RAVENNA: Fear is something every coach wants on his side.
Ravenna has Fear and creates fright.
Demetrius Fear and Warren Bradley produced havoc, and the Ravens defeated Coventry 39-14 Friday in a Portage Trail Conference Metro Division game at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Fear, a junior who ran for 171 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries, smiles when asked how often he is teased about his last name.
“People say things to me all the time. I like having the name Fear,” he said.
Bradley, a sophomore, ran for 97 yards on 11 carries with two touchdowns, and said Fear’s running style sets him up. “When Demetrius goes inside, it opens things for me outside,” Bradley said.
The backs compare their running style to two of the recent great Ravens running backs.
“I would say I try to run like Parnell Taylor. … I looked up to him,” Fear said.
“I loved the way D.J. Jones ran. I talked to him and he told me to do your best and keep your head up,” Bradley said.
Ravens coach Jim Lunardi conceded that the Ravens seemed a little off early in the game, and he knew why.
“There was a bad accident on I-76, and we had to go around it and got here late and it threw off our warm-up preparation, and I hate not feeling like we are ready without our normal routine,” Lunardi said.
The Ravens (3-2, 2-0) got on the scoreboard quickly when linebacker Andy Rodriguez recovered a Coventry fumble on the third play to set up a 33-yard field goal by Ben Morgan.
“Our defense runs through Andy,” Lunardi said.
Undaunted by the early miscue, the Comets (2-3, 0-2) put together a methodical drive spearheaded by the running of Dillon Headrick. The 15-play, 70-yard drive capped by Headrick’s 1-yard plunge on fourth-and-goal, and Casey Prater’s point-after kick gave Coventry a 7-3 lead with 4:24 remaining in the first quarter.
Headrick, a senior, finished with 108 yards on 14 carries.
A trick play gave the Ravens the big boost they needed.
Quarterback Tate Bennett, who doubles as the Ravens punter, took off with the ball on fourth-and-4 and ran 25 yards to the Comets’ 40-yard line.
Bennett came up big again, hitting a third-and-18 pass to Kyle Spellman for 20 yards. Fear ran the next three plays, going in from six yards out for the touchdown, giving the Ravens a 9-7 lead. The kick sailed wide five seconds into the second quarter.
The Ravens went ahead 16-7 as Fear scored from seven yards out to cap an eight-play, 78-yard drive with 4:04 left in the first half.
Josh Roberts gave the Comets new hope to start the third quarter as he blocked Bennett’s punt and recovered it at the Ravens’ 38.
Two plays later, Headrick started inside then bounced to his right outside and sprinted 35 yards untouched to the end zone to cut the Ravenna lead to 16-14 early in the third quarter.
The Ravens took over as Morgan booted a 34-yard field goal followed by Rodriguez grabbing a loose ball on the ensuing kickoff to set up a 3-yard touchdown run by Bradley.
Bradley later scored a 16-yard touchdown run.
Spellman, the Ravens’ normal starting quarterback, played with a cast and later added a 59-yard touchdown run. The cast comes off Monday and he will return to quarterback.
Lunardi thinks people are underestimating the Ravens this season. “Unlike some other teams that people think highly of and don’t play anybody, we play tough teams. People don’t think much of us, especially after we graduated 20 seniors,” he said.
