High school football: Smash beats Flash as Buckeye locks up league title

ROCKY RIVER — In a matchup between flash and smash, smash won in a physical, grinding fashion. The Buckeye football team saddled up behind a dominating performance from its offensive line and clinched the Cleveland West Conference with a 35-27 win over Rocky River. With the win, the Bucks (9-0, 6-0) locked up not only the conference title but also secured a first-round bye in the Division III, Region 10 playoffs. Behind a punishing effort from linemen Ryan Lino, Preston Ware, Kyle Landes, Cameron Landes, Ben Lazar and tight end Derek Snyderburn, Buckeye rolled up 404 yards on the ground on 61 attempts. Brayden Sopko was the grinder with 169 yards on 33 attempts, Nick Prouza had a big 65-yard run on his way to 88 yards, Ryan Wilhelm amassed 86 yards on 14 totes, quarterback Turner Dolata had 38 yards on his four attempts and Roman Krettler had 25 on four touches. "Once we started seeing those holes open up, we knew we had to keep pushing it because they couldn't stop us," Sopko said. "Our line did a great job." Wilhelm scored three touchdowns on the ground, Sopko had another and Dolata hooked up with younger brother Mason for a perfectly executed play-action strike in the second quarter. "The offensive line opens up the holes and we hit it as fast as we can," Wilhelm said. "Head down, forward lean, full speed." Turner Dolata threw one more pass after his touchdown toss and had no attempts in the second half, because he didn't need to. The Bucks ran 27 second-half plays, and every one of them was a running play, for an average of 7.4 yards. Buckeye imposed its will on the Pirates (7-2, 5-1), who frequently did not have a tackler in the vicinity until the ball carrier reached the second or third level. "We had to show them that we were dogs," Sopko said. "We've been working it all offseason and in the weight room. We were waiting for this game to come." While the defense gave up some big plays to Rocky River quarterback Ryan Taylor (15-of-27 passing, 282 yards, 2 TDs, INT; 14 carries, 34 yards, TD) and his dynamic group of receivers, the Bucks came up with bigger plays when they really needed them. Taylor rolled right under heavy pressure on second-and-goal from the Bucks 8-yard line and attempted to throw all the way back across the field but was intercepted by Logan Letner at the goal line. Letner returned the ball to the 20 and kept the game tied at 21. "It was a momentum change," Letner said of his fourth interception of the season. "They stopped us. They scored, they stopped us and they were driving again. It changed the whole momentum. We were able to go down after that and score and put seven on the board." On the Bucks' first play following the Letner pick, Prouza took an end around and raced 65 yards to the Pirates 15-yard line. Three runs later, Wilhelm smashed in from 5 yards for his second touchdown to put the Bucks in front 28-21. "We lost two really good seniors from last year," Wilhelm said of his offensive line. "We had two sophomores step up. They are blocking, getting movement and opening up holes for us." The Pirates responded with a Taylor-to-Rowan Kennedy (4 catches, 155 yards) 59-yard catch-and-run, but a bad snap on the PAT kept Buckeye in front 28-27 with 11:52 left in the game. The defense came up big again after the Bucks made it 35-27 behind Wilhelm and Sopko on a nine-play, 67-yard drive that Wilhelm capped with his second 5-yard touchdown run. On second-and-8 from his own 45, Taylor was sacked by Krettler for an 8-yard loss, then Wilhelm dropped him again for a 6-yard loss, forcing a Rocky River punt. "It is a team sport for a reason," Letner said. "We all trust each other and that is the biggest thing. We trust each other to do our jobs and we believe that everybody can do it. There is no doubt in anybody on the defensive side and that is why we are 9-0 and conference champions." Wilhelm converted fourth-and-2 and third-and-1 to keep the clock moving, leading to two kneel-downs to end the game. They were the only negative yardage plays for the Bucks in the game. Colton Homchik had a pair of sacks for the Buckeye defense, including a strip-sack and fumble recovery to end the final drive of the first half. Contact Chad Grant at sports@medina-gazette.com. Buckeye 35, Rocky River 27 BUCKEYE &emsp;&emsp; 7 14 7 7 — 35 ROCKY RIVER 7 7 7 6 — 27 First R — Ryan Taylor 14 run (Eric Gorius kick), 10:20. B — Brayden Sopko 4 run (Brayden Bonnett kick), 6:23. Second R — Tristan Hughes 27 pass from Taylor (Gorius kick), 9:15. B — Mason Dolata 25 pass from Turner Dolata (Bonnett kick), 5:15. B — Ryan Wilhelm 1 run (Bonnett kick), 1:18. Third R — Hughes 2 run (Gorius kick), 9:03. B — Wilhelm 5 run (Bonnett kick), 0:49. Fourth R — Rowan Kennedy 59 pass from Taylor (pass failed), 11:52. B — Wilhelm 5 run (Bonnett kick), 8:21. &emsp;&emsp;B &emsp;&emsp;R First downs &emsp;&emsp;24 &emsp;&emsp;17 Rushing &emsp;&emsp;61/404&emsp;&emsp;22/61 Rushing average &emsp;&emsp;6.6 &emsp;&emsp;2.8 Passing &emsp;&emsp;2/7&emsp;&emsp;16/28 Passing yards &emsp;&emsp;30 &emsp;&emsp;302 Total offense &emsp;&emsp;68/434 50/363 Punting &emsp;&emsp;1/30.0 3/36.0 Penalties &emsp;&emsp;4/40 &emsp;&emsp;3/37 Fumbles &emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;1/0 &emsp;&emsp;1/1 RUSHING: Buckeye — Sopko 33-169, Nick Prouza 4-88, Wilhelm 14-86, T. Dolata 4-38, Roman Krettler 4-25, Team 2-(-2). Rocky River — Taylor 14-34, Hughes 7-26, Daniel Berg 1-1. PASSING: Buckeye — T. Dolata 2-7-30-2. Rocky River — Taylor 15-27-282-1, Berg 1-1-20-0. RECEIVING: Buckeye — M. Dolata 2-30. Rocky River — Kennedy 4-155, Berg 6-76, Hughes 3-49, Taylor 1-20, Joey DiSalvo 2-2.