Ridge View holds on to hope as season wraps up with unexpected drama
Zion Agnew stood alone just past midfield Friday night looking at the Memorial Stadium scoreboard.
With his helmet resting half on his head, the Ridge View High School senior receiver likely had many thoughts running through his head following the Blazers’ 31-22 loss to A.C. Flora.
Perhaps Agnew was thinking about the handful of plays he and his teammates could have made to possibly change the game’s outcome. And surely, the East Carolina University commit and the rest of the Ridge View players were all wondering the same thing.
Did they just play the last game of their season?
Hours before Ridge View took the field Friday night for its regular-season finale, the South Carolina High School League’s executive committee voted 9-4 to uphold sanctions levied against the Blazers’ football team.
Ridge View — which tentatively has an 8-2 overall record — could be forced to forfeit those eight wins because an investigation showed the Blazers played this season with three ineligible players. A final decision is pending another appeal by the Blazers.
“I would love to tell you that I know what we’ve got in our future. I know there is an opportunity and you need to hold on to it,” Ridge View coach Derek Howard told the Blazers in his postgame speech.
The team’s appeal is set for 10 a.m. Monday before the High School League’s six-member appellate panel. If Ridge View wins the appeal, its season will continue and the team would host North Myrtle Beach in the first round of the playoffs. The appellate panel at times has overturned the executive committee’s decisions, giving Ridge View players, coaches and fans at least some optimism.
During his four-minute remarks to the team after the game, Howard also stressed the missed opportunities they had against A.C. Flora and about responding to adversity when things don’t go your way in life.
Friday was undoubtedly a taxing day for Howard, who sat through almost three hours of meetings that extended into the early afternoon, then had to process the committee’s ruling ahead of the 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
He did not address the hearing or sanctions when talking with The State after the game. Instead, he focused on what happened on the field and expressed how proud he was of his team’s effort.
The SCHSL meeting revealed that Richland 2, which is Ridge View’s school district, submitted their own findings to the league on Wednesday that said the Blazers had played with ineligible players. That move prompted the sanctions and Friday’s first appeal. The three players who were part of the investigation were not named.
Friday’s game — a matchup of two top-10 teams in Class 4A, with A.C. Flora ranked No. 2 and the Blazers No. 6 — was supposed to decide the Region 5-4A champion. But the events that unfolded a few hours earlier took a little luster off the anticipated matchup.
“It was definitely a distraction,” A.C. Flora coach Ken Floyd said after the game. “I could only imagine what those guys are going through over there.”
There was an obvious subdued tone to the game, especially from Blazers players during warmups. Ridge View’s team did its best to block out the news of the day, though it was no doubt on the players’ minds.
One Ridge View player had #LetUsPlay written at the bottom of his white, untucked T-shirt beneath his jersey.
The Blazers started the game slowly, falling behind 14-0 in the first quarter. They generated some energy in the stands and on the sidelines with Braylon Boyd’s touchdown run in the second quarter and went into halftime trailing 22-16.
Javon Gillespie’s fumble recovery on the first play of the fourth quarter gave Ridge View more hope. The Blazers capitalized on the turnover when Boyd hit Agnew for a score to cut the deficit to 28-22 with 10:50 left.
With Ridge View needing a defensive stop, A.C. Flora converted a third-and-26 play on its next possession that led to a field goal that put the game away.
“These kids are extremely resilient and they love this program. Really proud of how they responded to the most adversity they have ever seen in a week for a football team to have to deal with,” Howard told The State. “We challenged these kids all year. This is just another challenge. I had no doubt in my mind that eventually they would step and make as many plays as they made. It was just a few plays that we didn’t make.
“Just look at how resilient this group is. There is hope for the future.”
Now, Ridge View hopes that future includes preparing for the playoffs.
This story was originally published October 29, 2022 at 12:03 PM.
