Ridge View ousts rival Westwood in playoff thriller

Ridge View went through the entire litany of emotions in the closing minutes of a wild 41-38 victory over Westwood Friday night that lasted three hours and 45 minutes at Richland District Two Stadium.

The Blazers saw a 15-point fourth quarter lead disappear only to score the winning touchdown when Jordan Smith caught a 38-yard pass from Javon Anderson with 37 seconds remaining. The Blazers had allowed the Redhawks to score twice in the final 3:21 to take their first lead of the night before mounting the unbelievable rally.

“Our kids didn’t flinch,” Ridge View coach Perry Parks said. “That’s the definition of a battle-tested team. That’s the definition of a team that wanted it more. (Westwood) Coach (Dustin) Curtis and his guys did a great job. Hats off to Westwood. They played without a couple of their guys. They fought and clawed and didn’t give up. We just found a way at the end.”

It’s the fourth straight win for the Blazers over their crosstown rivals. Ridge View will travel to Greer in the third round of the Class 4A playoffs next Friday.

Anderson threw for 367 yards and five touchdowns in the Blazers fourth straight win over their crosstown rival. Obviously the most important score came on the final drive.

“I just tried to stay calm, tried to stay poised and go through my reads to find the open man for the winning play,” Anderson said. “It was just like in practice with our two-minute drill. Our running games wasn’t working, and we weren’t getting the production we needed so we just had to go with what we knew and what was working.”

Anderson ran for 13 yards on third-and-ten to move the chains deeper in Westwood territory. Two plays after that, he found Smith in the middle of the field near the 10. Smith broke a tackle and spun into the end zone with the winning score.

“He was careless at times, but he came back and showed his senior leadership to get us down there for the game-winning score,” Parks said. “That was tremendous playoff football. Hats off to him and what he’s done.”

Westwood (7-5) trailed 34-19 entering the final quarter but Ahmon Green threw touchdowns passes of 23, 34, and 26 yards to give the Redhawks the short-lived lead. The final two scores came in the last 3:21 with a 26-yard pass to Emmanuel Youmans with 1:56 remaining giving the Redhawks their only lead of the night.

TJ Blanding scored on a 34-yard reception with 3:21 remaining then set up the next score when he returned an interception to the blazers 36-yard line. Three plays after that, Green hit Youmans for the score.

Two penalties – one on the score and another on the extra point - made the Redhawks kickoff from their own 20. That resulted in Ridge View starting the game-winning drive at the Westwood 48 and give them the chance to pull off the unbelievable.

THREE THINGS WE LEARNED

1. The teams combined for nearly 300 penalty yards. That shouldn’t happen this late in the season but with the highly charged emotions from both sides it was sort of expected coming in. Ridge View has to clean that up before next week.

2. The field conditions at District Two Stadium was an issue. Both teams had footing problems.

3. Neither team could establish the running game. That left the game in the hands of the two quarterbacks and they both put on a dynamic show.

HOW THEY SCORED

1st Quarter

RV – Walyn Napper 1 run (Nick Lawyer kick) 6:02

RV – Napper 22 pass from Javon Anderson (Lawyer kick) 4:31

2nd Quarter

W – Cam Atkins 2 run (David Strother kick) 11:55

W – Gaines Salvant 3 pass from Cam Atkins (kick failed) 9:09

RV – Cincere Scott 54 pass from Anderson (kick failed) 7:23

RV – Scott 8 pass from Anderson (Lawyer kick) 1:47

3rd Quarter

W – Atkins 3 run (run failed) 4:55

RV – Jordan Smith 63 pass from Anderson (Lawyer kick) 0:55

4th Quarter

W – Atkins 23 pass from Ahmon Green (pass failed) 10:57

W – TJ Blanding 34 pass from Green (pass failed) 3:21

W – Emmanuel Youmans 26 pass from Green (Strother kick) 1:56

RV – Smith 38 pass from Anderson (Lawyer kick) 0:37

This story was originally published November 16, 2018 at 11:55 PM.