EF starts season with shutout of Ringgold
By JOSE NEGRON
jnegron@yourmvi.com
Elizabeth Forward head coach Mike Collodi entered Week Zero with achievable goals in mind for a young group poised to once again contend in Class 3A.
Collodi expressed his desire to see a focused unit working to limit mistakes and big plays by the opposition.
Although they were a bit sloppy, the Warriors played up to Collodi’s expectations and did what they needed to do to come away with a season-opening win Friday night at Ringgold.
Senior running back DaVontay Brownfield scored two touchdowns and EF’s defense kept the Rams from finding the end zone in a 12-0 non-conference triumph at Joe Montana Stadium.
“Any time you shut a team out, especially a Class 4A team, that’s a big deal,” Collodi said. “Ringgold is much improved and they’re a tough squad. They’re definitely up and coming and their coach is doing a great job with them.”
Despite allowing the Rams to muster 162 yards of total offense, the Warriors (1-0) kept their opponents from turning lengthy drives into points. Ringgold turned the ball over on downs on six of its seven possessions. The other possession resulted in a turnover.
“I think we played fast and physical and did a great job of getting 11 hats to the ball,” Collodi said. “I said not giving up big plays would be the key to victory, and they didn’t really break a run or have a long pass to score. We really emphasized not giving up the big plays and we made some big plays with sacks and big tackles, which were game changers for us.”
Moving the ball wasn’t much of an issue for the Rams (0-1) as they finished with 91 rushing yards and 71 through the air. Landon Oslowski was the leading rusher for Ringgold with 42 yards on 14 carries.
“A couple of plays could have gone either way with us, we just missed a couple of assignments,” Ringgold head coach Darwin Manges said. “I like our resolve and the fight in our kids. I told them, that’s the WPIAL Class 3A runner-up from last year and they’re still in position to do good things again this year, and I think we fought till the very end with all 38 of our guys. I have no issue with that.”
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