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Restall power fuels Raider romp

By Doug Deters Correspondent
Posted 9/8/21

ORANGE PARK - JoJo and Roderick equals 233 yards and three touchdowns; about what the Orange Park High 38-7 rivalry win over Ridgeview came down to on Friday night at Orange Park High School.

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Restall power fuels Raider romp


Posted

ORANGE PARK - JoJo and Roderick equals 233 yards and three touchdowns; about what the Orange Park High 38-7 rivalry win over Ridgeview came down to on Friday night at Orange Park High School.

“We have big play capabilities all the time with our guys,” said Orange Park coach Tom Macpherson. “The issue we have is we also have too many negative plays. We are too hit or miss and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”

Orange Park, now 1-1 after a season opening loss to Oakleaf last week, benefited by Ridgeview miscues early in the game; a bad snap recovered in the end zone by Moliere Syllon for the Raiders followed by a second bad snap that was kicked out of the end zone by former Orange Park quarterback Durrionte Myrick for a safety.

“We got some help with their bad snaps and were able to take the game over after that,” said Macpherson. “We needed a jump start and we got it.”

Orange Park continued their onslaught with a drive that concluded with a 21 yard touchdown pass from quarterback Tavien Wilkerson to wide receiver Nolan Chambers for a 17-0 lead six seconds into the second quarter. Ridgeview needed a strong drive to respond and they got just that with the help of a pass interference call on third down. The Panthers drove to the Orange Park 35 yard line but an incomplete pass on a fourth down stalled the drive.

A Ridgeview sack on the Raiders takeover on downs put the Raiders at second down and 28 from their own 17 yard line where Restall broke an 83 yard touchdown run with 5:48 left in the second quarter and with another two point conversion and the route was on at 25-0.

Orange Park had one more chance to score late in the second quarter but the Ridgeview defense forced an incomplete pass on fourth down from the 13 yard line to end the half.

The “Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” Raiders showed up on play number one of the second half as they would fumble the ball on their opening play at their own 18 yard line. That allowed Ridgeview to have a short field that ended on a seven yard touchdown run by Miles Burris to cut the lead to 25-7.

Restall would break another long run, this one for a 56 yard touchdown giving Orange Park a 31-7 lead after a missed the extra point. The long runs and big plays were not limited to Jojo Restall as Jiovanni Fowlin would also run 56 yards to the six yard line after a punt on the Panthers previous possession. Fowlin’s run ended with a missed 24 yard field goal attempt.

After another Panther punt, Orange Park took a long drive that ended with a fourth down touchdown pass to Nolan Chambers with 2:49 left and the final 38-7 score.

The win was huge for the Raiders, as they enter a difficult stretch with games against Nease and Riverside high the next two weeks. But Macpherson was quick to point out the win is big but much work and improvement needs to be done for this year’s Raiders to make a playoff run. “I’m happy for our kids and our fans, but as a coach I am not happy right now. Winning and losing is obviously important but for me it is always about how you play. We have a lot of things to clean up (coaches included) and our goals this week is to simply get better and find some kids we have confidence in and get them in the rotation.”