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Defense Shuts Down Mustangs

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By CRISTINA LEDRA, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 14, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - It has become habit this season for Ridgewood's offense to score early and not stop until the final buzzer. The defense hasn't had to be spectacular with an offense that has put up more than 40 points a game.

Against Mitchell and multi-threat quarterback Tate Humphrey, Ridgewood's defense prevented what could have easily been a shootout Friday night in a 42-13 win.

The Rams had 452 yards of offense while they allowed just 165 yards.

The defense also only allowed one really big play, a 44-yard run by Mitchell's Rickey Trinidad that led to the Mustangs' only offensive touchdown. Mitchell scored its other touchdown on a blocked punt recovered in the end zone.

'Everybody's playing hard and they're running to the ball,' Ridgewood linebacker Ben Perry said. 'The Mustangs like to spread everything out and when you've got a team that throws to every part of the field and stays spread out, you gotta have hustle playing on defense.'

The Rams were critical of their own defensive performance against Gulf and River Ridge, giving up 34 points to the Buccaneers and giving the Royal Knights room on offense in the first half.

'We had a rough start against River Ridge and we had a rough start against Gulf,' said linebacker Arron Jackson, who had 3.5 sacks against Mitchell. 'That was two weeks in a row and our defense isn't usually like that. We should be known for hard hitting, flying around and all that. Us beating a solid offense like the Mustangs are and keeping them to 13 points, that means a lot and that's what we came to do.'

Ridgewood coach Chris Taylor said the Rams had strayed from their normal game plan on defense for those two games and it took them a little while to catch on.

'We did some things against Gulf that we don't normally do scheme-wise and I think it took us a half to get us back to playing the way we want to play our schemes,' Taylor said. 'The first half against River Ridge was kind of a tune-up then they came out in the second half and allowed six yards and then they played exceptionally well tonight.

'We're back to playing the way we want to play, we just did some things differently and it got some of the kids confused so we won't do that again.'

The Rams also believe they're guilty of overlooking teams, which they cannot afford to do at this point in the season with Tarpon Springs coming up on Thursday on a short week and district games against Springstead and Land O' Lakes in the following weeks.

After near misses stopped Ridgewood from making the playoffs last season despite a 6-4 record, the Rams say there will be no underestimating on their part from here on out because they saw, especially Friday night, what playing a completely focused game can bring.

'Coach always tells us you have to play teams that you're supposed to beat the best you can and when you overlook a team, it can bite you right in the butt,' Jackson said. 'We as a defense overlooked Gulf, we as a defense overlooked River Ridge.

'Mitchell, we didn't overlook them because we knew they were a good team so we came out strong and that's what makes championship teams - a team that can go out there no matter who they're playing because anyone can win on a Friday.'

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