Wolf Pack overcomes miscues; still perfect
| Friday, Sep 25 2009 11:55 PM
Last Updated Friday, Sep 25 2009 11:57 PM
Ridgeview kept its spotless record intact Friday night, but its biggest enemy wasn't a scrappy, undermanned Madera South team. The Wolf Pack's biggest obstacle proved to be overcoming their own mistakes en route to a 31-13 victory at Ridgeview.
The Wolf Pack improved to 4-0 on the strength of 300 total yards of offense from senior quarterback Tyler Dogins, who passed for 228 yards and two scores and rushed for 72 more yards. Junior quarterback Joe Ceja carried just three times, adding two touchdowns on a pair of 1-yard sneaks.
But on the way to its fourth consecutive win to open the season, Ridgeview had to overcome 12 penalties for 121 yards. Several of the flags killed promising drives early, and it looked for a while as if those miscues would be costly.
Madera halfback Jose Silva faked a reverse on the opening kickoff then raced 63 yards to the Ridgeview 33. He carried the ball three times for 19 yards on the ensuing drive, capped by a six-yard scamper around left end, and the Stallions led 7-0 before many in the capacity homecoming crowd had settled into their seats.
But the one-dimensional Stallion attack couldn't keep up that pace.
The bigger, more physical Ridgeview defense eventually began to wear down the Stallions, forcing fumbles on consecutive Madera runs inside the Stallion 30 early in the second quarter. The two turnovers netted just one Ceja touchdown and Madera held a surprising 7-6 lead at the half.
The Wolf pack needed just five plays and 1:34 of the third quarter to take the lead, with Dogins finding Corey Hobbs alone across the middle for a 14-yard strike and a 12-7 advantage. Ridgeview then went hurry-up on offense in the fourth quarter, adding two touchdowns in just over five minutes, to ice the game.
