Defense delivers: Ridge View downs AC Flora in 4A football playoffs
Ridge View coach Perry Parks believes he has a state championship-caliber defense, and they delivered another strong performance Friday night.
The Blazers picked off two passes — returning one for a touchdown — and added a special teams score in the 28-15 win over A.C. Flora in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs at Memorial Stadium.
Ridge View will travel Daniel next week in the Upper State semifinals. Daniel defeated Westwood 27-22.
It’s the third time in four years Ridge View has made it to the third round of the playoffs. (Daniel defeated Ridge View 45-26 on Sept. 20.)
“This team is battle-tested,” Parks said. “All the adversity from the offseason stuff to this last week, people slandering our program, talking bad about our kids. Our kids play with class and dignity, 24-7. That’s what we coach and that is our expectations and they showed that tonight.”
Before the season, Ridge View dealt with the distraction of rival Blythewood’s head coach being punished over recruiting violations. According to a Richland School District Two investigation, coach Jason Seidel attempted to persuade students from Ridge View to transfer to Blythewood and play football for the Bengals.
The Blazers a week ago won their playoff against Travelers Rest in a game marred by several on-field incidents. As a result, Ridge View was missing one of its defensive starters serving a one-game suspension.
But the rest of the defense picked up the slack, especially in the second half. Tyson Player had his eighth interception of the season. Dwight Jacobs returned a fumble off a botched AC Flora punt to put the Blazers up 21-7 in the third quarter.
Darius Footes sealed the win by picking off backup quarterback Nick Nelson and returning it for a touchdown with 10 seconds left. Nelson came in during the fourth quarter for Wise Segars, who left with an injury.
“Our defense is good enough to win a state title. We just got to get some offensive production,” Parks said. “We were missing one of our starters but we didn’t flinch. They came and hit us in the mouth early but we made some halftime adjustments. And anytime you challenge these kids they are going to fight back harder.”
Offensively, Ridge View was at its best in the first half during rainy, windy conditions but only managed 91 yards for the game. Quarterback Andre Washington threw two first-half touchdowns to put the Blazers up 14-7 at halftime.
Washington’s first TD was a 26-yarder to Jordan Smith to make it 7-0 with 9:52 left in first half. AC Flora answered right back as Dontorian Best scored the first of his two touchdowns on a 3-yard run to tie it at 7 with 5:38 left in the second quarter.
The Blazers made it 14-7 on Washington’s pass to Cincere Scott with 4:29 left in the second.
Matt Pack led AC Flora with 100 yards rushing.
This story was originally published November 15, 2019 at 11:24 PM.
