H.S. Football: Turnovers costly as North Ridgeville loses thriller late

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — The fourth quarter of Friday's non-league game between North Ridgeville and North Royalton was like an adventure novel, with highs and lows and unexpected twists and turns. The only thing missing for the Rangers and their fans was a happy ending. The Rangers (0-3) led by eight in the closing minutes, but two late turnovers led to 15 unanswered points as the Bears rallied for a 49-42 win. Cole Allison scored the final of his four touchdowns, a 24-yard run, with 8:13 to play to give North Ridgeville a 42-34 lead. On the Bears' next possession North Ridgeville junior defensive back Grayson Draper intercepted a Daniel Piper pass and it looked like the Rangers were in control. A turnover, however, allowed North Royalton to tie the game on a 2-yard Piper run with 2:29 to play. Piper, who also threw for three touchdowns, ran in from 39 yards out with 52 seconds to play to score the winner for North Royalton, which improved to 3-0. "We were up eight and with a big takeaway from our defense and we turned the ball over. We get it back and we have an opportunity to go win the game and we turn it over again," North Ridgeville coach Bryan Morgan said. "That's going to be the story we're going to hear, but what it comes down to is we had other opportunities during the game." North Ridgeville had nearly 500 yards of total offense, led by Allison, a senior running back who had 134 yards on the ground to go with nine receptions for 85 yards. But the Rangers turned the ball over four times in the second half. Allison got the Rangers on the board with 48 seconds to play in the opening quarter with a 29-yard touchdown pass from Braden Harrison. Midway through the second quarter he sprinted around the left end for a 65-yard touchdown that cut the Bears led to 20-14. He also caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Harrison with one second to play in the third quarter to give the Rangers a 35-34 lead. "Cole is a very special player but I am proud of this entire team," Morgan said. "We're a young team and our offense performed very well tonight. Gus Dutta had a great night, so did Mason Allison and Harrison is throwing the ball really well." Dutta was on the receiving end of an 88-yard second-quarter Harrison touchdown pass. The Rangers defense, which has allowed an average of 30 points a game this season, struggled at times. North Royalton gained 494 yards, and Piper threw for 188 yards and finished the game with 93 yards on the ground after being held to 1 in the first half. All of the Rangers losses this year have come by seven or fewer points. "When we have an opportunity to put teams away we've just go to do it," Morgan said. "We have to continue to get better." It doesn't get any easier for North Ridgeville next week when it travels to defending Southwestern Conference champion Avon to open league play. Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. North Royalton 49, North Ridgeville 42 North Royalton&emsp;7&emsp;13&emsp;14&emsp;15&emsp;—&emsp;49 North Ridgeville&emsp;7&emsp;14&emsp;7&emsp;14&emsp;—&emsp;42 Scoring ROY — Enzo Gajewski, 45 pass from Daniel Piper (Srdjan Novakovic kick) RID — Cole Allison, 29 pass from Braden Harrison (Xavier Chasen kick) ROY — Ryan Kinney, 30 pass from Owen Pay (Novakovic kick) ROY — Kinney, 6 pass from Piper (kick fail) RID — Allison, 65 run (Chasen kick) RID — Gus Dutta, 88 pass from Harrison (Chasen kick) ROY — Lincoln Lee, 6 pass from Piper (run fail) RID — Matthew Flesher, 10 run (Chasen kick) ROY — Kinney, 13 pass from Ameen Suleiman (Lee pass from Piper) RID — Allison, 14 pass from Harrison (Chasen kick) RID — Allison, 24 run (Chasen kick) ROY — Piper, 2 run (Piper run) ROY — Piper, 39 run (Novakovic kick)