With Plummer and Kelly Leading the Way Ridley takes down CB East
Tagged under: District 1, Gameday Hub, News
Willie McGonigle | August 24, 2024
RIDLEY TOWNSHIP: It’s often said that good things come to those who wait. For Ridley’s Kirkland Plummer that certainly was the case Friday night. After seeing limited playing time last season due to a deep senior class Plummer got his chance to shine and Friday it was Kirkland who was the Green Raiders leading rusher with 88 yards and a touchdown with a defensive effort that forced four Central Bucks East turnovers helped the Green Raiders to a convincing 20-7 over the Patriots at Phil Marion Field.
Plummer is listed on the Green Raiders roster as 5’8 200lbs but plays like a running back that is much bigger than that and his running style rivals that of Jerome Bettis.
“He is one of our strongest kids, he’s a weight room kid, and when he lowers his shoulder and runs there isn’t an opportunity to get a good hit on him.” Green Raiders Head Coach Dave said of Plummer adding “This year he’s going to be a key factor he ran the ball really well. I think he’s a great mix-up with (Connor) Kelly.”
When asked about his performance Kirkland was quick to deflect the credit to his offensive line which was made of LT Josh Hamson, LG Chase Zappone, C Andrew Casey, RG Luke Palladino, and RT Jimmy Coskey saying “Good look to my o-line they make me run big.”
On their opening possession, the Patriots had little trouble moving the ball on the Green Raiders’ defense reaching the 15 yard-line before the Green Raiders tightened up forcing the Patriots to attempt a 32-yard field goal that sailed wide right.
“Our mentality is bend don’t break so we were trying to stick to that and hold them.” LB Connor Kelly said of the Green Raiders defense thought process on the game’s opening drive.
Offensively the Green Raiders took the momentum from the missed field goal and drove right down the field going 80 yards on nine plays ending with Jackson Solomon taking a sweep into the endzone from 3 yards out.
Following a shank punt that put the Green Raiders at the Patriots’ 29-yard line the Green Raiders tacked on to their lead with a four-yard touchdown run by Kirkland. From there the Green Raiders’ defense took over forcing Logan Simkiss to throw interceptions on back-to-back possessions one a piece by Solomon and Jacob Bowell however the Green Raiders couldn’t capitalize on the miscues and the teams entered the locker room at half with the Green Raiders leading 14-0.
On the second half’s opening possession, the Patriots appeared poised to cut into the Green Raiders’ lead driving down to Green Raider 13 before turning the ball over on downs. The Green Raiders did capitalize on that mistake driving 87 yards in seven plays before Ryan Carroll connected with Sean Manley for a 23-yard touchdown.
“I thought Carroll threw some key passes early that extended first downs or kept drives alive,” Wood said of his QB performance.
In the fourth quarter, the Green Raiders forced two more turnovers, a fumble recovery by Yuron Villanueva, and an interception by Aiden Myers.
“We had a great gameplan coming in we’ve been preparing for about two and a half weeks all camp and we just executed, and did our assignments. “Kelly said adding “It was a little bit sloppy, but we are in film tomorrow to fix it.”
The Patriots finally broke through and found the endzone with 1:33 remaining in the game with a Simkiss 10-yard touchdown run.
The Green Raiders will enter into the Central League portion of their schedule when they host Lower Merion next Friday night at Phil Marion Field against the Lower Merion Aces. The Patriots will look to break into the win column with a Suburban One cross-over battle at home against Cheltenham next Friday at 7 pm.
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