Ringgold roughs up Rebels for first win
Ringgold High head football coach Robert Akins would have dearly loved to have given his junior quarterback, Cole Kibler, a week off.
Kibler, who threw for nearly 500 yards in Ringgold’s season opener, fell on his surgically repaired throwing shoulder last week during one of his three sacks by Heritage. He threw little during the week, and it was only Thursday that there was any confidence at all he would play.
But his theatrical entrance - a 41-yard scrambling completion to his backup, Dylan Wright - combined with a superlative defensive effort meant that Akins’ Tigers could spend a rare week on Easy Street with a 31-0 victory over visiting Fannin County.
With a scheduled bye week coming up, the Tigers will be able to enjoy this one a little more than usual. That’s good, because there was a lot to enjoy.
“Those two losses stay in the back of your mind,” said Akins, whose Tigers lost to a pair of Class AAAA teams in Northwest Whitfield and Heritage the first two weeks. “But a shutout ... you have to feel good about it. But not too long.”
Akins turned to Wright, his versatile Swiss Army knife of a player, to start the game at quarterback and the sophomore effectively worked the short passing game. He completed all five of his attempts in the Tigers’ first scoring drive, an 11play effort that covered 70 yards, but Ty Jones sealed the deal with an 18-yard scoring run - the longest by a Ringgold back so far in 2017.
But Wright did not move the team with the effortless ease that Kibler routinely shows and Akins felt forced to put the ready-andwaiting (but sore) junior quarterback in midway through the second quarter. He promptly rolled out, scrambled and heaved a 41-yard completion to Wright to get the Tigers out of hole and a rut.
Two Kibler scrambles and another first-down burst by Jones put the Tigers in close, and a newly revealed formation had wideout/linebacker Andre Tarver take the handoff and score the game’s second touchdown from the two-yard line.
Just 3:47 remained in the half and it seemed as if the Tigers would be content with a twotouchdown lead. But at that point, ball-hawking Blake Goldsmith snatched a Tyler Norton pass and followed a convoy 67 yards the other way to put Ringgold up 21-0 going into the half.
The defense had another big moment early in the second half. A Kibler pass was picked off by Fannin’s Trenten Pickering and only Wright’s comefrom-behind tackle saved a touchdown. But from there, the defense took over, forcing a four-and-out in the red zone. Nathan Camp had two big plays in the sequence.
The Tigers scored again in the third quarter on a Garrett Davis 33-yard field goal at the end of a long, lowkey drive. Good kickoff coverage and another three-and-out led to