Ranger Offense Awakens in Loss to Titans

Coach Ribar speaks to the team after the game.

There was bad news and good news from tonight’s Ranger football game against Berea-Midpark. The bad news is that Lakewood lost the game 49-30. The good news is that they found their offense, scoring four touchdowns and a field goal. Lakewood made huge strides from their disastrous 55-0 opening night loss to Medina – but, as Head Coach Mike Ribar told the team after the game, that is “not good enough yet”.

                The game opened on a beautiful sunny evening in Berea. On the second play of the game, Ranger defensive back Sean Wiggins intercepted a Titan pass to give the Rangers the ball at midfield.  This put Lakewood fans in a much better mood than last week, when the game went poorly from the first play. Lakewood faltered on their subsequent drive, punting back to Berea-Midpark. The Titans drove down the field, then fumbled the ball inside the Rangers 20 yard line. However, the Ranger defenders failed to fall on the ball, allowing the Titans to recover it at the three yard line. Titan running back Tyrese Holland scored on the next play, putting Berea-Midpark up 7-0 with 6:57 left in the first quarter. Holland scored another touchdown later in the first period, giving the Titans a 14-0 lead and reminding Ranger fans of last week’s blowout.

                Lakewood’s offense began to click late in the first quarter, getting a couple of first downs with Nick Bamin subbing for starter Austin Mahar at quarterback. Mahar returned in the second period, and led an impressive drive that started at the Ranger 25 yard line. Mahar hit Joe Byczeck with a 41 yard touchdown pass with 8:21 left in the first half. Junior kicker Attila Nagy kicked the conversion, making the score 14-7. The Titans stretched the lead to 21-7 on the next drive with a TD pass from Trevor Bycznski to Luis Vega.  With five minutes left until halftime, Lakewood went on another scoring drive. This one was capped by a four yard touchdown run by Quentin Palmer with 1:25 left.  This extra point was missed, resulting in a 21-13 score at the break.

                The Rangers continued their offensive momentum by driving 60 yards on their first possession of the second half. They key play was a 51 yard pass from Mahar to Sean Wiggins, who caught the pass deep into Titan territory. Nagy, a kicker recruited from the boys soccer team, kicked a 28 yard field goal to make the game 21-16 with 8:41 left in the third quarter. The Titans were able to respond, methodically moving down the field for a touchdown to make the score 27-16 with 5:38 left in the third quarter.

                Lakewood put together another scoring drive, going 64 yards on six plays to cut the lead to 27-23 with 3:21 left in the third period. The score happened in dramatic fashion, as Mahar fumbled the center snap, but picked it up and found Nick Bamin in the end zone for a 22 yard  touchdown pass. The Titans scored touchdowns on their next two possessions as the Ranger defense began to wear down. The lead was stretched to 42-23 at the end of three quarters.  They eventually got the score to 49-23, putting the game out of reach in the fourth quarter. Mahar scored on a one yard TD run to make the final score 49-30.

                The overall performance was vastly superior to last week’s game, which gives hope for the remaining eight games of the season. Even when they fell behind 14-0, the Rangers kept fighting and kept the game in doubt until the final quarter. The newly-installed “spread option” offense began paying dividends as Mahar settled into the QB position. The  passing game looked the best it has ever been in the Ribar Era, and sophomore Will Adams made some quality runs. Kevin Musai, Sean Wiggins, Basho Khawan, and Tommy Paul made some very tough defensive plays. However, the Rangers are still susceptible to big plays, and need to reduce their number of mental mistakes. The team returns home next Friday at 7pm to play Olmsted Falls at First Federal Lakewood Stadium.

Mike Deneen

Mike Deneen has extensive experience covering sports and community stories for the Lakewood Observer. Mike has been a Senior Industry Analyst for the Freedonia Group in Cleveland, Ohio, since 1998. He has appeared on CNBC’s Closing Bell, NPR’s MarketPlace and has been quoted multiple times in The Wall Street Journal. He has made multiple guest appearances on ESPN Cleveland radio. Mike also writes for Inside Northwestern, a website that covers Northwestern Wildcat Athletics. You can reach him on Twitter at @MikeDeneen1 

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Volume 12, Issue 19, Posted 11:58 PM, 09.02.2016