Hamilton high school Bishop Ryan gets blown out in Ohio

The Bishop Ryan Celtics, visitors to North’s Carter Stadium Friday, didn’t line up with 12 players to face the Rangers. It might have helped.

As it was, the Celtics gave the Rangers a bit of a battle for one quarter, trailing, 3-0, as the second quarter began. The usually prolific North passing attack wasn’t clicking early, but the Rangers found themselves in the second quarter and went on to blast their guests from Canada, 51-0.

North turned to junior running back Jordan Morris to get the offense going, and Morris complied by picking up 62 yards on the ground and 15 on one pass reception before leaving with an injury midway through the second period. He was carried off the field on a stretcher, but returned to the North sideline in the fourth quarter.

By then, his teammates had lit up the scoreboard and were well on their way to improving their record to 3-1.

Junior quarterback George Gresko uncharacteristically misfired on 6 of his first 8 pass attempts, but rebounded after the injury to Morris to finish with 17 completions for 307 yards and four touchdowns. He added a score on the ground before the half after the Rangers blocked a punt.

“I was real proud of our effort in the second half,” said North coach George Burich.

“Earlier in the year we were up on a team (Cuyahoga Falls) and came out in the second half and played poorly, and that carried over to our game last week against West Geauga. Our guys came out today with a good attitude, working hard and making adjustments. It’s the way we should play all the time.”

After coming up with just one field goal to show for their first three possessions, the Rangers found the end zone twice in the second quarter.

A Gresko to Brent Bryner 9-yard pass preceded the QB calling his own number for the next score. The Gresko to Bryner connection worked twice more in the third quarter, from 49 and 29 yards out. The latter score was the evening’s highlight, as Bryner caught a short pass, sidestepped one would-be tackler, and spun away from two more helpless Celtics defenders before sprinting the remaining yards to the end zone.

Bryner (6 catches, 118 yards) scored for the fourth time on a 13-yard pass in the fourth quarter, and an interception return by junior Dan Blatnik. A 5-yard run by sophomore Ron Bolden finished off the scoring.

The Rangers had originally scheduled Lorain Southview for week 4, but the consolidation of the Lorain schools left an opening that they were able to fill with the Canadian team, which was playing its first game of the season. The Celtics have previously come to Ohio to play Newark Licking Valley and Versailles.

“I think we played hard, but we’re into Week 1,” said Bishop Ryan coach Anthony Tassone. “That’s a good team over there with a quarterback that’s obviously well-skilled. I think we troubled him a little bit with the passing game early, but he got it going after they turned to the run. We don’t see a lot of kids that athletic that can throw the ball, so he’s been coached well and he showed it tonight.”

The Rangers were decked out in special edition camouflage uniforms for the game, in honor of the fundraiser for the Wounded Warrior Project. It was reported that the donations easily surpassed the $2,500 goal.

“That’s great to hear,” said Burich. “It was a good project to be involved with, and we’d like to expand that next year to all Lake County teams.”

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