September 19, 2020

Error on final drive costs Ringgold

By Mon Valley Independent

By ADAM BREWER

MVI Sports

Ringgold’s offense found a spark late Friday, but the Rams ran out of time in a 16-12 setback at Laurel Highlands in Big 8 Conference action.

The Rams (0-2, 0-2) struggled all night extending drives and moving the sticks as they relied heavily on their run-first offense.

“We are a Wing-T base offense and everyone knows we like to run the ball,” Ringgold coach Darwin Manges said. “It’s hard when you get down by a couple of scores. We get a lot of chunk yards with our run game, but time is against you.”

Rodney Gallagher III led the Mustangs’ (1-1, 1-0) offense, catching six balls for 104 yards. Quarterback Joe Chambers threw for 187 yards on 15 of 23 passing with a score.

“Last week we got beat up with the run game and I thought our front seven brought a lot of energy into the game,” LH coach Richard Kolesar said. “We challenged them all week and we knew Ringgold runs a lot of their offense in between the tackles. We had to find our role this week. Our passing attack opened things up and Joe was really comfortable at quarterback.”

The Rams picked up two first downs on their opening possession, but the visitors had to punt near midfield. A bad snap gave LH the ball at its own 30-yard line, but the Mustangs couldn’t produce any points as Zachary Layton missed a 26-yard field goal wide right.

Ringgold was forced to punt on its next drive, and LH countered with the lone scoring march of the first half. The Mustangs drove the ball 64 yards on 11 plays and Gallagher capped it off with a 2-yard touchdown sweep.

“Rodney is just an athlete,” Kolesar said. “He is dedicated to his team and this game. I think he and Joe spent an extra 45 minutes after practice the other day just running routes and getting more comfortable with each other. Rodney always wants the ball in his hands.”

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