Ragsdale Football

Wossa, looking down the road, who offers the most competition

 

Dudley.

Whether they go east or west I firmly believe Ragsdale or Dudley will end the other's season in 4A. I felt that way last year when we went 13-0 and finally ran into Dudley in the third round. If we had been in opposite regions I think Ragsdale would have made it to the title game. This year's team is even better. Offense, defense, special teams. Talent, experience, coaching. Not a weak link anywhere. Lots of fun to watch them compete.

 

Last game of the regular season - 11-0 second year in a row

Well another regular season comes to an end. Two years in a row with a perfect 11-0 record. Three years in a row undefeated conference champs. Twenty eight regular season wins in a row. Tommy Norwood has built one helluva program in Jamestown. Now on to the playoffs. Noting the last line of my game story below, one thing is obvious about Ragsdale. They kick ass on the football field but they suck at straw drawing. Second year in a row they were 11-0 and end up with a third seed. Oh well bring on Watauga.





Ragsdale 34 High Point Central 7

Ragsdale wins their third straight conference title with a convincing 34-7 win at High Point Central. For the first quarter this game looked like it might live up to advance billing as both teams traded fumbles and the score was 0-0 after one. Central moved the ball well in the first quarter. Got inside the 35 but Ragsdale held on downs. After another Ragsdale punt Central was moving the ball again but a strip by Darius McQueen and a fumble recovery by Nick Robinson gave Ragsdale field position around the 40. But Ragsdale returned the favor on a fumbled exchange after driving into the red zone.

But after that turnover it was all Ragsdale. A beautiful diving catch by Desean Anderson gave Ragsdale momentum and D’onovan Smith got bigger holes to run through and he eventually scored from 3 yards out for a 7-0 lead mid way through the second. A late hit on a fair catch then gave Ragsdale field position which they turned into a 42 yard Kasey Redfern field goal at 2:43 before the half.

Then the wheels came off for Central. A botched fake punt was recovered by Trey Swaim and two plays later Heavner hit Desean Anderson across the middle for 15 yards and a TD with :49 left. Then Central would fumble again two plays later, recovered by Keith Handford and one play later Heavner found Tyquan Roberts for 20 yards and a TD for 24-0 at the half.

From there it was just Ragsdale running the clock out in the second half. Two ground control drives got a 20 yard Redfern FG and later Heavner would sneak it in from one yard out. In between Darius McQueen picked off another pass. Central hit a couple big passes and would score with about four minutes left for the 34-7 final. Ragsdale D was once again dominating. Four turnovers forced. Even without Big Cedric Ellison anchoring the line, who was out with an injury.

Heavner was 6-10 around 120 yards, two TDs and another on the ground. D’onovan Smith was the work horse again, 25 carries for about 120 yards and a TD. Anderson caught three passes for 77 yards and the TD and also carried the ball five times for 26 yards. Tyquan Roberts only caught one pass but it was for a TD and DeShawn Shouse caught one for 18. Redfern great again with the two FGs and deep kicks.

11-0, 6-0 and Piedmont Triad Champs. I think that is 28 straight regular season wins for Ragsdale. Hopefully they draw the right straw with Reynolds and get the #1 seed.

 

First Round

Ragsdale welcomes Sun Valley to Jamestown tonight. I don't know much about them. Sounds like they have a good young QB and have had just a couple close losses this season. Lots of talented teams down around the Union/Anson County area. Should be another great game.

Last week's recap and pics :



Ragsdale 31 Watauga 0

Ragsdale defense was suffocating once again in a 31-0 victory over Watauga. For the fourth game in a row the Ragsdale offense was a little sluggish at the start, unable to find the end zone in the first quarter, the only score coming on a 29 yard Kasey Redfern FG. Special teams got them going in the second when Chris Armwood returned a punt to the Watauga 11. A ten yard run by D’onovan Smith led to a one yard sneak by Luke Heavner for a 10-0 lead at 7:12 of the second quarter. It looked like that may be the score going into the break when Ragsdale had to punt it way with about three minutes left but the Watauga return man fair caught the ball on the one yard line. A three and out by the defense and a short punt gave Ragsdale great field position and Luke Heavner found Desean Anderson in the corner of the end zone for a 7 yard TD strike. 17-0 Ragsdale at the half.

The second half was more Tiger D and just enough offense to put the game away. Heavner hit DeShawn Shouse across the middle for a 23 yard TD pass. And on the following possession Darius McQueen got the defense on the board picking off a pass and returning it 43 yards for the final Ragsdale score. McQueen had just missed an interception earlier in the quarter that probably would have gone for a score if he had held the ball.

Reserves went the rest of the way for Ragsdale. Watauga moved Ragsdale territory only once all night on a fake punt conversion late in the third but that drive stalled around the thirty five when Ragsdale held on downs.

