QB Ryan O'Rourke's debut with the Yellow Jackets is a winning one as B-W cruises to an opening win.
Norm Weber
Special to The Plain Dealer
BEREA, Ohio -- All that could be said about Baldwin-Wallace's football performance Thursday is that the Yellow Jacket faithful are happy that Avon native Ryan O'Rourke decided to come home.
O'Rourke, a transfer from Slippery Rock State, threw three touchdown passes, completing 9 of 13 attempts for 154 yards to lead B-W to a 38-14 home win over Wooster in the 33rd annual Lee Tressel Shriners Night.
It was a great night all around for a host of talent from local high schools. B-W started off with a bang-bang effort. Kevin Johnson, a freshman from St. Ignatius, made his first collegiate play a memorable one, returning the opening kickoff 55 yards to the Wooster 40.
From there, O'Rourke, the Avon High 2009 graduate, took over. The sophomore transfer made his first Division III pass one for the scrapbook, connecting with Keith Darbut for a 40-yard TD pass to give the Jackets a 7-0 lead with the game only 19 seconds old.
Darbut, normally a defensive end, lined up for his first offensive play of his four-year college career, taking the crisp O'Rourke aerial at the 15 and jaunting in for the final yardage on the play.
Brad Pollock, a Brecksville-Broadview High product, kicked a 37-yard field goal on the next B-W possession to make it 10-0. It was the longest field goal of Pollock's collegiate career.
B-W's second first-quarter touchdown had a lot of local flavor as well. O'Rourke found a familiar face in Brett Jensen, one of his favorite receivers at Avon High, near midfield. Jensen was able to snare the ball and dash 50 yards untouched for the score.
"We've been playing together since seventh grade," Jensen said. "After we both went to Slippery Rock last year and it didn't work out, we knew we wanted to come here. It just clicks when a quarterback and receiver know each other that well."
O'Rourke's third TD pass of the first half was also to Jensen, this one for 19 yards with 11:15 left in the first half for a 24-0 lead.
"There is more of a family atmosphere here at B-W," said O'Rourke. "Slippery Rock just didn't seem right. This felt good right from the start. I saw enough Avon people in the stands that indicates that we should have a good following the rest of the season."
While the B-W offense dominated in the first half, the defense well. Wooster could not manage a first down in the first quarter. At one point in the second quarter, B-W had a 298-2 advantage in total offense.
Parma High product Tim Miker scored the first B-W TD on the ground, a 1-yard plunge in the second quarter that made it 31-0.
Wooster finally got on the scoreboard in the final minute of the half when quarterback Richard Barnes, a freshman from Painesville Harvey, threw 18 yards to Logan Dunn.
Barnes started getting used to this college game by the second half. He engineered a 12-play, 58-yard drive in which he did all the passing and quite a bit of the running. His 3-yard TD pass to Cameron Daniels cut the deficit to 31-14 with just over five minutes left in the third quarter.
For the game, Barnes was 20-of-35 for 171 yards and two TDs. Barnes and O'Rourke received plaques as the Shrine game MVP for their respective teams.
Matt Breidegam, who played at Rocky River, was the leading tackler for the Scots, racking up nine tackles. Chris Aukerman, another former Rocky River Pirate, chipped with six tackles.
"Three of us went from Rocky River to Wooster," said Breidegam. "Two of us are still here and it's a nice place to play. It felt good playing in front of a lot of locals here."
Amherst's Ryan Kish had nine tackles for B-W to share game-high honors with Breidegam.
B-W's insurance TD came on a pass from Padua alumnus Andrew Dziak to Aaron Manders in the fourth quarter.
Norm Weber is a freelance writer based in Lakewood.