Ridgeland ground game grinds up Northwest
In football, generally the defense wants to keep the other team from scoring.
But in the waning minutes of Friday night’s Region 6-AAAA showdown between Northwest Whitfield and Ridgeland, Bruins head coach Josh Robinson told his defense to let the Ridgeland offense score a touchdown.
“It was the only way we were going to have a chance,” Robinson said.
The Bruins trailed 21-20 with 1:57 left in the game, and after turning the ball over on downs on their 20-yard line, allowed Ridgeland running back Jordan Blackwell to go 20 yards untouched for the touchdown. After the extra point, Ridgeland led Northwest Whitfield, 28-20. That meant a touchdown and a two-point conversion could have tied the game.
After a solid kickoff return by Northwest’s Matthew Redmond and two 15-yard personal foul penalties on Ridgeland, the Bruins had excellent field position at the Panthers’ 33-yard line with 1:49 left. But Stephon Walker picked off a Ty Fisher pass to end the drive and another late touchdown allowed the visitors to leave with the 35-20 victory.
Ridgeland improved to 3-2 overall and 2-0 in region play, while Northwest dropped to 3-2 overall and 0-1 in the region.
The Bruins played a sloppy game, with four turnovers - three interceptions and a fumble - and a missed extra point that would have tied the game at 21 with about five minutes left.
“We made too many mistakes in the second quarter defensively and we just turned the ball over too much,” Robinson said. “When you have four turnovers and they’re that fast, it will come back to bite you.”
The Northwest defense also had trouble stopping the Ridgeland running game. Blackwell had a field day at Bruin Stadium, finishing with 172 yards on 21 carries and three touchdowns — including two in the final minutes.
“I got a little hyped at the end, started to get a little crunk to get us going,” Blackwell said. “It took us a while to get it going, but we ended up with the result we needed.”
Northwest started the game off right. They took the opening possession 72 yards in 11 plays, capping it with Fisher’s 11-yard touchdown pass to a wideopen Seth Henderson. The extra point extended the Bruins’ lead to 7-0.
But Ridgeland controlled the rest of the first half as they went on three touchdown drives. In the first quarter, Blackwell punched the ball in for a score from three yards out before an 85-yard Terrance Roberts run in the second quarter. Blackwell later added another 3-yard touchdown run to give the visitors a 21-7 lead at the break.
However, the Bruins battled back in the second half. With 8:03 remaining in the third quarter, running back Dominique Sistrunk caught a 3-yard touchdown pass from Fisher and the extra point closed the Ridgeland lead to 20-14. The Bruins defense held on several Ridgeland possessions, and after Northwest Whitfield blocked a punt, they had the ball at the Ridgeland 5 with about five minutes left in the game. Sistrunk ran for a short 5-yard score, but the missed extra point left the Bruins behind, 21-20.
A’zavier Blackwell added 107 yards on nine carries as the Panthers picked up an old-school 360 yards on the ground.
After dropping the important first region game, Northwest must regroup as the Bruins travel to Lafayette to take on the Ramblers this Friday night. Meanwhile, Ridgeland will host winless Cross Keys for Homecoming in a non-region game.