OBERLIN, OHIO – Rivalry games tend to bring out the best in teams, and Friday night at Firelands High School, it was the Firelands Falcons defense putting on a superb effort in a win over rival Vermilion 21-14 to improve to 3-0 under first-year head coach Ryan O’Rourke.
“Our defensive line did a good job getting to the quarterback,” O’Rourke said. “They threw a lot at us, stuff we didn’t see during the week, and I am very proud of our team, we were very resilient.”
The Falcons pitched a shutout to the Sailors, who had scored 86 points in their first two games, and built a 21-0 lead midway through the third quarter before Vermilion put a scare into the Firelands faithful with two TD’s in the final 18 minutes.
The Sailors did have one last chance with less than two minutes to go to put together a possible tying or go-ahead drive as they got the ball back for one last chance at their 20-yard line after a Falcons punt.
Vermilion quarterback Seth Hurd hit a 12-yard pass play on first down to advance the ball to the 32, but then threw three straight incomplete passes and then was sacked for no gain on fourth down to put the game away.
The Sailors with the setback drop to 2-1 on the season. They were looking to avenge last seasons’ home loss to the Falcons 21-3.
Following a scoreless first quarter that saw mostly a stalemate between the teams trying to gain an advantage at the line of scrimmage, the Falcons struck for two touchdowns in the second quarter to build a 14-0 halftime edge.
The first TD came after a long 16-play drive that saw their offensive line start to dominate at the line, gaining chunks of yards.
Senior Luke Peterson punched in the final two yards for the first score of the night to give Firelands a 7-0 edge following the extra point.
Vermilion did little on offense in the first half, being held to just one first down and a total of 38 offensive yards. When Hurd did have time in the pocket, the Firelands secondary did a good job of covering wide outs and running backs.
Firelands pushed the lead to 14-0 on the prettiest throw of the night, a 29-yard play-action that fooled the Sailors defensive backs allowing junior Blake Ruffner to get free and pull in a throw from senior QB Michael Bansek for a score midway through the quarter.
In the first half the Falcons outgained the Sailors 144 to 38, and Falcons running back Nick Denney put up 48 yards on the ground.
The Falcons continued to extend the lead in the second half, as senior running back Logan Strader went in from 37 yards out five minutes into the quarter to make it a three score Firelands lead at 21-0.
While it looked like a runaway at that point, the Sailors put up a fight, as first following a nice throw and catch from Hurd to wide out Jonah Pfiel for 31 yards, the quarterback got his team to the Firelands 4-yard line when he hit junior wide out Luke Pena with a touchdown throw to make it 21-7.
The Sailors defense held on the next two Fireland offensive possessions, and Hurd went on a long scoring scamper of 45 yards to close the score to 21-14 with plenty of time at 5:55 left.
The Falcons turned back to Peterson for a key first down on their next possession, and by the time they punted to the Sailors there was just 1:43 left.
Firelands defense closed the door, making sure Hurd had nowhere to go on 4th down at the 32, sacking him to close out the win with 1:08 to play.
While the game in the second half was marred by a number of penalties on both sides, the Falcons were able to fight through and earn the hard fought win over the Sailors to stay perfect.
“We stuck in there when we needed to,” O’Rourke said. “There was numerous penalties that hurt us, but I just told the guys to hang in and keeping sticking it in there.”
The Falcons will look to remain unbeaten next week when they host the 2-1 Brooklyn Hurricanes. Vermilion will play at Perkins next Friday at 7pm.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
| Vermilion | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 14 |
| Firelands | 0 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 21 |
Player of the Game:
Firelands Senior Luke Peterson
He didn’t put up huge numbers in the win over the Sailors, but senior 190-pound bruiser Luke Peterson did enough to earn his way into being the ‘Player of the Game’ for his exploits in Friday’s 21-14 win over the Vermilion.
Peterson was a factor when he touched the ball, going over with a two-yard TD early in the second quarter for the first score of the night, capping a 16-play drive.
He also had a sack of Vermilion QB Seth Hurd, and later in the night on a third-down with the game still in doubt went for a key first down that kept the ball in the Falcons hands and extended a drive to use up more of the precious 4th quarter clock.
Click the Pages Below for Photos from the Falcons and Sailors battle from Firelands High School!
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