Friday night football: One that got away

Sports

Ridgeland 35, Northwest Whitfield 20

Ridgeland 35, Northwest Whitfield 20
Score by quarters
Ridgeland 0 14 7 14 — 35
Northwest Whitfield 0 7 0 13 — 20
How They Scored
Second quarter
R — Darrell Bridges 8 run (Evan Courtney kick), 10:55
NW — A.J. Orozco 26 pass from Silas Ledford (Miguel Villa kick), 9:56
Third quarter
R — Noah Cooper 12 run (Cortney kick), 2:34
Fourth quarter
R — Bridges 49 run (Courtney kick), 11:48
NW — Chris Tinson 3 run (Miguel Villa kick), 9:13
R — Bridges 1 run (Courtney kick), 4:57
NW — Tinson 6 run (pass failed), 2:45

Related Photos

Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen Ridgeland’s Trey Stubbs breaks up a pass intended for Northwest Whitfield’s O’Shea Hill on a two-point conversion attempt during the fourth quarter of their Sub-region 7B-4A game Friday night in Tunnel Hill. The host Bruins kept it close until late in the third quarter, when Ridgeland built a three-touchdown lead.

Discussion

October 20, 2012

Friday night football: One that got away

Panthers are trouble after half for NW

By Chris Whitfield chriswhitfield@daltoncitizen.com The Dalton Daily Citizen Sat Oct 20, 2012, 07:05 AM EDT

TUNNEL HILL — Northwest Whitfield did something Friday that no other Region 7-4A football team has done this year — the Bruins shut out Ridgeland in the first quarter.

Panthers coach Mark Mariakis said that hasn’t happened since a season-opening loss to Calhoun.

“Northwest hit us in the mouth, and in the first half, we didn’t respond very well to it,” Mariakis said.

But as well has Northwest may have been able to deliver the jabs in the early round of the Sub-region 7B-4A contest, the Bruins could never deliver the haymaker. Four Northwest turnovers — a pair of interceptions and two lost fumbles — gave the Panthers (6-1, 3-0 Sub-region 7B-4A) enough chances to make it through the later rounds for a 35-20 win at Bruin Stadium.

“I hate to lose any game, but I couldn’t be prouder of our guys tonight,” Northwest coach Josh Robinson said. “They made some mistakes, but they didn’t stop playing hard the entire night, and I can’t ask for anything more than that.”

At this point in the season, most high school fans around the area know the name Vonn Bell, Ridgeland’s five-star recruit at defensive back who has also been a terror to opposing defenses with his multiple scores in limited touches.

But opposing defenses remember the name Darrell Bridges just as well.

Bridges, the 6-foot-2-inch, 215-pound fullback in the Panthers’ double-wing offense, was a punisher all night long, dragging Bruins even when hit at the line of scrimmage. He finished with four touchdowns and 235 yards on 32 carries. He was just one cog in the rushing machine for the Panthers, who had two backs rush for more than 100 yards — Bridges was joined by Noah Cooper, who had 17 carries for 107, and Bell had 10 for 98 — as part of the team’s 440-yard effort on the ground.

While Northwest (4-3, 1-2) was able to score a couple of fourth-quarter touchdowns to make the score more respectable, Bridges gave his team the cushion that it needed on the first play of the quarter. His run on a counter sweep went throughout just about every inch of the Northwest defense, scoring on the 49-yard scamper to put the Panthers up 28-7. He also scored on runs of 8, 1 and 1 yards, while wingback Cooper scored on a 12-yard run.

“That was a great game to have a great test for us,” said Bridges, whose team had mercy-rule running clocks in the second half of their past two wins against Dalton and Southeast Whitfield. “Once we get to the playoffs, we aren’t going to be able to gassing teams like we have the last few weeks. But we kept grinding, even though a lot of things weren’t going our way in the first half.”

Flags particularly hurt the Panthers in the first half as they were called for 11 penalties in the first half. But Northwest wasn’t able to take advantage of the gifts as well as it should have.

Ridgeland scored first on a drive that bridge the first two quarters, with Bridges capping off an 80-yard, nine-play effort with an 8-yard run. But Northwest responded with a 71-yard scoring drive of its own.

Helped along by a Ridgeland personal foul, Northwest quarterback Silas Ledford hooked up with A.J. Orozco on a 26-yard scoring play to tie the game at 7 with 9:56 left in the half. The Bruins had a wonderful chance to take the lead with an onside kick that took Ridgeland by surprise, but three plays later the Panthers intercepted the ball in the shadow of the goal line.

Even when Ridgeland gave the ball back to Northwest on a turnover four plays later, it couldn’t take advantage after missing a 31-yard field goal attempt.

That was the opening that Ridgeland was able to take advantage of, responding with an 80-yard drive in nine plays, with quarterback Trevor Long hitting Bell on a 35-yard gain as the highlight of the drive. Bridges capped it off with a 1-yard plunge and the Panthers took a 14-7 lead to halftime.

“I don’t think that our kids believed us when we told them that this was going to be a four-quarter football team,” Mariakis said. “We weren’t real happy with the way we responded in the first half, but as much as Northwest challenged us in the first half, we challenged our guys to come out and win the second half, and they were able to do that.”

Northwest was done in by the team’s first three possessions of the second half. An interception and a pair of fumbles saw the Bruins’ offense on the field for just eight plays in the third quarter. Ridgeland took advantage, going up 21-7 on a seven-play drive that was mostly Bridges. He had five carries on the drive, and Noah Cooper capped it off with a 12-yard run for a 28-7 lead.

Chris Tinson had a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown runs for the Bruins, scoring from 3 and 6 yards, but Bridges sealed the win with his 1-yard scoring plunge after the Panthers recovered an onside kick as Northwest tried to get back into the game.