Ridgeland rally falls short at Pickens
There is currently a logjam atop the Region 6-4A standings after the Pickens Dragons held on to beat visiting Ridgeland on Friday night, 35-34.
Ridgeland, down 35-14 to start the fourth quarter, made a furious comeback and scored three unanswered touchdowns in an eightminute span. However, they missed a gametying extra point with 2:57 to play and the Dragons were able to pick up two first downs to seal the win.
Panther quarterback Ivy Boehm threw for a season-high 162 yards on 6-of-13 attempts. Ridgeland rushed for just 201 yards on the night - nearly half their season average - against an aggressive Pickens defense. Jalyn Shelton had 106 yards on 16 carries with four touchdowns, while Markeith Montgomery had 11 rushes for 90 yards and one score.
Pickens completed 15-of-25 passes for 245 yards and added 178 on the ground. The Dragons were penalized 14 times for 105 yards, were forced to punt six times and threw one interception, but still managed to find a way to win.
Fumbles played a major role in the outcome. Pickens coughed up the ball three times, including once in victory formation in the waning seconds, but the Dragons were able to pounce on all three miscues. Meanwhile, Ridgeland lost two fumbles, which were converted into two crucial touchdowns for Pickens.
“We never gave up and that’s a testament to our kids, how hard they work and much they want to win,” Ridgeland head coach Wesley Tankersley said. “But we just put ourselves in a hole we couldn’t get out of. We turned in over twice and (Pickens) scored 14 points off of them. That’s never a good thing.
“Pickens came out and played well too, but in a close game, turnovers can hurt you and, to me, it was one of the biggest differences in the game.”
Northwest Whitfield, who beat Gilmer 27-14 on Friday, now leads the region standings at 4-1 and has clinched a playoff berth. Pickens and Ridgeland are both 3-1, though the Dragons
now have the head-tohead tiebreaker over the Panthers with two weeks remaining in the season.
Pickens (4-4 overall) scored on a 15-yard pass from Jacob Brumby to Dylan Huffman with 4:01 left in the first half to take a 14-7 lead. Ridgeland would fumble two plays later and on the very next play, C.J. Streicher would hit Trevon Hawkins in stride on a 47-yard halfback pass for a score that staked the Dragons to a 21-7 lead at intermission.
Ridgeland forced Pickens to punt to open the third quarter and Montgomery went 59 yards on the Panthers’ first play of the half to slice the gap down to seven points.
But Pickens would answer with a 49-yard TD catch by Zach Goss and, after Ridgeland couldn’t corral the ensuing short kickoff, the Dragons marched 31 yards in six plays with Streicher scoring on a 4-yard run to put his team ahead 35-14 with 5:53 left in the third.
The Panthers’ fourth-quarter rally got started in the air. Boehm engineered a 91-yard drive on two passes to Markeion Jones and one to Stephon Walker before Shelton scored his second TD of the night from a yard out. Pickens would shank a punt on its next possession and Ridgeland went 37 yards in seven plays as Shelton once again scored from a yard out, bringing the Panthers to within seven points with 6:54 to go.
Pickens’ next drive would stall at midfield and a punt would back up Ridgeland to its own 10-yard line with 3:18 to go. But it would take the Panthers just two plays to score as Montgomery would haul in a 39-yard pass before Shelton busted loose on a 51-yard scoring sprint. However, the extra point attempt hooked off the right upright, keeping the Dragons in front by a point with just under three minutes to play.
Pickens’ running back Chris Pittman would click off a huge 21-yard gain on a thirdand-four play from the 50 and the senior would churn out a 19-yard run to the Ridgeland 10 just two plays later to keep the chains moving and the clock rolling. With the Panthers out of timeouts, the Dragons were able to kneel and run out the clock.
Ridgeland (6-1 overall) will be back at Bowers and Painter Field on Friday to face winless Gilmer. They will close out the year at Southeast Whitfield on Nov. 4.
“Hopefully we’ll respond,” Tankersley added. “We have to have a one-game-at-a-time mentality and get refocused. We certainly can’t be looking ahead.”
With two weeks to play, Northwest has qualified for state with four region wins, while Gilmer and LaFayette have both been eliminated with four region losses. Pickens, Ridgeland, Heritage and Southeast 0are still alive to nail down the other three spots from the region.