High school football: North Ridgeville rolls over Amherst, off to best start since 2009

AMHERST — It wasn't pretty, but North Ridgeville will take it. After three first-half turnovers, the Rangers took control in the second half, pulling away for a 34-3 win over Amherst in a Southwestern Conference opener Friday night. The victory gives North Ridgeville (4-0, 1-0 SWC) its best start since 2009 when the Rangers won their first five games. The Comets (0-4, 0-1) lost their 15th straight game dating back to 2020. Amherst came out hitting on all cylinders, getting deep in North Ridgeville territory before having to settle for a 36-yard Nathan Stewart field goal and a 3-0 lead with 7:53 left in the first quarter. The Comets did it again, following a Henry Cislo fumble recovery which set them up at the Rangers 16. But after lining up for another field goal attempt, the Comets changed their mind between quarters and North Ridgeville stuffed quarterback Cole Norris to take the ball away. Just three plays later, sophomore quarterback Brendan Watchorn hit Mason Worcester with a short pass that turned into an 86-yard catch-and-run for a score. After trading turnovers late in the second quarter, North Ridgeville got a 3-yard TD from freshman Zach Barnhart after Brett Lienerth recovered a Comets fumble. "Our defense definitely picked us up in the first half," Rangers coach Bryan Morgan said. "Amherst out physicaled us in the first half, but the defense allowed us to have a lead going to the second half." The game completely got away from Amherst on the first play of the second half when Watchorn found Charlie Steinmetz with a quick-hitter with absolutely no one around him. Steinmetz raced 83 yards untouched for a 19-3 lead with 11:16 on the third-quarter clock. "That play was so awesome, he was so wide open," Watchorn said. "We wanted people to have their eyes on us this year. We just wanted to come back great because we know how good we can be this year." "The middle of the field was open quite often, even the first long touchdown came in the middle of the field," Morgan said. "We talked at halftime that we wanted to go back to that right away." The Rangers defense continued to dominate the Comets, holding them to minus-25 yards rushing in the second half and just 21 yards through the air. After the long touchdown to start the second half, North Ridgeville added scores on its next two drives to send the game to a running clock. Watchorn had a 2-yard scoring run that was set up by Barnhart's 28-yard. Barnhart scored the final points of the game on the first play of the fourth quarter on a 1-yard run that capped a 10-play, 51-yard drive. After having just 25 yards rushing on eight carries in the first half, Barnhart finished with 128 yards on 24 carries. "The defense played really well (in the first half)," Amherst coach Kenny Fritz said. "It's complementary football, it doesn't matter if one side plays well and the other side struggles. You just can't finger point. We just have to rally the troops, that's where we're at as a team." Contact James Brady at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Contact James Brady at 329-7135 or jbrady_ct@yahoo.com.