Garnet Valley vs. Ridley Football Preview-Central League Championship Game
Written by: Billy Scully on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008. Follow Billy Scully on Twitter.
On Halloween night at Moe DeFrank Stadium at 7:30pm the Garnet Valley Jaguars will host the Ridley Green Raiders. Everyone who enjoys high school football will really enjoy this game on a cold fall night. This showdown is for the Central League Championship. If the Garnet Valley Jaguars win they will be crowned Central League Champs. If Ridley wins they will share the title with Garnet Valley and Penncrest, if Penncrest beats Conestoga on Friday night.
Head coach of Garnet Valley, Mike Ricci, has led his team to an undefeated record (9-0) and outscored teams all season, scoring 315 points this year. While the offense has been scoring, the defense has allowed only 85 points to the opponents so far this season. Garnet Valley’s closest game was on October 3rd when the Jaguars won by a touchdown against Haverford. Other than October 3rd the Jaguars have been beating teams by more than twenty points a game.
The Ridley Raiders’ head coach, John Waller, has led his team to a record of 8-1 losing only to the Penncrest Lions on October 10th. The Raiders lost to the Lions by only seven points (26-19). Since then the Raiders have easily won against Marple Newtown and Strath Haven. The Raiders’ defense has done well against their opponents only giving up 63 points this season. On the other side of the football the offense has been moving the ball by throwing. Other than Penncrest, Ridley has been outscoring teams with over 2000 yards of total offense.
The Garnet Valley Jaguars will try to pound the Green Raiders with their running attack using fullback Jared Bonacquisti, running back Tim Keyser, and running back Marcellus Irving. Bonacquisti has trotted into the end zone 12 times and has rushed for 736 yards this season, while Keyser has scored 13 rushing touchdowns along with one receiving. Keyser is just 125 yards shy of 1000 yards rushing for this season as he is averaging 14 yards per carry.
Garnet Valley’s quarterback Mark McHugh has thrown for 680 yards along with six touchdown passes and only two interceptions. McHugh’s three out of the six touchdown passes has been to wide receiver Paul Dunn. Jaguars’ receiver Dunn has caught the football 16 times from McHugh for 247 yards this season. Tim Keyser has also been a threat catching the football, as he has over 200 yards receiving.
For the Ridley Raiders their senior quarterback, Andrew Pidgeon, has completed 77 of his passes for over 1000 yards and 17 touchdowns. In a 130 passing attempts Pidgeon has only thrown three interceptions. Pidgeon favorable receiver has been six foot one Troy Foster. In 24 receptions Foster has close to 400 yards receiving and four touchdowns. Foster is averaging almost 16 yards a catch.
Five foot four sophomore, Shahaid Smith, has rushed the ball for five touchdowns and for 455 yards rushing. Alongside of Shahaid Smith is John Harshaw. Senior running back Harshaw has run for two touchdowns. Total the Green Raiders have rushed for over 1000 yards as a team.
The Ridley Raiders have won the Central League title back to back in the past two seasons. Also last year the Raiders were crowned (AAAA) District One Champions. For Garnet Valley, the Jaguars have gone back to back winning the District One title in classification AAA. The Jaguars were also crowned Eastern PA Champions.
Look for the Ridley Raiders to pass against Garnet Valley, while the Garnet Valley Jaguars try to pound the ball on the Raiders’ defense. Whoever wins this game will most likely win because of how well the defense performed, or didn’t perform. This game has the potential to be the game of the year. So after trick-or-treating on Halloween night, come see many tricks by the Jaguars and Raiders, and a treat by the winning team …… a Central League Championship.
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November 1st, 2008 at 1:07 am
Ridley lost..great first quarter 14-0..lost are focus in the 2nd quarter 21-14..came out 2nd half both teams with all there heart 35-28..GV scored on ridley’s last attempt to get the ball back with .48seconds on the clock 4th and 1..keyser takes it for a TD..final score 41-28 great game both teams hopefully we see GV again in the playoffs
November 1st, 2008 at 12:33 am
GV WON!!! Woo!!! Central League Champs YES!!!! We are 10-0 and are not gonna stop trying our hardest. GO JAGS!! Next week home game vs Coatesville? PLAYOFFS!!! BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!!!!!!!!
October 31st, 2008 at 12:58 pm
GV’s defense had been getting the job done all season. Have a great game guys!
October 31st, 2008 at 9:36 am
Dam Billy where you get all the information about Ridley lol I know I wish I could see the game its going to be wild
October 30th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
JONATHAN SMITH IS THE MANNNNNNN
GREATEST DB ON THE EAST COAST
October 30th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Another great article Billy. Looking forward to
the game. GO JAGS!!! GO JAGS!!!
October 29th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Garnet Valley rocks. As a little sister of a player i know how important this game is. Ridley has been our rival since we were in the central leauge. i hope garnet valley wins
October 29th, 2008 at 10:19 am
The writers of these football summaries are great. This article is a perfect analysis of these two teams and the events that lie ahead.
Keep up the great work