SULLIVAN, Ohio – Coming into Friday night’s game, Firelands appeared to have an inside track at an outright Lorain County League championship with two regular-season games remaining.

Host Black River, which began the season with four consecutive losses, had other plans.

Led by quarterback Eric Groesser, who accounted for every single point Friday through the air, the ground and with his right foot, the Pirates jumped out to a 14-point lead and held on to a thrilling 42-28 LCL victory at Stevenson Field.

Black River won its fifth straight game and improved to 5-4 (5-1 LCL), while Firelands fell to 7-2 (5-1) with one game left. The Falcons play 6-0 Columbia, while the Pirates play rival Wellington with a chance at a share of the league crown.

“Our kids practice really well all week and executed the game plan and this was a big game for them,” Black River coach Kyle Clark said. “Nobody gave us a shot except for the guys in our building. They knew they could do it and they and I just love to see them execute on all the stuff we put in to the game plan this week.

“They just played so darn tough. They never gave in to a really good football team with a powerful run game. We didn’t shut them down, but we were able to slow them down and that was enough.”

Groesser finished with 265 yards on 11 of 17 passes with four touchdowns, and added 11 more yards on 9 carries and two rushing touchdowns. Meanwhile, he was 6 for 6 on extra points, including one from 5 yards farther after a false start on the Pirates’ final touchdown. He had 25 rushing yards.

“Our o-line was blocking great and our skills guys were getting open – all I had to do was just throw it to them,” Groesser said. “It seemed like every ball I threw, they caught it and ran and made huge plays. I don’t think I got sacked once, I only threw the ball away once or twice.

“There was one I threw it into triple coverage and he caught for a touchdown. It was that kind of night, I guess.”

Black River had five second-half possessions and scored on the first four. And, had the game not already been in hand with the ball on the 1 at the end of the game (Goesser kneeled out the clock), it likely would have made it a perfect 5 for 5 in the second half. Those four second-half touchdowns turned a 14-14 halftime tie into a 14-point victory.

“Jumping out to that early lead was crucial for us, because I think if it was neck-to-neck in the first quarter, it might have been tough to put this one away,” Clark said. “They would have wore on us a little bit more. Also, opening the second half with a touchdown was really big for us. That was huge for our confidence going forward in the second half.”

Disaster nearly struck for the Pirates on the opening second-half kickoff when there was a fumble that went right toward a Firelands player, but the ball squirted free at the last second and wound up recovered by the Pirates. Six plays and 66 yards later, Groesser kept it himself from a yard out for a touchdown, putting the Pirates up, 21-14.

The drive was keyed by a 26-yard run by Tyler Mrakuzic on the first play and a 30-yard completion to Mrakuzic on third-and-4 down to the Falcon 4. Mrakuzic finished with 111 yards on eight carries to lead the Pirates.

“It’s the best feeling to put that 0-4 start away,” Groesser said. “We had a two-score lead, we slowed down a little bit, we made some mistakes, but we came out for the half and just picked up right where we left off, and we did not stop all the way until the final whistle.”

Firelands turned the ball over on downs at the Pirate 26 on its ensuing possession, and the Pirate offense went right back to work. A 32-yard pass to Blake Hopkins on third-and-12 down to the Falcon 47 was followed by a 47-yard touchdown pass to Mrakuzic, putting Black River back up by 14, 28-14, with 5:04 remaining.

The Falcons answered with a 10-play, 63-yard drive, capped by a 1-yard plunge by fullback Josh Kovach with 46 seconds left in the third quarter. But the Pirates offense wasn’t ready to take its foot off the gas just yet.

A six-play, 42-yard drive, capped by a 29-yard touchdown pass from Groesser to Nathan Urbas with 10:29 left in the game, bumped the Pirates lead back up to 14, 35-21. Once again, Firelands had an answer.

A very up-tempo six-play, 80-yard drive kept the Falcons within striking distance, capped by a 13-yard touchdown by standout running back Weston Strader. Strader finished with 36 carries for 160 yards and two touchdowns, and his second score cut the deficit to 35-28 with 8:39 remaining in the game.

But, once again, the Pirates could not be stopped on offense. Buoyed by a big 34-yard kickoff return by Hopkins, they drove 47 yards on eight plays, with Groesser doing the honors himself from 2 yards out with 4:12 remaining.

Firelands had one more possession, starting at its own 21, but, hampered by a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, wound up turning the ball over on downs at its own 45. Black River was able to run the clock out from there on the huge upset.

“Black River did a great job being physical with us and they did a great job neutralizing us inside with our run game,” Firelands coach Ryan O’Rourke said. “Defensively, they gave us a lot of different looks and it really presented us with some tough challenges.

“We got in a 14-0 hole and then we started getting in a rhythm offensively after a while. Missing out on that fumble on the second-half kickoff hurt. They just did a nice job putting up 28 on us in the second half. We couldn’t get that one stop we needed.”

After two Firelands three-and-outs and a blocked 44-yard field goal attempt from Groesser to start the game, Black River got on the board first, thanks to a great play made by Groesser.

On third-and-9 from their own 35, Groesser took the snap, rolled to his right and, close to the line of scrimmage and with the Falcons defense bearing down on him, lofted a lob pass over the stunned Falcons to a wide-open Urbas 15 yards downfield. Urbas, with nothing between him and the end zone except green grass, finished off a 65-yard touchdown reception with 4:12 left in the first.

“We always do a scramble drill in practice because you never know when a play will break down like that,” said Urbas, who finished with four catches for 131 yards and three scores. “When I ran my corner work, I saw him scramble, so I broke it back toward the sideline and he saw me and threw me a perfect ball. I turned around and no one was in front of me.

“Our offensive line has done an amazing job after a bad start at the beginning of the year. They weren’t clicking, but now they are gelling and it’s just making our offense 10 times better. And now that we have Tyler back, our offensive weapons are just going insane.”

Firelands put together a nine-play drive following the Pirate touchdown, driving from its own 35 to the Pirate 34. But, on the first play of the second quarter, Strader fumbled following a short gain, and it was recovered by Black River’s Alex Sotherland at the 34. The Pirates turned the turnover – the only one in the first half by either team – into points, driving 66 yards on six plays. The drive was capped by a 29-yard pass from Groesser to Urbas, putting the Pirates ahead, 14-0, with 9:23 left.

The Falcon offense – specifically Strader – had been stymied by the Pirates defense up to that point. But, following the Urbas touchdown, the visitors finally got something going on offense. Taking over at their own 31, the Falcons drove 69 yards on 11 plays, capped by a 2-yard touchdown run by Strader. The Falcons converted two third downs on the drive and were aided by a 15-yard personal foul penalty that put the ball on the Pirate 15. With 4:57 left in first half, Black River led, 14-7.

Following a three-and-out and a 70-yard punt by Groesser, the Falcons regained possession at their own 16 with 3:26 left. Methodically, the Falcons put together a 15-play, 84-yard drive. With 10 seconds remaining on third-and-6 on the Pirate 14, Falcons quarterback Jim Aunspaw found Abel Coultrip open in the right-corner of the end zone just in front of the pylon for a 14-yard touchdown pass.

Rocco Iafolla’s extra point tied the game at 14 with five seconds left in the half. But that’s the last time the Falcons didn’t trail in the game.

Dan Gilles is a freelancer from Elyria.

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