It was a SUPER Saturday for the Bath Rams last week. They beat Marcus Whitman 36-14 in the Quarterfinals of the Class C playoffs.

 

The stats going into the game prevailed.

Coach Carroll going into the game was 16-4 in his last 20 Saturday games.

25-12 vs FLAA teams all time, and 19 and 6 in his last 25.

 

The Rams going into the match up with the Wildcats were 3 and 1 dating back to 1997.

In those 4 games against Marcus Whitman. The Rams averaged 32 points. The Rams on Saturday scored 36. They averaged giving up 11.5 points per game. They gave up 14 and their average win was by 29.6 and on Saturday they won by 22.

 

Bath Ran 37 times for 413 yards and 4 rushing TD's. That is a average of 11.1 per carry.

The Ramblin Rams had 3 running backs over 100 yards.

Brandon Finch took his first hand off of the year and ran 50 plus yards for a TD.

He finished the day with 8 carries and a 122 yards and 2TD's

Connor D.  The DiDominator had 10 carries for 135 yards and a TD.

He also ran the 2nd half kickoff back 85 yards for a TD

Tyler Finch ran the ball 9 times for 103 yards and a TD.

 

Noah Hockaday went 1 for 1 in the air for a 2 point conversion.

 

The Black Shirt Defense did not give up a score in the 2nd half.

They have held their opponents to 14 or less in 3 out of their last 4 games.

 

Connor Cupp lead the team with 7 tackles and a sack. Zack Tenny had 6 tackles and 3 sacks. Brandon Finch and Kyle Rinker both had 5 tackles.

 

The Rams had 4 sacks in the game.

 

The Rams have now scored 261 points on the season. That is 12th highest in Section V.  That is a average of 32.6

The Black shirts have given up 165. That is the 28th lowest n Section V. An average of 20.6

 

Coach Carroll got his 182 win. Putting him in a tie on the NYS all time wins list for 78th with former Herkimer Coach Elmer Morgan and Section 4 great Dick Hoover who coached at Vestal and is the Father of Jim Hoover former Walton Coach who is 4th on the all time wins list.

 

The next person on the the Section V and NYS all time wins list is former Cal Mum Coach Mike Monacelli at 186 wins.

The Carroll Crazies would love to see Wayne surpass Monacelli this year.

That would mean Bath won the NYS Class C title.

 

Connor DiDomineck has 917 rushing yards. 12 total TD's and 3 conversions

Tyler Fnch has 803 rushing yards and 12 total TD's and 3 conversions.

A great back and forth battle between these two Senior Running Backs for yards and TD's.

 

The last time the Rams had 2 Running Backs who went over a 1,000 yards was in 2008 when Andre McCloud went over 1400 and Cody Hutcheson went over 1300.

 

That Rams team won the Sectional Title and made it to the State Semi's.

 

Connor is around 200 yards shy of going over 3000 yards in his great career.

He has 50 all purpose TD's after Saturday's game.

 

Zack Tenny is 1 tackle shy of the 100 club.

 

The Rams are in their 4th straight Final 4. 5th out of the last 6th

2012,2014,2015,2016,2017.

 

The 4th seeded Bath Rams who are 6-2 take on the number 1 seed East Rochester/Gananda Bombers who are 7-1.

 

The Bombers are in their 6th straight Final 4. 7th out of the last 8

2010,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017.

 

These two have meet the last 3 years running.

2014 in the Semi's at Webster Thomas. Bath won 51-19

2015 in the Title game at Sahlen Stadium. Bath won 40-30

Last year the top seeded Bombers beat the 4th seeded Rams in the Semi's at Cal Mum 14-8.

 

That day the Rams ran 44 times for 179 yards and a TD. 

Stefan "The Ordozer" Ordway had 23 carries for 113 yards in the game.

In the air the Rams were 9 for 16 for negative 10 yards.

Cam Cleveland for the Bombers Ran the ball 39 times for 171 yards and 2TD's.

 

The Rams had 4 starters leave the game with game ending injuries.

Yet the Rams had the ball at the end of the game with a chance to tie.

 

Last year ERG going into the game had scored 293 points. This year they have scored 292. So they were averaging 36 points per game and the Rams held them to 14. The lowest they had scored going into that game was 22. They scored 34 games in the Title game that they lost. So that was the lowest output all year long.

 

 

Coming into the game ERG has the 6th highest scoring team in Section V, and the 6th stingiest team in Section V.

 

Their Defense has gotten better each year since 2014.

In 2014. ERG gave up 226 in 9 games. 25 per game.

In 2015 they gave up 155 in 10 games 15.5 per game.

In 2016 they gave up 141 in 10 games. 14.1 per game

into this game they have given up 76. 9.5 per game.

 

ERG does not have all state Back Cam Cleveland this year. He had over 4000 yards and 56 TD's the last two years.

ERG is lead by their 4 year starting QB Patrick Shanley. He is 29-8 in his career.

In their last game he was 9 for 11 for 162 and 2TD's.

while the Bombers don't throw the ball like they once did. Shanley can make the passes when needed. If a defense stacks the box to stop the run. He can make them pay

 

Why teams stack the box is because of the 5'7 155 pound Running Back Jayden Castrechini

In the Bombers win over Mynderse he had 164 yards and 3 TDs.

