Resilient Rams: Ringgold emerges as final four team
Thalia Juarez | Herald-Standard
Ringgold’s Dalton Holt (22) returns a punt for a touchdown against Laurel Highlands during their Big Nine Conference game Sept. 23. The Rams defeated the Mustangs before losing to Thomas Jefferson the following week. Since then Ringgold has reeled off five wins in a row and finds itself in the WPIAL Class 4-A semifinals. The Rams will play New Castle at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Mars High School.
Ringgold's Dalton Holt (22) make a move to get by Uniontown's Kaii McCargo (16) while being pursued by the Red Raiders' Chad Workman during their game Oct. 7 at Joe Montana Stadium. The Rams defeated the Red Raiders, 36-7, the first of five straight wins that finds them in the WPIAL Class 4-A semifinals. Ringgold will play New Castle at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Mars High School.
Ringgold’s Dalton Holt (22) catches a pass in the end zone for a touchdown against Laurel Highlands during their Big Nine Conference game on Sept. 23. The Rams defeated the Mustangs before losing to Thomas Jefferson the following week. Since then Ringgold has reeled off five wins in a row and finds itself in the WPIAL Class 4-A semifinals. The Rams will play New Castle at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Mars High School.
Ringgold was sitting at 3-2 a little over a month ago, having dropped home games to Big Nine Conference rivals Belle Vernon and Thomas Jefferson in a three-week span. An elusive section title was out of reach and a playoff berth was not a sure thing at that time.
The Rams now sit as the sole remaining team in the area in the WPIAL football playoffs. Rinngold will play New Castle in the WPIAL Class 4-A semifinals at Mars High School at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.
Coach Nick Milchovich and his squad showed why you should never give up on a season.
Ringgold, at its lowest point, reeled off five wins in a row. Victims in that streak included two of the four remaining teams in Class 4-A — West Mifflin and New Castle — and one many thought would be in the final four, Mars. What made those victories even more impressive is that all three came on the road.
Mars was made the No. 3 seed with the Rams being No. 6. It looked like those seeds might hold up when the Planets scored a pair of touchdowns in a 13-second span to take a 28-21 halftime lead Friday night, then added a field goal late in the third quarter to go by 10.
The relentless Rams weren’t about to cave in, though, reeling off the final 21 points that left a solid Mars team stunned.
“They’re a great football team with a great, veteran coaching staff with very tough kids, and they battled us tooth and nail,” Milchovich said of the Planets. “They’re a tough nut to crack.”
So are the Rams, apparently.
The resilience they showed all season, especially at West Mifflin when they scored twice in the final 13 seconds for a 29-26 win, was summed up by their quarterback George Martin in the third quarter. Martin had the wind knocked out of him, went off the field for one play, then returned to lead Ringgold on three straight touchdown drives.
Those drives were capped by an 11-yard touchdown pass to Dalton Holt, a 33-yard TD pass to Easton Fine and a one-yard plunge by Martin, all seniors. Holt sealed the game with a pair fourth-quarter interceptions. Another senior, Brian Vandusen, countered one of the Planets’ second-quarter touchdowns with an 84-yard kickoff return for a score.
“My seniors, they just made plays when they needed to make plays,” Milchovich said.
Holt drew much praise from his coach after the game.
“He’s a kid that’s a scholarship football player, one that every college should want,” Milchovich said. “He’s a tough kid. He’s run the ball, caught the ball, I think he drove the bus home for us, too. He’s done everything. Another young man who’s emerged as a leader.”
Holt was living in the moment of each play, not even realizing what a stellar performance he was having.
“I don’t even know what I really did until after the game,” Holt said.
Another good example of the Rams’ resilience was supplied by junior Tyrese Youngblood. When starting running back Brenden Small had to leave the game in the first half with an injury, Youngblood stepped in and the offense never missed a beat. He would up with 94 yards rushing.
“Tyrese Youngblood came through for us and really ran the ball hard,” Milchovich said.
“That’s the way we’ve been all year. We’ve had guys go down and we’ve had guys step up and make plays. That’s what a team is all about.”
Milchovich didn’t expect the high-scoring affair that the game evolved into.
“No, not really,” he said. “I was hoping for us because we do pretty well in these shootouts.”
Milchovich didn’t expect to see what he saw from the Mars offense on Friday either, as quarterback Noah Wright, who basically handed the ball off to his strong stable of running backs most of the season, came out firing and took the Rams off guard.
“Their quarterback doesn’t really throw the ball that much. He came out and looked like Fran Tarkenton,” Milchovich said. “We weren’t expecting that, of course, and he hit some nice passes that kind of set us back a little bit. But we made the right adjustments at halftime and the kids executed.
“The kids played a great game.”
Martin was certain his team had a good chance to advance in the playoffs even if it woiuld’ve been matched up against unbeaten No. 2 South Fayette.
“I was very confident coming into this game,” Martin said. “Originally we thought we’d have South Fayette, and then Monday night came and we found out we had Mars. I was just as confident playing South Fayette.”
Now South Fayette is gone and the Rams are still alive.
“Feels great,” Martin said.
Holt never lost faith in his team, not back when it was 3-2 and not when it fell behind the Planets on Friday night.
“At the beginning we were just making mental errors,” Hold said. “We knew physically we could match up with this team. Just a couple weeks ago we scored 15 points in eight seconds so we’ve been down before.
“We just thought we’ve just got to keep fighting and we’re not going to be stopped.”