Lingering damage to the Ridgewood High School Stadium Field forced the Maroons to play a scheduled home game against the top team in the nation, Don Bosco Prep, up Route 17 in Ramsey on Friday night. Despite playing hard, the Maroons lost 35-0.
The Maroons (1-1) resilience forced Don Bosco (3-0) to play its starters all four quarters on a rainy night that still featured a good deal of village fans.
"We forced them to play," RHS head coach Chuck Johnson said. "There's not another public school in the state that's going to force them to play [their starters] all four quarters."
In the first quarter, the Maroons had a punt blocked and recovered by top college recruit Darius Hamilton deep in Ridgewood territory. Fortunately, on Bosco's ensuing possession, the Ironmen turned the ball over on a fumble. Bosco would score on its next drive, a rushing touchdown by sophomore Jabrill Peppers.
The Ridgewood offense responded by moving the ball 69 yards to the Bosco 11 before penalties and tackles for loss by Hamilton set the Maroons back. Young Hoe Koo attempted a field goal for Ridgewood, but the ball fell just short of the uprights.
Ridgewood's defense forced the sluggish Bosco offense into two three-and-outs before the Ironmen found the end zone again on a 38 yard pass from quarterback Mike Yankovich to Leonte Caroo with 14 seconds left in the second quarter.
After a slow start, Bosco led by two touchdowns at the half.
Hamilton, in addition to the blocked punt, had three tackles (two for loss) and two sacks.
Bosco would tack on additional scores–a 64 yard rushing touchdown by Elijah Shumate and a fumble recovery by Mike Strizak–to go up 35-0 with 10 minutes remaining in the game.
The fumble was Ridgewood's only turnover of the game and the Maroon defense forced three fumbles.
Jamal Locke took over for Chris Ebert at quarterback in the fourth quarter for Ridgewood. The former only attempted three passes in the contest, as Ridgewood fancies itself as more of a ground and pound team.
Bosco looked to tack on another score, but the Maroons were able to halt the drive and force a turnover on downs.
"Our kids played hard," Johnson said. "But we made some mistakes to let them pull away in the end.
"We need to be tougher in some situations," he added, "and our big guns need to step up and make plays."
