Rangers lose Senior Night heartbreaker
Lakewood’s final home football game of the 2009 season was Senior Night, a chance to honor the seniors and their families that have sacrificed so much in the name of Ranger athletics.
It was also a chance for the Rangers to win a football game for the first time since week 1. However, Elyria’s Tyrnell Davis had other ideas. Davis rushed for 230 yards on 29 carries and scored three touchdowns as the Pioneers left Lakewood Stadium with a 24-20 come from behind victory win in a Northeast Ohio Conference River Division game.
Davis, one of the top running backs in Northeastern Ohio, had touchdown runs of 1, 55 and 44 yards. His 55-yard touchdown run, which came on the first play of the second half, tied the game 14-14, erasing the Rangers early 14-0 lead.
After the teams exchanged punts on their opening possessions, Lakewood scored first when Seamus Gowan connected with Brian Wick on a 25-yard touchdown pass. Gowan then found Joe Young open in the end zone for the 2-point conversion to give the Rangers an 8-0 lead.
The Rangers started the scoring drive on the Elyria 43 after Nick Sclimenti tackled Elyria punted Tim Jones in the Pioneers backfield after an errant snap.
Lakewood’s defense held the Pioneers without a first down in the first quarter. Then they started off the second quarter by scoring some points of their own.
Senior safety Jim Gajewski scooped up a Dustin Stolarski fumble and scampered 30 yards for a touchdown, putting the Rangers up 14-0 with 10:02 to play in the half.
After that it became the Davis show. Elyria put its first points on the board just before the half when Davis capped off an 8-play, 56-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. Davis carried the ball on all eight plays of the drive, taking a number of direct snaps out of the Wildcat offense.
After Davis’ second score tied the game at 14-14, the second half became a battle of turnovers and field position as a steady rain fell for much of the final 24 minutes. Lakewood’s Robert Smith intercepted a Stolarski pass at midfield, midway through the third quarter. Five plays later the Rangers returned the gift when Young fumbled and Elyria’s Brandon Bailey came up with the recovery.
Early in the fourth quarter the Rangers drove deep into Pioneer territory but a penalty and a trio of incomplete passes forced Lakewood to hand the ball back to Elyria on its own 21. It was from there that the Pioneers would embark on the game-winning drive.
After a 13-play, 75-yard drive, Jones kicked a 21-yard field goal to give the Pioneers a 17-14 lead.
Davis put the icing on the cake with a 44-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-one play with 1:25 to play to put Elyria up 24-14.
The Rangers made it close in the closing seconds when Gowan threw his second touchdown pass of the night, a 68-yard bomb Faaress Parham to make the final score 24-20.
In his final home game as a Ranger, Gowan was 14-of-27 passing for 222 yards.
Senior Joe Young rushed the ball 22 times for 148 yards in a losing effort. Wick, who is also the Lakewood punter, led the Rangers receivers with five catches for 90 yards.