In the first game of the year vs Newark he had 5TD's in the 1st half. 4 on the ground 1 in the air. He had 226 yards rushing against Midlakes.

In ERG's final game of the year Castrechini had 2 picks and 322 yards of total Offense in their win over Penn Yan. In another game he ran the ball 36 times for 125.

On the flip side. shanley has thrown the ball over 20 times. in a game. So they are not afraid to pound the rock or go to the air.

 

The Rams lead the all time series 4-2

1 and 0 in the regular season

3 and 2 in Sectionals

0 and 1 in the first round

2 and 1 in the Semi's

1 and 0 in the Finals

 

2003 The Rams beat ERG at Fauver Stadium 38 to 18.

In 2006 The 2nd Seeded Rams were were 6 and 1 lost to the 7th seeded Bombers who lived up to their name and threw the ball for a record amount of yards and won 41 to 15 in a huge upset.

In 2008 it was the night the lights went out in Bath. With the Rams trailing 21-14 but driving deep into ERG territory in the late part of the 4th quarter the lights went out and were not able to be restored that night.

They never finished that game and Bath won by forfeit.

2014 the Rams beat ERG in the Semi's at Webster Thomas 51-19. ERG jumped out to a 13 to nothing lead in that game. When it was all said and done players from both sides had been ejected.

In 2015 the Rams took a 32 to 8 lead into the 4th quarter of the Class C title game.

ERG made a furious comeback that came up short 40-30.

Then you had last year's hard hitting affair where the Rams came up short 14-8.

 

There is no love lose between these two teams.

 

Connor DiDomineck over the last 3 games has 25 carries for 153 yards and a TD.

Tyler Finch has 9 carries for 57 yards and a TD

 

The Rams average 33 points in the last 3 games while ERG averages 21.

 

Two great Coaches go at it on Saturday. ERG's Coach Dennis Greco has been an assitant at St. John Fisher and has coached in the Arena League. He is in his 25th and final season at ERG.

ERG has made it to 8 Finals since 1978 while Bath has made it to 8 as well.

ERG has won 4 titles. Bath has won 6.

Coach Carroll is 182-97.  Greco is 147-78-1  In the 1st round of sectionals Coach Carroll in his career is 13-8. Since 2000. Greco is 10-2. In Semi's Carroll is 9-5. Greco is 4-6. In title games. Carroll is 7-2. Greco is 1-3. The one win came in 2012 over Livonia 48-34. They have lost in the title game under Greco in 2000 as just ER against Cal Mum 8 to 6. In 2015 against Bath 40-30, and last year against Bishop Kearney 36-34. They also fell to Hornell 24 to 14 in 1987.

 

Wayne Carroll is 2nd on the Active wins list and 8th all time in Section V. Dennis Greco is 4th on the active wins list and 14th on the all time wins list.

He is 1 win behind former great coach at Livonia Steve Girolmo.

 

329 wins combined between the 2 coaches.

 

The Rams will hope their tough schedule will help them on Saturday.

We talked about Coach Carroll's dominance over FLAA teams.

ERG under Coach Greco is 15-10 against LCAA teams.

Against Hornell/Bath/Livonia/Cal Mum/LeRoy. The cream of the crop.

They are 5 and 7.  In Sectional play ERG is 5 and 7 vs LCAA teams.

 

Going into the game.

Bath's opponents combined record is 37 and 27. ERG's is 26-38.

Bath will play the 6th highest scoring Offense on Saturday. They have already faced the 1st and 2nd highest in Livonia and Hornell. along with the 16th Whitman team, the 19th Cuba Rushford team and the 20th Cal-Mum/BB team.

The Rams are 12th.

So out of the top 10 scoring teams the Rams will have faced 3 and out of the top 19 they will have faced 6 teams.

 

On Defense the Rams have played the 3rd and 4th best team in Livonia and Hornell. Also Cal Mum/BB at 10 and Letchworth Warsaw at 14. So Again the Rams will have faced on Saturday 4 top 10 Defense's and 5 out of the top 14.

 

ERG played three good teams

Geneva who they beat 21-18. Penn Yan who they beat 34 to 14 and Wayne who they lost to 11-6.

None of those teams advanced to the Semi's

Mean while Hornell/Livonia/Cal-Mum-Bb have all moved on to the Semi's

 

 

When all said and done. It will come down to who makes the least mistakes, who worked harder in the off season, who wants to keep playing and not hand in their equipment, and what coaching staff will come up with the best game plan and make adjustments from the last three meetings. 

 

One last side note. The Rams played at HFL last in 2015 in the Semi's. They beat LeRoy 44-0. That same day on that same field. ERG beat Lyons/Sodus 41 to 8.

 

Tune in for the Countdown To Kickoff show with the Coaches Corner at 2:15PM. On AM1380WABH, 100.3FM, Online at 1380wabh.com and with our FREE Tunein app. Just download the app for any mobile device and look up "Hometown Bath"