Ridgeland survives St. Pius, advances to second round

Last year, the Ridgeland football team had to hold its tearful senior send-off ceremony on the field at St. Pius after a firstround playoff loss to the Golden Lions.

Friday night at Bowers and Painter Field, the roles were reversed.

The Region 6 champion Panthers were held out the end zone in the second half, but the Ridgeland defense kept St. Pius off the board for the final three quarters to pick up a hard-fought 21-14 win in their Class 4A playoff opener.

Junior tailback Jalyn Shelton was an absolute workhorse for Ridgeland, who improved to 9-1 on the year. Shelton carried a season-high 33 times for 220 very tough yards and two first-half touchdowns. He also came up clutch when it was time to move chains as 15 of his carries resulted in Ridgeland first downs.

“I haven’t had that many carries since last year, but it was fun,” Shelton said. “I had some good blocking tonight and I’m looking forward to doing it again next week. I’m glad we’re moving on.”

“Jalyn had a great night offensively and you have to give credit to our other running backs and our offensive line for blocking the way they did,” Ridgeland head coach Wesley Tankersley said. “I thought we played very physical all night on both sides of the ball against another very physical football team. When you play St. Pius, you have to bring it.”

The triple-option Golden Lions came into the game with just a 2-8 record and the No. 4 seed from Region 8, but as many expected, they played much better than their record indicated.

Ridgeland scored on all three of its possessions in the first half, but only held a precarious seven-point lead at the break.

After forcing St. Pius to punt to start the game, the Panthers went 80 yards in 12 plays, all on the ground, before Shelton plunged in from a yard out. Connor Middleton booted the first of his three extra points to give Ridgeland the early lead with 2:52 left in the opening period.

But the next 2:21 saw the Golden Lions stunned the Panthers and the home crowd. Fullback Bobby Campbell found a hole up the middle and raced 64 yards down to the Ridgeland 1 before Matthew Spear dove in for the tying score two plays later.

Ridgeland then fumbled away the ensuing kickoff and Campbell covered the remaining 25 yards on runs of 7 and 18 yards to give the Atlanta-area visitors a 14-7 lead late in the first quarter.

However, Ridgeland would take the momentum right back in the second quarter. Shelton scored on a 44yard run just 47 seconds into the second period and the Panther defense came up big by forcing a Campbell fumble at the Ridgeland 11, which C.J. Shackleford returned to the Panthers 32 with 6:22 left in the half.

Ridgeland then clicked off what would turn out to be a very important 13-play, 68yard drive, picking up five first downs before Markeith Montgomery scored from a yard out with 32 seconds left before intermission.

The Panthers had solid scoring opportunities on their first three possessions of the second half, but the first ended on a fake field goal at the St. Pius 10, the next on a turnover on downs at the Golden Lions’ 4 and the third was thwarted on a block in the back penalty at the St. Pius 16.

However, the Ridgeland defense was up to the task. The first four St. Pius possessions in the second half all ended in punts and their fifth and final possession with 1:12 to play looked destined to end inside their own 25.

But Ridgeland was flagged for pass interference on a third down throw to keep the drive alive. Two more completions by quarterback Connor Egan moved the ball to the Ridgeland 37 with 14.9 seconds left, but Tanner Hill picked off Egan on the game’s final play to finally seal Ridgeland’s first playoff win since the 2012 state semifinals.

“We had some fluke penalties and (St. Pius) was making some plays on defense,” Tankersley said concerning the second half. “Then we got a couple of kids injured and we had to put some back-up guys in. There’s some logistics issues when you have to start doing that because you have to figure out what those guys can do and what they can’t do.

“It kind of changed some things up, but the way our defense was playing, I felt like we could be a little conservative (on offense) anyway. Except for a couple of early plays with the fullback, the defense really played a heck of a game. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

After rushing 19 times for 147 yards in the first half, St. Pius was limited to 41 yards on nine carries in the second half. Campbell led the way with 147 yards on 11 attempts, but was held to just 15 yards in the second half. They finished with 73 yards passing.

Despite being held to their lowest point total of the season, Ridgeland ran the ball 62 times for 332 yards. Montgomery had 64 yards on 16 carries, while Grayson Moore added 35 yards on eight attempts. Ridgeland had 58 yards in the air as a third-quarter halfback pass from Shelton to Stephon Walker accounted for 56 of those yards.

Ridgeland also suffered two potentially costly losses during the game. Walker left the game after his leaping catch with what appeared to be a leg injury and Moore suffered a possible concussion following a run late in the third quarter.

Neither player returned to the game and Tankersley said both players would be further evaluated over the weekend. The injuries could leave Ridgeland without two of its top two-way players as they get set to host the Spalding Jaguars in next Friday’s second round. The No. 3 seed from Region 2 advanced with a 24-17 win at Region 4 runnerup Eastside.

Friday’s win gave the Panthers three straight home wins over private school opponents. They defeated Marist in the epic 2012 state semifinal game and beat Darlington earlier this season.