Ridley ‘takes care of business’ early and often against Harriton

RIDLEY TWP. — Coach Dave Wood’s message to his Ridley players following last week’s blowout loss to Haverford was simple – get better in all three phases of the game.

Did it ever.

The Green Raiders dominated Harriton in every way, shape and form. They pounded the Rams with their running game.

With the exception of two big-yardage plays, the defense completely stunted the Harriton offense.

And on special teams, Ridley’s average possession began near midfield while Harriton was constantly starting deep in its side of the field.

The final result of this game of football monopoly was a 61-14 pounding by Ridley over the Rams, largely wiping away the sting of a week ago.

Consider the following:

* Ridley ran just 40 plays on offense. It averaged 11.9 yards per play and totaled 476 of offense.

* Of those 40 plays, 17 went for first downs and another eight went for touchdowns.

* Take away the aforementioned two plays, and Ridley held Harriton to just 93 yards of offense.

* Harriton ran only six plays in the entire game on the Green Raiders’ side of midfield.

“We just needed to come out and take care of business,” Wood said. “We did what we had to do and because of that we were able to get a lot of our guys rest, because we’ll need it with Garnet Valley coming here next week.”

Ten different players ran the ball for Ridley. With the exception of Dylan Staley (eight), no one carried the ball more than five times. There was only one pass thrown, and it was for a touchdown. The Raiders were simply efficient.

“Our offensive line was great tonight,” said Staley, who finished with 86 yards and a touchdown. “When they play like that it really gives our team a boost to our self-esteem. If they play like that next week we can definitely ground and pound Garnet Valley.”

Everyone wanted to talk about Garnet Valley. After all, a win next week for Ridley (7-2, 6-2), and the Raiders lock up a home playoff game. Lose, Wood indicated, and they just might have to play Garnet Valley in the playoffs again a week later out in Concord.

First, however, the Green Raiders had to get through Harriton (1-8, 1-7), and early on they were having trouble shaking the Rams.

After a 12-yard touchdown run by Staley gave Ridley the lead, a 78-yard strike from Will Brannau to Nick Tevis got the Rams deep into Ridley territory, and then Brannau floated a nice screen pass to Daral Cresswell from nine yards out to tie the score.

But the momentum swung sharply in the next 3 1/2 minutes.

First, Sonny Elhamamy put Ridley up for good with a 30-yard touchdown scamper, and then Jack Wills picked off a Brannau pass and returned it 46 yards for a touchdown to make it 21-7.

“We worked harder on all of our drives,” Elhamamy said. “We ran the ball hard and dominated. We’re a good team when we play our game the right way and it gives us a chance to win every time out there.”

The lone pass attempt of the game for Ridley blew the game open in the second quarter when Jack Grace aired it out to a wide-open Gavin Kingsborough for a 63-yard touchdown.

Later in the quarter, Elhamamy scored his second touchdown of the game as did Kingsborough, although this one was on the ground, and by halftime it was 41-7 Ridley.

Wood pulled his starters after the intermission and got a chance to see a lot of his younger players and substitutes in action for an entire half of football. But even the coach admitted there were times he was already thinking about the Garnet Valley matchup next week, although maybe for different reasons than his players.

“My son (Christopher) is a sophomore starting in the secondary for Garnet Valley, so it’s going to be a special game,” Wood said.

Will he devise a game plan to try and try and take advantage of his son, since he’s so young?

“No, I just hope he doesn’t get too many tackles,” Wood said. “Just don’t tell his mother I said that.”

Oops. Sorry coach.