Second half surge pushes River Ridge past Sprayberry
Apr. 21—WOODSTOCK — Rezin Samstag's goal with 13:27 remaining put an exclamation point on what was a strong second half for River Ridge in its 3-1 win over Sprayberry on Thursday in the second round of the Class AAAAAA state playoffs.
With the teams deadlocked at 1-all at the break, the Knights (14-4-1) broke the tie just 65 seconds into the second half. The Yellow Jackets (14-6) were unable to find the net again as River Ridge vaulted itself into the quarterfinals.
"That goal was huge," River Ridge coach Phil Thomas said. "It got the whole crowd excited, and Sprayberry's fans were awesome tonight. We were a little overzealous and lost our composure a bit. We calmed down after that third goal, but Sprayberry did a great job of fighting back. They gave us everything they had."
River Ridge will host Riverwood in the quarterfinals Tuesday after the Raiders beat Grovetown 4-0 on Thursday night.
"I was talking to our guys about calming down and whatnot, but the reality is they have to experience it," Thomas said. "They need to experience those tense moments. That's the biggest crowd we've played in front of since Dalton."
River Ridge had some chances to score early but did not convert as the teams went scoreless across the first 30 minutes. Sprayberry scored first, with Soren Bednar capitalizing on a bobbled save from Knights goalkeeper Gracen VanGilder to take a 1-0 lead at the 9:47 mark.
The Yellow Jackets' lead stood for just 4 minutes, however, as Matthew Dean scored on an assist from Anthony Ruiz to tie the game at 1-all. Dean was finally able to break himself open from Gavin Crowe's physical defense for the game-tying play.
Sprayberry came out in a 4-4-2 set to begin the game, which is something it rarely does. It threw River Ridge off, but the Knights made the necessary adjustments after struggling to keep their form on defense.
"I thought we were doing a good job of creating chances, but we were just not finishing those chances," Thomas said. "It was nice to get one right before halftime and tie it up. We got into the locker room and reset some things. They did a good job."
Ruiz's goal at 38:55 in the second half gave River Ridge new life and ignited the home crowd. Sprayberry goalkeeper Kian Godwin pushed out to try and knock the ball away, but Ruiz skied the ball over him for the 2-1 lead.
The Yellow Jackets came out of the halftime locker room in a 4-3-3, changing up their set and forcing adjustments from the Knights' sideline. River Ridge tightened up, and VanGilder had back-to-back saves at the 31:30 mark, preserving the lead.
Sprayberry turned up the offensive pressure, needing a goal to even the score. That pressure backfired with Samstag finding a lane and nailing a sliding goal for the 3-1 advantage. From there, the Knights defended their lead and slowed down as the clock expired.
"Everyone regained their focus," Thomas said. "We easily could have hung our heads after that first goal and conceded another, but we didn't. We bounced back. (Sprayberry was) battling for every 50-50 ball, and it was good that we got that experience and we handled it."
After making the Class AAAAAA final four last season, River Ridge is back in the quarterfinals. It had a stretch of 11 straight wins during the regular season and blew out Newnan 10-0 in the first round.
Sprayberry's season came to an end after finishing second in Region 7AAAAAA and beating North Forsyth 4-3 in overtime in the first round, for its first playoff win in 45 years.