Luke Heavner was 15-20, 145 yards, two TDs and another on the ground. He did throw one interception in the third on a nice play by the Watauga defender. Desean Anderson continued his great season with 7 catches for 66 yards and a TD. Tyquan Roberts caught 5 passes for 51 yards. Roberts is such a big target, has great hands and is hard to bring down. DeShawn Shouse got in the action with one catch for 23 yards and a TD. D’onovan Smith was again the workhorse back with around 100 yards on twenty carries.

Defense was again led by a team effort. Billy Stone and Walt Sparks patrolled the middle leading the team in tackles. McQueen continues to make plays in the secondary and Neil Jones and Cedric Ellison led the effort on the line. Watauga offense was not as impressive as I was looking for. The line did a good job protecting the QB but on the ground they pretty much only had one play, the QB up the middle. Not that hard for this defense to stop. Watauga defense did an admirable job stopping Ragsdale several times before they got in scoring position. Heavner was only threatened one time and when he was, he scrambled out and made a big third down conversion to Anderson.

12-0 with Sun Valley coming to Jamestown next week. The fun continues.

 

Second Round - Ragsdale 33 Sun Valley 24

Ragsdale had a pretty tough second round game last week with Sun Valley. Ragsdale cruised out to a 13-0 lead but Sun Valley scored 17 unanswered in the last 7 minutes of the half and Ragsdale trailed at halftime for the only time this year. But the Tigers came out strong with two third quarter scores to get the lead back and held them off in the fourth.

game recap and pics :



Tough ball game tonight. Sun Valley gave Ragsdale everything they wanted and more. Ragsdale took a 13-0 lead on a Luke Heavner to Tyquan Roberts 49 yard TD pass in the first quarter then after an interception and nice return by Avery Washington, scored on a ten yard Heavner to Desean Anderson pass with about eight minutes left in the half. Then Sun Valley turned it on scoring 17 unanswered and Ragsdale trailed 17-13 at half time - first time all season. It took Sun Valley only two minutes to get on the board on 31 yard TD pass to #18. The defense held and came right back down the field going ahead on another TD pass two minutes later. Ragsdale then made their only turnover on the night as Heavner fumbled on a scramble and SV kicked a 39 yard FG as the half expired.


Ragsdale showed what they were made of by coming out strong in the third quarter going up 27-17 on two D'onovan Smith TD runs. The first score came after Ragsdale D held to start the half then drove the field converting a couple big third downs ? the last on a Tyquan Roberts to Justin Briley receiver option pass to the two. Smith scored from there on the next play and Ragsdale led for good. Ragsdale’s next score came two minutes later after another defensive stand. Smith finally found some room to run by bouncing the off tackle to the outside for a 25 yard TD run. But Sun Valley wouldn't quit, driving 80 yards cutting the lead to 27-24 a minute into the fourth quarter. Ragsdale went three and out and Sun Valley drove to the Ragsdale 40 running the clock with a nice drive but two big holding penalties and a false start left Sun Valley with a 2nd and 48 hole they couldn't get out of. Ragsdale iced it on a Heavner to Desean Anderson 6 yard TD (his second of the night) with a couple minutes left after Smith had ripped off a 42 yard run to get into the red zone.

Sun Valley was the best all around team Ragsdale faced all season. QB was good, receivers were too and the D was tough to run on until Ragsdale figured out where to run in the third. The twenty four points they scored tonight matched the amount Ragsdale had given up in their last eight games.

On offense Luke Heavner was 11-20 for 150 yards and 3 TDs. Tyquan Roberts had a huge night as he caught 3 passes for 100 yards and the TD and made the big 20 yard pass to keep the go ahead drive alive in the third. Desean Anderson only caught 3 passes for 18 yards tonight as he drew lots of double coverage but he made the most of them with two TD catches. D’onovan Smith spent the whole first half running up the middle for little to no yards but he finally found room to the outside and finished with 112 yards on 21 carries and two TDs. TE Pete Romer and recent JV call up Justin Briley each had a big catch for 21 and 18 yards respectively.

13-0 for the second year in a row and moving from 3A to 4A made no difference as the next game is right where last year's was - @ Dudley.

It's going to be packed once again.

 

Well they say all good things must come to an end. Unfortunately this good thing came to end about two weeks too early. Another 13-0 season ends at the hands of Dudley in the third round of the playoffs. Most around Jamestown thought this was the year Norwood would finally get a ring but I don't think anybody knew Dudley would re-load like they did.

Dudley is an extremely well coached football team. They were well prepared for Ragsdale last Friday and got our offense completely out of rhythm. But still it looked like it might go into OT when Ragsdale intercepted them late in the fourth quarter - but then we returned the favor and they were able to get the winning TD.

Oh well - really proud to be a fan and alumnus. The coaching staff is top notch and the seniors on this team were mighty special. 26-2 over two seasons is pretty dang good. Hopefully I can come back in a few months and post where a bunch of these kids will be playing next year because many of them are good enough and deserve that shot.

one last time...