SMETHPORT – Ridgway and Smethport started the season in similar situations, and before their Week 7 matchup on Friday, they played to identical records.
The Hubbers are 1-5 overall and 0-4 in the District 9 Region 2 conference, while Ridgway is 1-5 overall and 1-3 in the league. Smethport’s lone victory came at Cameron County (1-5) in Week 2, while Ridgway earned his first win by defeating Keystone (4-2) last week.
Both playoff teams last year, Smethport and Ridgway, knew they would need to find new contributors after each lost star power to graduate. Now, more than halfway through the regular season, both groups have identified those players.
And, for Ridgway, a budding streak of improvement resulted in a Week 6 upset that almost no one — outside of head coach Mark Heindl’s brain, of course — saw coming.
“Kids are really starting to shop and they’ve come a long way,” Heindl said. “The first five weeks of the season weren’t where we wanted to have a record, but we thought we made some headway in the second half of the Karns City game in Week 3.”
The Elkers defeated Keystone last week, 26-20, thanks to a 13-point fourth quarter. They played courtesy football in a second half that saw them whitewash the Panthers’ dangerous offense as they rallied from a halftime deficit.
“It wasn’t just last week; it’s been the combination of the last few weeks,” said Heindl. “The children are really starting to understand their tasks and their roles, and whenever you can understand that, you can just play soccer. That is what our children have been able to do in the last few weeks, and the growth they have achieved in that period of time, we couldn’t ask for more.”
Ridgway’s offense started the season slowly, scoring a combined 12 points in its first three games, but seemed to break out during a 42-33 loss to Redbank Valley (6-0) on September 23. His defense has continued to struggle, but he held his own on Friday, led by Aiden Zimmerman’s 11 tackles and Kaden Dennis’s seven.
Dennis has 61 total tackles on the year, while Zimmerman has 41 tackles and Aaron Sorg has recorded 38. Zimmerman has also been crucial in Ridgway’s running game, carrying the ball 47 times for 250 yards and three touchdowns.
“We need to keep getting better at what we’re doing,” Heindl said. “There are still mistakes along the way — missing assignments, staying on screens and gap responsibility on the defensive line — but we’ve gotten better at that as time has gone on and hopefully we’ll continue to get better.”
Perhaps the main reason behind Ridgway’s rise, Heindl said, has been his improvement on the offensive and defensive lines. The Elkers returned a starter to the unit in Mikey Steis, but his preseason injury forced more new faces to acclimate to the line game at the college level.
“We really struggled there at the beginning of the year,” Heindl said. “We had five new faces across the board there, and we definitely dropped our lumps early, but they’re starting to solidify at the right time.
“As we told the kids going in, it’s not about how you start, it’s about how you finish. Hopefully we can build on the momentum (tonight), but we know we’re going to have our hands full with Smethport.”
Smethport has stumbled without many of the players who fueled his streak of four straight postseason appearances.
However, the Hubbers have found a breakout star in Ryan Pelchy, a running back they knew they would have to rely on in 2022. Still, scoring has been a struggle for Smethport, who is averaging just over eight points per game.
“Smethport is a tough place to play and their program has been going in a positive direction in recent years,” said Heindl. “You can throw the discs; We expect a good challenge and we know they will bring it”.
ELSEWHERE IN District 9 tonight, Otto-Eldred (4-2) visits Coudersport (4-2) for a pivotal Class A and Region 3 matchup.
Each side continues to compete for a spot in the committee-created District playoff field, while Coudy also tries to remain undefeated in the league. Elk County Catholic, who visits Bucktail, will support OE after last week’s loss to Coudy.
Port Allegany travels to Union/AC Valley for the first of three straight games against teams south of the Interstate-80 corridor that made the playoffs last year and appear headed for them again. The Gators will look to remain undefeated in Region 2 before a main matchup with Redbank Valley next week.
St. Marys (4-2) will look to hand DuBois (4-2) their second conference loss as they all chase Central Clarion (6-0) in Region 1. Bradford (0-6) visits Brookville ( 2-4), where the Raiders are coming off last week’s upset victory over St. Marys.