Week 3 HS Football Capsules: Ridgedale gearing for Green attack
MORRAL — A week after being blanked in the season opener, Ridgedale earned a victory Saturday night.
Playing at short-handed Vanlue that had just 11 healthy players until the second half when they were forced to play with 10, the Rockets overcame a halftime deficit to take a 38-36 win. It was the first victory for new Ridgedale head coach Corey Chatman.
"For me, I’m more happy for the kids," Chatman said. "They faced adversity, and they battled through their ups and downs, but they never quit on one another, and they grinded out a win. For the program, it was a great steppingstone in the right direction."
The Rockets (1-1) trailed 22-14 at halftime, but Nathan Thiel ran and threw for touchdowns and Dakota Callahan returned a fumble 80 yards for a score. The defense then stopped a potential Vanlue scoring drive with 1:14 left when Landon Murphy came up with an interception to preserve the win.
Chatman knows the Rockets will need to be better in Week 3 with Franklin Furnace Green coming to Marion County Friday night.
"This week really hasn’t changed. We’ve attacked the week," Chatman said. "It kind of put us behind the 8-ball playing on a Saturday night. Normally things we would get done on Saturday morning we had to get done on Monday.
"I’ve explained to them that it’s great that we won. We’ll enjoy it, but we’re on to Furnace Green now. This week is going to be more mental than anything else. The grind of the week has already started."
Green is 2-0 after beating Fairfield Christian Academy 15-13 in overtime to start the season and Fisher Catholic 40-0 last week. Ridgedale won at Green 27-8 last season.
"They are a wing T team," Chatman said. "With the wing T, it’s about misdirection, linebackers, D-linemen, corners getting their eyes on the backfield. That’s what they want you to do. They don’t want you to look at your key. They want you to look at what we’re doing in the backfield and guess on who has the ball."
Through two games, the Bobcats are just 5 of 10 passing for 76 yards. Nathaniel Brannigan leads the team with 284 yards rushing, while Landon Lodwick averages 8.3 yards per carry with three touchdowns, and Abe McBee has 76 yards and a pair of TDs.
"We have to stay honest," Chatman said. "I’ve stressed to them that they’re probably going to run a lot of reverses because our backside last week would take off as soon as the play went away from them. They would put their nose down and just take off for that side, and we got burned a couple of times against Vanlue with the reverse."
On defense for Green, Blake Smith leads with 19 tackles followed by Andy Runyon with 16 tackles and 2.5 sacks, Braxton Conschafsky with 15 tackles and Levi Weddell with two interceptions.
"For us, they remind me defensively of a Mount Gilead," Chatman said. "It’s a 3-4 but they’re always trying to blitz somebody and trying to time up your cadence and everything. That’s the big thing we’ll run into offensively is them trying to blitz everything. Can we pick it up and still run the ball if they try to blitz?"
Here is a look at other games from around the area in Week 3:
Marion Harding at Newark
Newark snapped a losing streak that dated back to Week 10 in 2019 and earned its first road win since 2018 with a 35-34 win at Mount Vernon, a team that beat Marion Harding (0-2) in double overtime to start the season.
The Wildcats (1-1) led 28-7 in the first quarter, helped by an 85-yard kickoff return. Mount Vernon scored 27 unanswered points to take a 34-28 lead thanks to Jonny Askew's 201 all-purpose yards, but the Wildcats pulled it out late with a Max Durbin 4-yard run and Hayden Reischman extra point. Newark quarterback Steele Meister ran for a touchdown and threw for one.
River Valley at Tiffin Columbian
The Tornadoes (1-1) lost their opener to Fremont Ross 34-14, but bounced back for a 46-17 victory over Springfield. Against Ross, Columbian was hurt by four turnovers, but Brayden Roggrow was 18 of 30 for 210 yards passing. Damien Brockington ran for three touchdowns in the first quarter against Springfield as Roggrow tossed two TDs in the win. River Valley is 2-0 with wins over Upper Sandusky and Madison Comprehensive.
Whitehall-Yearling at Pleasant
The Rams (1-1) lost 18-7 to Granville to start the year and beat Dunbar 35-16 last week. Whitehall beat Pleasant 46-14 last season. Gone from that Rams team is do-everything Taron Biles-Walker. Elijah Hughes, a receiver last year, goes back to quarterback for 2022. The Rams have an experienced offensive line and and all-district receiver in Nakylan Haley. Pleasant is 1-1, dropping its opener to North Union for responding for a gritty 8-0 win at home against Wynford.
Highland at Crestview
The Cougars (2-0) are one of the region's top Division VI program's. Crestview beat Loudonville and East Knox by a combined 84-14 score to start the season. Adison Reymer is coming off a 140-yard and three touchdown performance against East Knox. Highland is 1-1 after a 17-14 win over Fredericktown and a 26-14 loss at Wooster Triway with the Titans pulling away in the second half.
Crestline at Cardington
The Bulldogs (0-2) were beaten 53-8 by Buckeye Central to start the season and fell 16-0 last week to North Baltimore. Cardington (0-2) is also searching for its first win after dropping games to Fairbanks 43-6 and Elgin 30-14.
Bucyrus at Northmor
The Redmen (1-1) started the season with a 48-20 win over Mississinawa Valley before being shutout by Danville 42-0. Northmor (2-0) owns wins over Elgin 45-0 and South Central 28-20.
Danville at North Union
Week 3 will be a battle of unbeatens. Danville stopped Worthington Christian 33-17 to open 2022 and followed with the 42-0 victory over Bucyrus. North Union is also 2-0 with convincing wins over Pleasant 42-6 and Triad 35-0. Last year, the Wildcats topped Danville 41-14.
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This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Week 3 HS Football Capsules: Ridgedale gearing for Green attack
