FOLSOM, PA — Dave Wood realizes his football team will make mistakes. The Ridley coach has seen his team make its share of them through their first nine games this season, although he likes their resilience.
On Friday night, the Green Raiders tripped over their toes more than a few times against Penncrest, and they responded, making up for penalties and turnovers with clutch plays in tense moments for a 10-6 victory.
With the victory, Ridley (8-1) won its eighth-straight game and is now the No. 8 seed in District 1 Class 6A. If the playoffs started tomorrow, Ridley would host No. 9 seed Central Bucks West (6-3).
A home playoff game is the hope.
For now, Wood is pleased how his team has dealt with adversity. For example, Ridley senior linebacker Johnny Palladino blew an assignment and missed a block, allowing Penncrest’s Orion Kolleh to rush through and block a punt, giving the Lions great field position late in the third quarter with Ridley holding a 7-6 lead.
Two plays later, Penncrest quarterback Paul Graham had the ball slip out of his hands, and there was Palladino, flopping on the ball at the Ridley 24 for what was the play of the game.
“I had to make up for the missed block, and our coaches push that pressure is a privilege,” Palladino said. “On the fumble recovery, I just happened to be in the right spot at the right time. We are 8-1 and I think we are underrated. People see the 5A teams in our league, and it motivates us every day. We have one goal right now, and that’s the Central League. The goal is 9-1 and we’ll see what happens after that.”
There was Ridley junior tailback Jamar Savoy rushing for a game-high 116 yards on 23 carries, including Ridley’s lone touchdown, running well in place of workhorse back Kirkland Plummer.
“Penncrest is a very good defensive team up front, but Savoy ran the ball very well, and we had a blown punt protection, and Johnny came back to recover the ball for the play of the game,” Wood said. “Defensively, we are playing well, and we will be tested again next week against Garnet Valley.”
Ridley is a very good 8-1 team, but is handicapped because the Green Raiders play in a league primarily filled with Class 5A schools. With Savoy, a stubborn defense, and some breaks here and there, Ridley is capable of making a push in the PIAA District 1 Class 6A playoffs.
“I think we can,” Wood said. “If we finish things off next week, we’re a 9-1 team and get ranked 11th or 12th in the district, and whoever faces us will not be facing an 11th- or 12th-ranked team. The shame of it, the way this team is playing right now, we deserve a home playoff game, though the way it may shape out (Garnet Valley is 5A school with a 6-3 record), it does not look like we may get it.”
Because of the rotating schedule, Ridley did not play two of the more formidable teams in the area, the Central League’s undefeated Springfield (9-0) and Strath Haven (8-1).
“Springfield and Strath Haven are two very good teams, but those teams would get us a lot of points, and I understand the point system,” Wood said. “We have to play our schedule. I just wish there was a better way to balance the better teams that get 13th or 14th seeds that go 9-1 in a pretty good conference.”
Wood stressed his team had to clean up mistakes. At halftime, Ridley had the ball 19 minutes, 7 seconds to Penncrest’s 4:53, and churned out 136 yards of total offense and seven first downs to Penncrest’s 39 yards and two first downs.
But during Ridley’s 9-minute, 16-second, 15-play drive to start the game, the Green Raiders were flagged on consecutive plays for holding, pushing them back to their 45 and facing a third-and-31.
“I said at halftime, we should be up 14-0, and in the playoffs, you have to capitalize on points and not make mistakes,” Wood said.
Savoy is coming off a career-best 160 yards rushing in Ridley’s 14-0 shutout over Haverford on Oct. 10, and he followed that up with 116 against a good Penncrest defense, which received some great performances from Jeff Cropper, Orion Kolleh, who blocked the punt and intercepted a pass, Garrett Clark, and run stuffers Dejon Fitzgerald and Donovan Trucchio.
“Right now, we are pushing each other to be the best, and we shoot ourselves in the foot more than we should, but we learn,” Savoy said. “We need to cut down on the penalties, and we know there are going to be more physical team along the way. We have to prepare for that.”
Penncrest coach Paul Graham had an idea this game would be tight. The game went incredibly quick, with two teams that like to run the ball.
“The credit goes to Ridley, they were able to bottle us up,” Graham said. “We were not able to capitalize on the blocked punt. But I like how our defense has been playing. Cropper is a sideline-to-sideline player, and Kolleh has had four interceptions and he has returned two for touchdowns.”
Penncrest is going to be troublesome for some teams. The Lions, at 6-3, are the No. 7 seed and would host an opening-round home game, as things currently stand.
Scoring Summary
Penncrest (6-3/5-3 Central League) 0 0 6 0 – 6
Ridley (8-1/8-0 Central League) 7 0 0 0 3 – 10
2nd Quarter
R – Jamar Savoy 3 run (Vince Petrellis kick), 2:15
3rd Quarter
P – Paul Graham 4 run (kick failed), 4:30
4th Quarter
R – Tim Calamita 28 FG, 6:24
Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter @JSantoliquito. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball.