched and marched and marched some more in running away from Elyria 42-15 in Southwestern Conference play. Elyria, 3-3 with three straight losses, ran its conference losing streak to 28. Granted, 25 came in the vaunted Greater Cleveland Conference before the Pioneers moved into the SWC this season, but the losses have piled up nonetheless. Elyria hasn't tasted victory in league play since beating Shaker Heights in 2017. Olmsted Falls improved to 5-1 and 3-0 in SWC play. "We have to finish those," said Elyria coach Devlin Culliver, who spent a long time after the game talking to his players. "We had that one right at the end of the half that could have tied the score. We couldn't finish." And they couldn't stop Falls' triple-option attack. The Bulldogs ran it like they invented it. Olmsted Falls' first drive was 78 yards on nine plays and took more than three minutes off the clock. Its second scoring drive was 74 yards in nine plays, taking nearly four more minutes off the clock. "When we run it right, it's hard to stop," coach Tom DeLuca said. "We ran it pretty well (Friday)." No kidding. Olmsted Falls had 257 yards on the ground scattered among five backs, led by Rocco Conti's 91 yards on 14 carries. Conti lived up to the Bulldogs nickname and his own first name with several punishing runs. His 19-yard run to the 2-yard line to start the second half was as good as anybody's had this year. He bulled his way through the entire Elyria defense before being stopped. "He's old school," DeLuca said. "He's a great student, a great kid. He's tough as nails." The Bulldogs started the second half on their 40 thanks to a 25-yard kick return from Conti and moved to score in 10 plays, taking nearly half the third quarter to do it. Falls added three more touchdowns in the fourth quarter to completely demoralize the Pioneers. The drives were 45 yards in five plays, 34 yards in four plays and 35 in six. "They consume a lot of time," Culliver said. "It's hard to defend what they do. They're a good team. I looked up at the clock and the time was moving." Elyria kept up with Falls, at least for a while. The Pioneers tied the game at 7 off a beautifully executed fly pattern from Desmond Whitfield to Andrew Palos for 67 yards to match the Bulldogs' first drive. But after Falls went up 15-7, Elyria's promising drive stalled on a fourth-down try from the 2-yard line with time running out in the first half. The Pioneers had driven to the 23-yard line and the 26-yard line but were halted on fourth-and-short both times. Jasir Lucky rushed for 79 yards and Whitfield threw for 203 but it wasn't enough. Palos caught seven passes for 155 yards and the one touchdown, but Elyria played the game without Lance Glover, Jaden Gilbert and Jaylan Brown — key players on both sides of the ball. Contact Tim Gebhardt at 329-7135 or timothygeb@msn.com.