JACKSONVILLE - With a mountain of the second half of his season quickly approaching, Ridgeview High first-year coach Merlin Smith got his first win with a tough 29-20 victory over KIPP Bold Academy of Jacksonville.
"I tell you, this was a game that gave us the confidence we needed to finish the season," said Smith. "We learned to win a tough game against a team unwilling to give up in the fourth quarter."
Ridgeview, winless prior to the game in five starts, got their first win with an energized run game behind junior Malik Cole who blasted for two long runs; one a 50-yard score, to fuel the Ridgeview attack with the Panthers going into the lockers at halftime up 16-0.
"To me, this was his 'aha' game," said Smith of Cole, who had just four carries in two games in the first half of the season. "He was a junior varsity guy last year and has some asthma problems that we had to figure out before we could let him go full tilt. He showed up today."
Full tilt for Cole looked like two 50-yard runs; one on a critical fourth and eight near midfield with KIPP staging a comeback of sorts and wanting the ball back after getting the score to 22-20 late in the fourth quarter.
"I wanted to just get the first down because we needed to eat more clock to finish the game," said Smith. "When he took that swing pass from Jordan (QB Mesa), he ran over a couple of guys and just powered to the end zone. It was a big shot in the arm for this team."
The Panthers have relied mainly on the running power of junior Christian Felder who led the team with 240 yards in the first five games with 62 carries.
"With Malik showing up tonight, and you know how I like my running game, this gives our offense a new look that I think will change our outlook," said Smith. "I saw some things beyond just football out there where these guys are now playing as a team; linemen blocking downfield, runners breaking tackles, and defense chasing people."
In the first quarter with steady rain on the field, Felder blasted off tackle on his first handoff at midfield to rumble to the 27 with a second handoff to Felder getting to the 10-yard line with Mesa just missing wide receiver Treyvon Tyrone in the end zone before field goal kicker Christian Hanson kicked a 30 yard field goal to put Ridgeview up 3-0 with 9:34 left in the first quarter.
"We got two horses behind us now," said Ridgeview offensive lineman Joshua Longley. "That makes us block a little harder because they are working hard behind us."
Ridgeview's defense pinned the Greyhounds at their own 13 before forcing a short punt from the end zone after a five-yard flag.
"We figured he was trying to pass outside of our line and we stayed outside his shoulder to make him throw over us," said defensive end Lucious Harris. "We made some opportunities for ourselves."
Ridgeview would turn around and score quickly this time with Mesa hitting Tyrone in the back of the end zone with six minutes left in the quarter to put Ridgeview up 10-0. Tyrone's score came after Cole broke for 42 yards to the KIPP 20.
Felder would power in for a 10-yard score in the second to put the game at 16-0 before the half.
Linebacker Camryn Hall had a late second-quarter interception to thwart a KIPP drive with five minutes to the half.
In the second half, KIPP would energize their outside passing lanes to get the game to 22-20 as Ridgeview's defense was plagued with two pass interference calls and a questionable celebration flag on a missed interception by Ridgeview's defensive back on one scoring drive, but Cole provided the winning edge with his 50 yard run to 29-20.