Ridgefield finishes strong heading into 2A playoffs

Two years ago, Tommy Herz was one of 11 sophomores starting for a Ridgefield team that walked off the Kiggins Bowl turf as losers to Hudson’s Bay, part of an 0-9 season.

Friday night, the Spudders walked off as 31-0 victors over the Eagles, finishing off an 8-1 season and heading to the playoffs for the first time since 2012.

“That experience got us to where we are today,” said Herz, who ran for 109 yards and a touchdown to crack the 1,000-yard milestone for the season.

Ridgefield (8-1, 5-1 GSHL 2A) hosts W.F. West in a District 4 playoff game next Friday, looking to post its first postseason victory since 2005.

“We know they aren’t going to be a pushover,” said Herz, who heads into the playoffs with 1,002 rushing yards. “But our defense is playing great right now. If we step up on defense and our offensive line keeps it up, we’ll have the same result as tonight.”

The Spudders defense posted its second straight shutout, holding Bay (2-7, 1-5) to just 169 yards and eight first downs. Ridgefield forced five turnovers, broke up six passes, and twice stopped Bay in the red zone.

“We lost to this team two years ago, and everyone was heartbroken after that game,” said junior Kevin Miser, who had nine tackles, an interception and a pass breakup while playing in the memory of his older brother Vincent, still hospitalized after a car accident four weeks ago.

“We knew Bay has a lot of good athletes. At halftime, I told my teammates to keep their heads up. We know they can fight. They came out strong in the second half the last time we played here.”

There would be no such comeback on this night. The Spudders led 17-0 at halftime, and after Miser recovered an onside kick try to open the second half, they marched 57 yards in nine plays, with Cade Morrill scoring on a 1-yard run.

Three minutes later, Nick Thomas picked off his second pass of the night, setting up Jalen Williams’ second touchdown — a 1-yard run with 1:59 left in the third for a 31-0 lead.

“Our defense stepped up huge again tonight,” said Ridgefield coach Dan Andersen. “We haven’t looked ahead too much this year. Our boys have been real good at that.”

After three straight weeks in which Bay held a lead in the second half, this was a disappointing end to coach Mark Oliverio’s first season.

But he was a part of Ridgefield’s rebuilding process, serving as its quarterbacks coach last season, when the Spudders went from winless to a winning season at 5-4.

“They’re the program that I’ve pointed to all season for our kids,” said Oliverio, whose team graduates only 10 seniors. “My hat’s off to Ridgefield for what they’ve done the last two seasons. We were just overmatched tonight.

“But I’m very optimistic for what we’ve started here. We started a lot of young players this year, and from Day 1 to now, we’ve shown tremendous growth.”

RIDGEFIELD 31, HUDSON’S BAY 0

Ridgefield 14 3 14 0–31

Hudson’s Bay 0 0 0 0– 0

First Quarter

R — Jalen Williams 5 run (Michael Martin kick)

R — Tommy Herz 2 run (M.Martin kick)

Second Quarter

R — FG M.Martin 30

Third Quarter

R — Cade Morrill 1 run (M.Martin kick)

R — Williams 1 run (M.Martin kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — R, T.Herz 23-109, Williams 12-69, Morrill 7-18, Taylor Nolan 2-15, Jeremy Martin 1-6, team 2-(minus 3). HB, Toa Kamatule 10-34, Tristan Maxwell 6-72, Jordan Hickman 4-2, Marcus Cadiz 4-16, Nathan Buslach 1-(minus 1), JJ Jones 1-(minus 2), Brian Perez 1-(minus 8).

PASSING — R, Morrill 4-7-1-85, Jarrett Mocca 0-1-0-0. HB, Maxwell 4-17-4-56, Perez 0-3-0-0.

RECEIVING — R, Nathan Herz 2-52, Williams 1-5, Nolan 1-28. HB, Cadiz 3-44, Kamatule 1-12.