Ringgold preps for Heritage match-up with scrimmage
Don Patterson Field was witness to a full dress rehearsal this past Thursday night as the Ringgold Tigers held an intrasquad scrimmage in preparation for their Sept. 11 home and season opener against county rival Heritage.
The Tiger Marching Band entertained the crowd at halftime. The cheerleaders and dance team showed off their routines all game long, while spectators got their first view of the 2020 version of the Tigers.
“It was exciting,” head coach Robert Akins said. ‘”We’ve been practicing for three months and that’s a long time to practice football and try to keep your kids fresh. But I thought they came out tonight with a little bit of excitement and that kind of shows that were putting last year behind us and building some on last year. We learned a lot of things last year and hopefully we’ll come out crisp against Heritage.”
A total of six touchdowns were scored in the game, five in the first half, with one coming on defense, as starters played two 10-minute quarters before turning things over to the younger players in the second half.
With projected starting quarterback Kyle White being held out of the scrimmage as a precaution, Mason Parker and
Jordan Garnica led their respective offensive units from under center in the opening half.
Parker helped engineer an opening nine-play, 70-yard drive, capped by Kori Dumas’ 5-yard run on fourth-and-goal. Landon Eaker booted the first of his five PATs on the night.
The defense got into the act on the second drive as Jacob Garnica picked off a fourthdown pass and took it 40 yards to the endzone and the ensuing drive would end in a 37-yard punt by Taylor Pease.
Parker then led a 12-play, 75-yard march as the Tigers picked up five first downs before Peyton Williams scooted into the endzone from four yards out.
The biggest play of the night came just three plays later. Quarterback Ethan Vineyard took the first snap of the second quarter and fired down the far sideline from his own 32-yard line. Dumas jumped, out-wrestled a defender for the ball, shook off a tackle, kept his balance and raced to finish off the 68-yard scoring strike.
Following a 50-yard punt by Pease on the next possession, Parker’s squad ripped off another 70-yard scoring march, this one in eight plays and capped by a 10-yard TD run by Price Pennington with just over a minute to go in the first half. The big play was a 27-yard catch-and-run by Pease on third-and-two from near midfield.
Vineyard directed the final scoring drive of the game on the first possession of the third quarter as he took his team 70 yards in 11 plays. A 15-yard pass to Gage Keener would help set up a bruising 10-yard touchdown run by Levi Lowery. However, Lowery was stacked up a yard short on a two-point conversion run.
Shawn Russell recovered a fumble to halt a drive on the final play of the third quarter and the final two possessions would both end near the 50yard line.
Ringgold rushed 54 times on the night for 256 yards. Jacob Garnica had four carries for 37 yards in the first half. Pennington carried four times for 33 yards. Dumas added four carries for 29 yards and Williams had six rushes for 21 yards.
Elijah Eaker had seven carries in the second half for 37 yards. Alijah Bradberry had two carries for 21 yards. Hudson Moss had two attempts for 17 yards and Lowery rushed twice for 16 yards.
Vineyard was the game’s leading passer as he went 4 of 4 for 85 yards. Parker completed 6 of 9 passes for 45 yards. Jordan Garnica was 1 of 3 for six yards and Braxton Holtcamp connected on 3 of 6 passes in the second half for 24 yards.
Apart from the long catch by
Dumas, Pease was the leading receiver in the first half with 33 yards on just two catches, while Malachi Hill had two grabs for 11 yards. Keener hauled in four receptions for 38 yards in the second half.
Akins said it will be a tough test to face Heritage with the Generals opening their season a week earlier. He added that his team will need to come out with good enthusiasm and a focus on execution.
“Heritage is going to be good,” he said. “(Head coach) E.K. (Slaughter) has done a great job with that whole program, not just this year’s team, but in the past few years. We know they’re going to be an excellent football team. They’ve got a excellent quarterback and a pretty phenomenal defensive secondary. They’ve got to replace some linemen, but they’re still going to be very good because they’re always well coached.
“I think we have to iron some things out as far as our blocking techniques and we’ve got to expand our offense a little bit more to do some more things than we did tonight. Defensively, I think we’ve got to hold people to 14 points or less. I think if we can do that, we have a good chance to win the ball game, but it always goes that way with defense. We’re just going to try to get better all the way around (in the next week).”