What We Saw: Ridge View Pulls Away From Rock Hill

Friday night’s contest between Ridge View and Rock Hill provided the opportunity to strengthen their playoff resume with a win. In the end, it was the Blazer defense who made two critical goal line stands, forcing the Bearcats to kick two field goals along with a punt block and finally, the offense put together a solid performance to pull away 27-6. Let’s get into notes and standouts from Friday’s contest. Ridge View <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Senior QB [player_tooltip player_id="153263" first="Andre" last="Washington"] <a href="https://twitter.com/andrewash7ngton">(@andrewash7ngton)</a> – The South Carolina State commit is bigger once you see him in person. He kept it on designed quarterback keepers, which was a focal point on the offense throughout the evening.</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Senior WR [player_tooltip player_id="92205" first="Chase" last="Smith"] <a href="https://twitter.com/chase_s3">(@chase_s3)</a> – Smith has solid hands when it comes to catching balls in the quick passing game. He doesn’t waste time when he makes the catch either as he gets up field quickly. He can find voids in coverage like we saw on the 2nd drive of the game for a first down. He connected with his quarterback for a touchdown to make it 20-6 in the 4th quarter.</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Junior WR Chris Lawson Jr. <a href="https://twitter.com/Chris_Lawson_Jr">(@Chris_Lawson_Jr)</a> – Lawson just earned an offer from the University of Louisville on Tuesday and he followed it up with a touchdown reception in the back right corner to end the first half, helping the Blazers take a 14-3 lead. </li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Junior WR [player_tooltip player_id="202775" first="Zion" last="Agnew"] <a href="https://twitter.com/Ziongoesd1">(@Ziongoesd1)</a> – Agnew was another Blazer receiver that impressed us with his route running and ability to make the routine catches just like his counterparts and help keep the offense moving.</li> </ul> Where the game changed: Ridge View blocked a punt right before halftime leading to Lawson’s touchdown. <blockquote>“Just being physical, man. That’s something we’ve been preaching for the last couple weeks. We want to make sure that we’re the most physical team out there and just competing.” - Ridge View head coach Derek Howard on the key two goal line stops</blockquote> Rock Hill <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Senior TE/DL [player_tooltip player_id="103786" first="Luke" last="Bracey"]<a href="https://twitter.com/bracey_luke"> (@bracey_luke)</a> – Bracey was active throughout the night on defense. He made a shoestring tackle on a scramble in the first quarter. He also made a play on a quarterback stretch play to the left side in the fourth quarter when things weren’t looking good for the Bearcats, showing a lot of effort.</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Senior DL [player_tooltip player_id="200721" first="Maurice" last="Bonneau"] Jr.<a href="https://twitter.com/MauriceB55"> (@MauriceB55)</a> – Bonneau had a tackle for loss on an [player_tooltip player_id="153263" first="Andre" last="Washington"] keeper in the second quarter and did a nice job of defeating blocks and getting into the backfield throughout the night.</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Senior LB Dre Robinson – We heard Robinson’s name several times throughout the night as he got into the backfield and disrupted the Blazers’ offensive rhythm at times. He made a tackle almost immediately on a RB screen in the second quarter.</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Sophomore QB [player_tooltip player_id="139293" first="Matthew" last="Wilson"]<a href="https://twitter.com/matthew76905115"> (@matthew76905115)</a> – Wilson excelled on the scrambles and managed the game well. He didn’t put his team in danger and made plays in the quarterback run game. </li> </ul> Additional notes and observations <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Rock Hill was able to come out and run the ball in the second half with RB Brandon Watson and was able to make some things happen, aided by a critical block from Garrett Pfirman</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Ridge VIew’s [player_tooltip player_id="91193" first="Miquel" last="Mason"] nearly had an interception on a [player_tooltip player_id="139293" first="Matthew" last="Wilson"] rollout in the second quarter.</li> </ul>