Ridge and Woodbridge play a North 1, Group 4 opening round game at Lee Field in basking Ridge on October 27, 2023. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
Everybody got into the act for the Ridge football team Friday night at Lee Field.
In an opening round North 1, Group 4 playoff game, the second-seeded Red Devils scored on every possession but one in a 35-14 victory over visiting seventh-seed Woodbridge.
Ridge (8-1) now moves on to play third-seed Northern Highlands in the sectional semifinals at home next Friday night. The 3rd-seeded Highlanders – the defending North 2 Group 4 champs and Group 4 finalist from a year ago – improved to 8-2 on the season with a 48-21 win over 6th-seed Randolph Friday night.
Woodbridge ended its season at 6-4.
Senior fullback Will Deady scored twice for Ridge, rushing for 123 yards on 20 carries to put him over the 1,000 yard mark for the second straight season. Ryan Turner had a 58-yard touchdown catch and a 15-yard TD run, while Aiden Stieglitz ran in a one-yard score, and Matthew Bober returned a punt 40-yards for a touchdown.
The Bober score was somewhat of a turning point in the game, even though Ridge was up 28-7 at that point. A fumble for the Barrons in their own end was almost recovered by the Red Devils at the one, but the ball went out of bounds, forcing Woodbridge to punt from its own end zone. The return for six put Ridge up 35-7 with 8:16 left in the third quarter.
Ridge had seven full possessions in the game – not counting getting the ball back with 50 seconds to play in victory formation – and scored touchdowns on six of those drives.
The only one where they didn’t was their second possession after halftime, where senior quarterback Ryan Olivo threw an interception from the Woodbridge 42, but the Barrons wound up turning it over on downs for the second time in the game, again leaving points on the table, as they did on their opening possession of the game.
Click below for postgame reaction from Mike Pavlichko, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen: