The Ridgeland Panthers run past Southeast and capture the region title.
After a week of controversy about the wording of a margin of victory tiebreaker, it turns out that Region 6-4A didn’t need a tiebreaker after all.
The possibility of a three-way tie for first place between Ridgeland, Northwest Whitfield and Pickens was rendered null and void on Friday night as the Panthers beat Southeast Whitfield, 44-6, and claimed the region title outright as Heritage knocked off Pickens, 48-35, in Jasper.
Ridgeland (8-1) and Northwest (7-3) each finished the region slate at 5-1, but the Panthers’ 48-42 win over the Bruins back on Sept. 23 was the headto-head tiebreaker that ultimately gave the Black-and-White their first region crown since 2012.
“We’re really excited and I’m proud of the kids and our coaches for working as hard as they have all year,” said Ridgeland head coach Wesley Tankersley. “It all paid off with a region championship.”
The region title is the fifth outright region crown in the Panthers’ football history. Ridgeland had won previous titles in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012. They also shared a region title in 1998 as part of a three-way tie.
It also marked the first region championship for Tankersley in his nine years as head coach. He spent seven years at Gilmer before coming to Ridgeland prior to last season.
“It’s huge for me,” he said. “This is one of the reasons I came to Ridgeland, to have these types of opportunities. It’s a great feeling and I’m glad I got to go through it with this coaching staff and these players.”
Ridgeland jumped out to a 35-0 lead in the second quarter. Jalyn Shelton had touchdown runs of 41, 11 and 1 yards. Desmond Johnson added a 9-yard TD run and later caught a 35-yard halfback pass from Markeith Montgomery for a score.
Keaton McCutchen pulled in a 29-yard TD catch from Porter Johnson to get the Raiders (5-5, 2-4) on the board just before halftime, but Johnson would break off a 37-yard run in the
third quarter and the Panthers would get two final points in the fourth as Southeast was flagged for a holding penalty in their own endzone.
Shelton had 14 carries for 171 yards, while Johnson picked up 110 yards on five attempts. Ivy Boehm had two completions for 36, including one each to Luke Edwards and Markeion Jones, and was intercepted once.
The Ridgeland defense gave up 109 total yards with only 19 coming on the ground on 28 attempts. Johnson threw for 90 yards on 7 of 13 passing with one pick. The Panthers collected three sacks and forced and recovered one fumble.
Ridgeland will open the 2016 Class 4A state playoffs at home next week against a familiar foe in St. Pius X, the same program that beat the Panthers, 28-19, in last year’s opening round in Atlanta.