Panthers earn playoff rematch with St. Pius

Now it’s time to see just how far the Ridgeland Panthers have come.

After getting into the state playoffs as a No. 4 seed via a three-team mini-game tiebreaker a year ago, the Region 6 champions will host their first state playoff game since the 2012 Class 4A state semifinals on Friday night.

And their opponent will be a familiar face.

St. Pius X, the traditional Atlanta-area private school power, will make the drive to Rossville, nearly one year to the day that they hosted the Panthers in last year’s first round.

While Ridgeland finished off an 8-1 regular season with a 44-6 road win at Southeast Whitfield this past Friday, the Golden Lions will come in as the No. 4 seed from Region 8. They are just 2-8 on the season after going 10-3 and advancing to the state quarterfinals a year ago.

But Ridgeland head coach Wesley Tankersley said St. Pius’ record is extremely deceiving.

“They may have played the toughest schedule in all of Class 4A,” he said.

The Golden Lions’ first eight opponents this season are all currently ranked or were ranked in the Top 10 of the state at some point this season, including four that are still in the polls - No. 1 Benedictine (Class 2A), No. 1 GAC (Class 3A), No. 4 Jefferson (Class 4A) and No. 5 Blessed Trinity (Class 4A).

They also dropped non-region games to Class 6A Lanier and Class 4A Marist (both pre-season Top 10) and fell to Stephens County, Oconee County and Jefferson in region games.

All eight of their losses this season have come to teams that are in the playoffs.

However, St. Pius won their two games at the right time. They ended the season with wins over North Oconee and Madison County to get into the playoffs with a 2-3 region record.

Graduation hit the Golden Lions hard at some spots, but despite their youth, their patented triple-option offense will still be tough to contain.

Sophomore Connor Egan has stepped in at quarterback to take over for his brother Reed, who ran the offense a year ago. However, the backfield of senior Grant Holloman, senior Bobby Campbell and junior Nkom Njoku are all back from last year. They will be protected by an offensive line that includes seniors Bennett Hardee, Anthony Thomas, Will Vermeulen and Blake Harrison.

“They’re going to be disciplined and well-coached,” Tankersley added. “It certainly won’t be any easy game, but I know that our kids will be excited to get to play the same team that put us out last year. At least this time we know a lot about them and we’ll be familiar with that offense, unlike last year.”

Ridgeland lost at St. Pius, 28-19, in the two teams’ firstever meeting last fall. Down 21-7 to start the final period, the Panthers had a chance to tie the game on a 2-point conversion with seven minutes to play, but were unsuccessful.

The Golden Lions then put the game out of reach with a touchdown with just over two minutes to play.

Holloman scored twice and had 130 of the Golden Lions’ 353 yards on the ground that night, while Jalyn Shelton went for 69 yards as Ridgeland had 213 yards rushing and 74 in the air.

A Panther win on Friday would secure another home game next Friday night against either Spalding or Eastside.