Football: Ryan Carroll, Ridley can finally feel at home with victory over Haverford

RIDLEY TWP. — A pair of Ridley juniors helped their older teammates celebrate Senior Night with a 29-7 Central League victory over Haverford at Phil Marion Field Friday night.

The Green Raiders (4-5), who earlier this month were 1-5, concluded their home schedule with their third consecutive victory.

“We had to send (the seniors) out the right way,” junior quarterback Ryan Carroll, who was 13-for-18 passing for 217 yards and a pair of touchdowns, said.

Junior linebacker Connor Kelly had his name called often for making tackles or assisting on stops.

“We knew with their new offense that they would be running the ball about 90 percent of the time,” Kelly said. “So we keyed on that and tried to force them to throw.”

The Fords (1-8 overall, 0-7 Central League) managed 157 yards on 42 rushing attempts. Sophomore quarterback Liam Taylor was sacked a couple of times, once by Kelly, and lost the ball once, leading to Ridley’s final touchdown.

Green Raiders wide receiver Khameen Powell, whose four catches accounted for 100 yards (including a 36-yard scoring play early in the third quarter) said every Ridley player had one goal Friday night.

“This was our last game on our home field this year,” Powell said. “And we wanted our first win on our home field this year.”

Senior Alante Smith picked up 80 yards on 17 carries and had scoring runs in the first quarter (three yards) and fourth quarter (17 yards).

“You hear so much about the history of Ridley football,” Smith said. “We just knew we had to get this win tonight.”

Smith’s first TD came at the end of a 12-play drive that covered 81 yards. The first 49 yards came on a Carroll to Powell completion on the Green Raiders’ first play from scrimmage.

Carroll also had a key third-down completion to Chase Staley to put the ball on the Fords’ 12 a couple of plays before Smith took a toss from Carroll and turned left end for six points.

A 19-yard run by Smith late in the second quarter came three plays before Carroll found junior tight end John Tinney wide open for a 26-yard scoring strike on a third-and-one play.

A 13-play Ridley scoring drive that covered 76 yards concluded with a 36-yard touchdown pass from Carroll to Powell early in the fourth quarter after Haverford’s Buddy Coacher had sacked Carroll for an 11-yard loss and the Green Raiders were backed up five more yards for delay of the game.

“The biggest thing was that we did that on fourth-and-20,” Powell said with a big smile.

Carroll knew Powell would be available for his throw.

“Our coach (Rick Larkin, offensive coordinator) called the right play there,” Carroll said. “You run motion and get someone one-on-one. And Khameen will take that every time.

“This was really the right way for our seniors to finish up on this field.”

Haverford answered in quick fashion, taking only five plays to move 68 yards to the end zone. Taylor’s 45-yard completion to Jimmy Fusaro was worth six points.

Coacher claimed an onside kick, but Haverford couldn’t move the ball on the ensuing possession. The next time the Fords had the ball, Jacob Bowell claimed Taylor’s fumble at the Fords’ 26, and on third down Smith ran 17 yards to his second TD.