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Ridgewood Remembers Spongers Well

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By CRISTINA LEDRA, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 18, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - Ridgewood has been on a mission to beat everyone that beat the Rams last season, and so far, two of those four opponents have already suffered defeat.

Next on that list is Tarpon Springs and the implications of this game are the biggest yet for Ridgewood.

With a win, Ridgewood would be 3-0 in a six-team district. A victory wouldn't guarantee the Rams a playoff spot just yet, but it would give them sturdy footing going into their final two district games against Land O' Lakes and Springstead.

This game, however, goes beyond the district standings, back to last season when the Spongers beat Ridgewood at Ridgewood to safely extinguish any chance the Rams had at making the playoffs.

'This is one that we've had circled on the calendar,' Ridgewood coach Chris Taylor said.

The Spongers' win came on a 42-yard field goal with 7.9 seconds left and Tarpon Springs coach George Kotis criticized Ridgewood for using running back Byronell Arline, who at the time was playing with a rib injury, as much as it did.

For the record, following the game, both Arline and Taylor said Arline was OK to play.

'This is a big game because we have a few guys that are from that area,' linebacker Ben Perry said. 'And we lost on that last-second field goal.'

The real problem was with the four turnovers the Rams gave up and that Ridgewood wasn't able to capitalize on the multiple turnovers Tarpon Springs had.

At one point, Ridgewood caught an interception then fumbled it away a few plays later.

'We're still thinking about that a lot,' said Arline, who grew up in the Tarpon Springs area with Spongers running backs Ladarrius Only and Donnel Engram. Arline's dad is a former Sponger cornerback.

'That's the game that knocked us out of the playoffs so we're going to be coming in there hard this time,' Arline said.

But as Ridgewood has proven in at least the two games in which the Rams have exacted revenge on teams that got the better of them last year, this is not the same team from a year ago.
Ridgewood lost to Central, Gulf, Tarpon Springs and Land O' Lakes last season, and so far has beaten Gulf and district opponent Central decisively.

The Rams are hoping that trend continues against a Spongers team that has lacked consistency but has gotten solid production on the run and pass, to move Ridgewood closer to that playoff spot that eluded them a year ago.

'We as a team, we're going to come out and play,' linebacker Arron Jackson said. 'It's a district game. We have no other thing to do. It's going to be a good game and hopefully we're on top.'

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