Ringgold’s big plays sink AG, 56-14
MONONGAHELA — Ringgold had already delivered a flurry of punches to Albert Gallatin with five offensive plays of 32 yards or more during their Class 4A Big Six Conference football game on Friday night.
But here were the gritty Colonials, driving into Rams territory midway through the third quarter, threatening to trim a 28-14 Ringgold lead to one score.
The Rams’ Demetri Lowe had already rang up touchdown receptions of 19 and 72 yards and he had one more splash play left in her arsenal as AG lined up on the 42-yard line.
Lowe deflected a pitch out by Albert Gallatin quarterback Bronx Jamison, raced to scoop up the bouncing ball and sprinted 40 yards for a touchdown on the fumble return to give Ringgold a 35-14 lead.
The sudden turn of events left the Colonials deflated and the Rams went on to claim a 56-14 victory at Joe Montana Stadium.
“He’s long and lanky so his arms were able to reach the football,” Albert Gallatin coach Drew Dindl said of Lowe.
Nick Stasko also scored three touchdowns for Ringgold in racking up 121 rushing yards on 10 carries as the Rams improved to 5-3 with their fourth consecutive win and remained tied atop the conference standings with South Fayette at 3-0.
The Colonials fell to 1-2 in the conference and 3-5 overall as their WPIAL playoff chances took a major hit in their return from a seven-season run as an independent as Dindl rebuilt the program.
“Nine years ago, being upset about not making the playoffs probably wouldn’t have even been a thought here,” said Dindl, who guided AG to a 10-0 record last season. “So I am proud that the standard has changed and that there are expectations for this program now.
“At the same time, that means we can’t be satisfied with where we are. We have to keep building, keep raising that standard and do a better job of living up to it.”
The Colonials made an immediate statement against Ringgold when they took the opening kickoff and went on a nine-play, 80-yard drive that included a 47-yard run by Clayton Bolinger and was capped by Roman Smith’s 4-yard touchdown burst. Eli Fisher’s extra point made it 7-0.
If the Rams were momentarily stunned, they recovered quickly.
Stasko broke a 40-yard run on Ringgold’s first play from scrimmage and three plays later Jace Trumpe completed a 32-yard pass to Dennis Hawkins III to the AG 1. Stasko scored from there two plays later and Bill Cameron’s extra point tied it at 7-7.
It was the first of four consecutive touchdown drives by the Rams.
The second featured a 39-yard run by Dezire Satterfield and Trumpe’s 19-yard touchdown pass to Lowe on the second play of the second quarter.
Stasko broke a 39-yard run to the AG 7 on the first play of the Rams’ following drive and scored from there on the next play to make it 21-7.
It only took one play for Ringgold to strike again as Lowe took a shovel pass from Trumpe 72 yards for a score after the Rams had forced a third consecutive punt from Albert Gallatin, which relies on executing its flexbone running attack.
“It’s kind of been the same song and dance for us all year,” Dindl said. “We do a lot of good things, then we shoot ourselves in the foot and have a hard time recovering from it.”
Down 28-7, the Colonials fought back with a 13-play, 80-yard touchdown drive sparked by runs of 25, 14 and 11 yards by Bentley Swaney. Jamison plowed in from 1 yard out with 13 seconds left in the half to get AG within 28-14.
Disaster almost struck for the Rams when they tried a long pass by Lowe on a trick play that was intercepted in the end zone by Tavian Potts and returned to midfield. A 15-yard penalty on the play gave AG the ball at the Ringgold 34 but the Colonials fell far short of a TD on the final play of the half when Bolinger was tackled after a 10-yard run.
Albert Galatin’s defense made its second straight stop on Ringgold’s first possession of the third quarter, but that only set the stage for Lowe’s game-changing play.
The Rams pulled away from there with three touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
The first came on Satterfield’s 3-yard run following a 58-yard yard burst, the second on Trumpe’s 28-yard pass to Hawkins and the third on Stasko’s 3-yard run.
Trumpe completed 7 of 8 passes for 202 yards, including two to Hawkins for 60 yards.
Bolinger led the Colonials with 17 carries for 93 yards. Smith had 68 yards on 19 attempts and Swaney totaled 52 yards on just five runs before leaving with an injury just before halftime after a late hit which resulted in a 15-yard penalty against Ringgold.
“We were already pretty thin with injuries, and losing Bentley right before halftime put a lot of guys in spots they normally aren’t in,” Dindl said. “That’s not an excuse at all. When you’re in that situation, you just have to play that much cleaner and almost perfect because you don’t have much room for error. We still had chances tonight. That’s the most frustrating part. We just didn’t take advantage of them.”
Colton Harvey added four carries for 41 yards in the fourth quarter for AG, which ran the ball 67 times for 295 yards.
“I don’t want this to come across the wrong way, but outside of South Fayette, I really don’t feel anybody has just stopped us. Most of the time it’s been our own mistakes: penalties, turnovers, missed assignments, things like that. When that keeps happening, that falls on me as the head coach. We have to be better prepared and play cleaner football.”
The Colonials return home to play Fayette County rival Laurel Highlands next week.
“We’ll go back, look at the film, try to fix what we can,
Dindl said, “and get ready for Laurel Highlands.”