Tag: Will Deady

by Mike Pavlichko

Ridge spreads it around as Red Devils drop Woodbridge, 35-14, in North 1, Group 4 first round

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:

Ridge senior fullback Will Deady
Ridge head coach Andy West
by Mike Pavlichko

“The Big Central in 2 Minutes” – Week 4: Rumbling on the Raritan, Top Defenses

It’s Week Four – yes we’re almost halfway through the regular season for most teams – and time for another episode of “The Big Central in Two Minutes,” as veteran CJSR sportscaster Mike Pavlichko shares notes, stats, and observations on area high school football.

This week, we look at Sunday’s Rumble on the Raritan, Big Play Ray, the Phillipsburg/Montgomery game with almost four dozen penalties, top defenses, and a nearly 100-year-old rivalry played under the lights for the very first time.

Click below to listen to the Week Four edition of “The Big Central in Two Minutes”:

by Mike Pavlichko

“A lot of hard work” helps Ridge keep winning

When he was up on the dais at Big Central Media Day No. 2 on August 16th at Iron Peak Sports & Events in Hillsborough, Ridge head coach Andy West had a lot of tradition on the stage with him. After all, Phillipsburg was up there, and they were just talking about having beaten Easton in New Jersey’s biggest Thanksgiving Day rivalry game for the first time since 2014.

But West was quick to point out that Ridge has tradition, too. And in all of that, there have been a lot of Ws.

Bill Tracy won a title as head coach there in 2012, and Tom Falato in 2003 before him. Both won a good deal of games; Falato was 81-36 in 11 seasons in Basking Ridge, while Tracy was 71-38 in his 11 years.

West has continued that, going 20-9 in three seasons, including the wacky COVID year. His teams won six, six and seven games in that span. Mind you, they’re playing in perhaps the toughest division in the Big Central Conference, with Hunterdon Central, Hillsborough, and Bridgewater-Raritan also in the mix.

A big part of the tradition that one imagines would continue in 2023 will be Ryan Olivo and Will Deady.

Olivo’s brother Mike played his senior year for Ridge in 2021, and now Ryan will run the offense at quarterback, while Deady is a talented two-way player who can pick the ball off on defense, and ran for 1,200-plus yards last year on offense.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko at Big Central Media Days with Ridge head coach Andy West, and seniors Ryan Olivo and Will Deady:

by Mike Pavlichko

Deady has helped Ridge dominate since 1-2 start, as Red Devils seek first title game berth since 2013

The last time the Ridge football team made a championship game, they were perfect, and almost perfect.

With Bill Tracy at the helm, the Red Devils went 12-0 in winning the North 2, Group 5 title before the snow made its way to what was then High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway.

In the game, they were almost perfect, scoring on all but one possession, when a field goal try doinked off one of the uprights, en route to a 48-13 win over Union.

That was nine years ago, well before any current players on the Ridge football team were teenagers. Now, with Andy West at the helm, Ridge has their shot in a season that hasn’t exactly happened quietly, but got off to an inauspicious start.

They started 1-2, although those two losses were to Phillipsburg and Hillsborough, and that was when the Raiders were looking like a title contender themselves, with a very good defense, and an offense that was still finding its way before losing its top two quarterbacks.

Since then, Ridge has been a juggernaut: they’re 6-0 since the ‘Boro loss, have tossed three shutouts, and haven’t had a team score more than a touchdown in any of their wins.

Friday, the third-seeded Red Devils visit second seed Ramapo, with both teams checking in at 7-2.

Ridge has a ground game led by thousand-yard rusher Will Deady, who’s just a junior, but has racked up 1,071 yards and 14 touchdowns this season. He’s the first to eclipse the thousand-yard mark in Basking Ridge since R.J. Milligan has 1,280 yards in 2018. And if the Red Devils make the finals, he could pass that mark.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with Ridge junior runningback Will Deady about the Red Devils’ success in 2022, and their playoff matchup at Ramapo Friday night: