Ridge QB Tristan Frank (left) and WR Jack Pickell combined for the game-winning touchdown pass on the last play of the game in a 14-13 home win over Phillipsburg in Basking Ridge on October 2, 2026. (Source: @RedDevsFootball on Twitter)
Sometimes you’d rather be lucky than good, but Friday night at Lee Field, No. 10 Ridge was both.
As a result, the Red Devils knocked off No. 1 Phillipsburg – handing the Stateliners their first New Jersey loss of the season – 14-13, as two seniors came up the heroes, with quarterback Tristan Frank hitting wide receiver Jack Pickell for a four-yard touchdown pass as time expired.
Phillipsburg opened the scoring with a 28-yard touchdown run by Vincent Berger, plus the PAT, to go up 7-0. And that was all the scoring the first half would see.
Frank scored on a one-yard run in the third to make it 7-6, and the Red Devils decided they wanted to play to win and went for two. Frank ran it in to put Ridge up 8-7. Shane Moore then scored on a two-yard touchdown run in the fourth, but a two-point conversion pass attempt failed, and the score held at 13-8 Stateliners.
With just under three minutes left, Ridge had one drive left. They got down to the four, and with one more play to go, Frank found Pickell for the winning score.
Ridge – which has now played four Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten opponents in five games, three of which were in the top three at one point or another – improves to 3-2, 1-1 in the Big Central American Silver Division, with a home game against Westfield next week.
Phillipsburg drops to 4-2, 1-1 in the American Silver, with a bye next week before Bridgewater-Raritan visits Maloney on Friday, October 16, a game you can hear live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.
Click below for postgame reaction from Ridge head coach Jeff Sutherland with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:
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