High school football: Olmsted Falls knocks North Ridgeville from unbeaten ranks

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — Protecting that undefeated record was always going to be a tough task, and North Ridgeville had its work cut out for it when Olmsted Falls came to town. The Bulldogs are one of the best teams in the area and had rolled past their last three opponents after a hard-fought season-opening loss. Unfortunately for the Rangers, Olmsted Falls presented too many challenges for the young team and, for the fourth week in a row, the Bulldogs came away with a dominating win, this time 42-10 on Friday as Southwestern Conference play continued. "We came in here fully expecting a tough football game and our kids were mentally there, they knew the game plan really well, had a great week of practice, so all those things helped," Olmsted Falls coach Tom DeLuca said. DeLuca and his team have preached consistency all season, but particularly against North Ridgeville (4-1, 1-1 SWC), which had its best start to a season since 2009 and features one of the season's breakout stars in freshman running back Zach Barnhart. But Olmsted Falls (4-1, 2-0) has a number of talented running backs, as well, including Rocco Conti, one of the toughest runners in Northeast Ohio. There was seemingly nothing North Ridgeville could do to bring him down. Conti finished with 81 yards and two touchdowns on five carries and added a 74-yard punt return — all in the first half — and no matter how the North Ridgeville defense lined up, he found an open lane. Even on the punt return with what looked like no holes in front of him, Conti's blockers did much of the hard work as he cut in and around every defender before finding the end zone. "I had a bunch of great blocks on that punt return," he said. "I had a wide-open lane, so credit to all the dudes on that punt return team. I was able to get the edge on that then cut it back up and I had a line full of blockers in front of me." "Basically, if you want to beat (Olmsted Falls) you have to get off some blocks and we had guys in areas but they were getting blocked," North Ridgeville coach Bryan Morgan said. "There were some times we had guys in the area and they weren't getting blocked and we still couldn't get Conti to the ground. He's a great football player, a strong runner and we just couldn't get him down." The Bulldogs continued their trend of spreading the ball among the running backs with nine players recording carries against North Ridgeville. Last week, Olmsted Falls had 13 players carry the ball and the week before it had 15. They were efficient, too. Derek Neckar had two carries for 44 yards and a touchdown, and Michael Candow had two carries for 25 yards and two touchdowns. Jack Pinchek added 64 yards on four carries. "That's a good thing for the program," DeLuca said. "I just think we have a group of running backs who are really, really tough and really good. I know Rocco is exceptional and he's always getting the highlights because he's a darn good football player, but we have a bunch of backs. You look at Jack Pinchek, he's a stud. Michael Candow, he's a stud." The Rangers were worn down. "They were the bigger, stronger football team tonight," Morgan said. "I told the guys last year and I told them again this year that (Olmsted Falls spends) a lot of time in the weight room, they're older, they're stronger, they're bigger, and if we want to get to their level we have to do more in the offseason than what we've done in the past. Our guys got a great experience and a good learning experience tonight." The Bulldogs' consistency also showed on defense. For the fourth straight game, Olmsted Falls held its opponent to 10 points or fewer. It's outscored opponents 170-33 since losing to Chardon 14-7 in Week 1. All of that spelled disaster for North Ridgeville, which has enjoyed early season success but doesn't have the experience on its roster like Olmsted Falls. The Rangers have nine or 10 sophomores and freshmen starting at any given time, and at some point experience becomes a factor. "We definitely wanted to be the ones to hand them their first loss," Conti said. Barnhart finished with 72 yards on 24 carries, and sophomore quarterback Brendan Watchorn finished 11-of-13 for 113 yards. Contact Marissa McNees at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.