They did it with a lot of new faces, but Friday night’s season-opening football game at Jefferson County North looked like the same old solid Pleasant Ridge play. The Rams struck early to take a 14-0 lead after the first quarter and cruised to a 26-0 win over the Chargers.
Head coach Chris Powers said he was pleased to get the win, and to get out the first-game jitters.
“We’re kind of a new team, there’s a lot of new faces on the field and they were probably a little nervous,” Powers said. “But they stepped up when it got tough.”
“It was a good game,” Powers continued. “We had a lot of the normal first-game kind of problems that we encountered. We had a lot of penalties and gave them a lot of first downs on penalties. We had almost 120-yards worth (of penalties) in the game.”
Even with the miscues, Powers said it was some strong defensive efforts, including picking off five JCN passes, that helped the Rams to the win.
“For the most part the kids did a nice job,” the Rams’ coach said. “A couple of kids stepped up big on defense. Brett Schmalstieg locked in on their best receiver and shut him down. Will Ryan came up big with two interceptions. Aaron Brown and Dylan Brown both did an outstanding job pressuring the quarterback and disrupting their offense.
“It was a pretty good team effort. A lot of different people contributed to the win.”
In addition to Ryan’s two interceptions, Gary Flack, Dalton Warden and Andrew Heim each had one interception for Pleasant Ridge.
Ryan started right where he left off last season, rushing for an 18-yard touchdown to start the Rams’ scoring. New quarterback Lance Helm made the most of his first start, connecting with Schmalstieg on a 72-yard pass for Pleasant Ridge’s second touchdown of the night. Helm connected with Flack on the two-point conversion to make it 14-0 after the first quarter.
Ryan finished off the scoring, running the ball in one-yard and four-yards for a pair of fourth-quarter scores. He finished the game with 18 carries for 107 yards. Helm ran the ball 16 times for 35 yards and passed for 142 yards.
“He did pretty well,” Powers said of Helm. “He’s still learning and getting used to what we’re doing. We’ve been spoiled with the same guy at quarterback for the last three years. Lance is still learning what we expect.”
The Rams get their first chance at home next Friday, hosting Oskaloosa.
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They did it with a lot of new faces, but Friday night’s season-opening football game at Jefferson County North looked like the same old solid Pleasant Ridge play. The Rams struck early to take a 14-0 lead after the first quarter and cruised to a 26-0 win over the Chargers.
Head coach Chris Powers said he was pleased to get the win, and to get out the first-game jitters.
“We’re kind of a new team, there’s a lot of new faces on the field and they were probably a little nervous,” Powers said. “But they stepped up when it got tough.”
“It was a good game,” Powers continued. “We had a lot of the normal first-game kind of problems that we encountered. We had a lot of penalties and gave them a lot of first downs on penalties. We had almost 120-yards worth (of penalties) in the game.”
Even with the miscues, Powers said it was some strong defensive efforts, including picking off five JCN passes, that helped the Rams to the win.
“For the most part the kids did a nice job,” the Rams’ coach said. “A couple of kids stepped up big on defense. Brett Schmalstieg locked in on their best receiver and shut him down. Will Ryan came up big with two interceptions. Aaron Brown and Dylan Brown both did an outstanding job pressuring the quarterback and disrupting their offense.
“It was a pretty good team effort. A lot of different people contributed to the win.”
In addition to Ryan’s two interceptions, Gary Flack, Dalton Warden and Andrew Heim each had one interception for Pleasant Ridge.
Ryan started right where he left off last season, rushing for an 18-yard touchdown to start the Rams’ scoring. New quarterback Lance Helm made the most of his first start, connecting with Schmalstieg on a 72-yard pass for Pleasant Ridge’s second touchdown of the night. Helm connected with Flack on the two-point conversion to make it 14-0 after the first quarter.
Ryan finished off the scoring, running the ball in one-yard and four-yards for a pair of fourth-quarter scores. He finished the game with 18 carries for 107 yards. Helm ran the ball 16 times for 35 yards and passed for 142 yards.
“He did pretty well,” Powers said of Helm. “He’s still learning and getting used to what we’re doing. We’ve been spoiled with the same guy at quarterback for the last three years. Lance is still learning what we expect.”
The Rams get their first chance at home next Friday, hosting Oskaloosa.
