H.S. Football: North Ridgeville improves to 3-0 as it heads into SWC play

NORTH ROYALTON — The appetizer portion of the schedule is done for North Ridgeville. It's time for the meat and potatoes of the Southwestern Conference. The Rangers completed the three non-conference games in perfect fashion, grinding out a 16-6 win over North Royalton at Gibson Field on Friday. Next up for North Ridgeville is a date at home with the Avon Eagles, the defending Division II state champions. "I'm very proud of the way the defense and the way they played," Rangers coach Bryan Morgan said. The Rangers (3-0) had their toughest test of the young season against a stout North Royalton defense that forced four punts in the first five possessions. The only scoring possession of the first half came late in the first quarter and one play into the second after the Rangers took over at the Bears 39 following a punt out of the end zone. North Ridgeville got a little help from North Royalton on a fourth-down play with a pass interference penalty that put the ball at the 12. Cole Miller had a 9-yard run on the final play of the first and Zack Barnhart got the final 3 yards on the first play of the second for a 7-0 lead. The Rangers had two great opportunities to add on. They recovered a fumble on the first play after the score, but moved 16 yards backward with a penalty and a sack. The next chance came when the Ridgeville defense stuffed a fourth-down run at the Bears 39. Once again, the Rangers were pushed back because of a holding penalty. The first half was a struggle for both offenses as North Royalton gained 76 total yards while North Ridgeville accounted for 52. The teams traded possessions to start the second half and, like a shooter in a slump, you keep shooting until you hit, and that's exactly what Barnhart did on the Rangers' second possession. After the Bears (1-2) missed a field goal, Ridgeville took over at their 20. On second down, Barnhart took a toss to the right, finally saw some daylight and raced nearly untouched for an 80-yard score and what felt like a commanding 13-0 lead with 8:55 left in the third. "Even though we were missing a couple offensive linemen, I had complete faith in my line," said Barnhart, who had 1 yard rushing before the score. "Once I got past that last guy on the outside, I knew I was gone." Both teams had chances to get on the board in the half, but multiple long touchdowns were erased by penalties. The Bears' Cameron Saul saw a 75-yard TD run called back, while North Ridgeville's Cole Miller had a 70-yarder negated. "I don't think anyone really cheered after Zack's run, because everyone was looking around for a flag on the turf," Morgan said. North Royalton got on the board with 3:24 left in the game, but the ensuing onside kick was recovered by Matthew Flesher, allowing the Rangers to run out most of the clock to preserve the third straight win over the Bears. Contact James Brady at (440) 329-7135 or jbrady_ct@yahoo.com.