Ridgefield Park

Friday night was my first assignment since having my thyroid removed Monday in the city. I look like I was in a slasher film. So I played it very safe and stayed warm and dry in the press box up at Westwood, where, of course, they couldn’t be nicer. I had a parking space and everything. I didn’t get to see Vito Trause though. Maybe we could have compared scars.
But inside the press box, the windows were all steamed up inside and outside from the, um, torrential rain, and, um the torrential rain. It made it almost impossible to see.
It was clear though, Ridgefield Park was in command. The Scarlets took advantage of some early Westwood mistakes, and dominated the line of scrimmage en route to a 34-3 win. The 4-1 Scarlets now have 3 tough, but winnable, games before facing Mahwah in their season finale.

 

But let’s talk football. I can’t remember worse conditions to play a game in a long time. Ridgefield Park only attempted 2 passes, and they also tried a fake FG, but we will talk about that in a minute. Westwood probably had the edge in skill positions coming into the game, but the conditions just didn’t suit throwing the ball 20 times. My very unofficial stats have Westwood completing 4 out of 11 passes.

And remember, it was hard to see, and here Ridgefield Park is running in multiple quarterbacks and multiple running backs (And Westwood is doing the same flipping thing). For RP, there was No. 3 (Marquez Antinori) No. 5 (Isaiah Drakeford) No. 7 (Elijah Carlos) No. 15 (Jonas Espinal) and No. 18 (Alex Pratissoli). It was nearly impossible to keep track, so I can imagine how hard it was for Westwood too.
Up front, the one guy I kept looking for was Aiden Kenny from Ridgefield Park, the Big Brain. I was told about Aiden a long time ago and have tried to pay attention to him as best as I can. He can move for a big guy. I asked for him after the game, but he’d already gone in the locker room, again, I guess proving how smart he was.
There were 2 numbers you couldn’t miss though, RP junior fullback Dante Capurso, No. 36, every time the Scarlets needed a yard, or two, he was their guy (and they usually ran behind Kenny). And then on defense, No. 33, Steve Orozco who was basically unblockable all night for the Scarlets. He just blew up play after play.

All right, some play by play….
Ridgefield Park took the ball to start the game, a bit of a surprise with the conditions being what they were, and drove to the Westwood 35, but zip, a Carlos fumble turned the ball over.
Westwood started deep in their own territory, had a chance on 3rd and 1, but Orozco made the first of many big plays, snuffing out Cardinals RB Liam Carlstrom for a 2 yard loss on 3rd and 1. The Westwood punter mishandled the snap, ball on the ground, ball on the ground….BIG MAN with football. Julian Guadalupe picked up the fumble around the 6, and rumbled in for what I would bet was his first HS touchdown. The PAT was strong and good (kudos) 7-0 Scarlets.
So, 2 drives, 2 fumbles. That kind of night. But it was about to get stranger….
Westwood takes over, they get a first down on a penalty, Drakeford (or Espinal) breaks up a long pass that probably would have scored a TD, Westwood called for a hold. They get 4th and 24 at own 28. They line up to punt. Oh no, another fumbled snap. Who else but Orozco picks it up, he almost scores, gets hauled down at the 5.
But Westwood holds. On 3rd and goal from the 10, RP tries a pass, its incomplete in the flat.
4th and 10. RP sends on the field goal team. It would have been a 27 yarder.
Then chaos. RP coach Pete Kraljic is out on the field and he’s about as mad as a coach can get. He gets a flag. 15 yards. Up in the press box we have no clue what might be going on. The guess was maybe he thought it was pass interference in the flat, but this isn’t Buffalo, these refs know what they’re doing. (inside joke). RP is moved back to the 25. They try another pass. Incomplete.

(So, after the game, it’s one of my first questions to Kraljic, what made you so mad? This is what he said. He said he had called for a fake FG, hitting the TE in the flat. He said someone on the sidelines overheard the play call and shouted it out to the Westwood defense as they were lining up. Kraljic was incensed, because the person even called out the correct call – tight end in the flat – so he clearly overheard. It wasn’t like the guy just said ‘it’s going to be a fake’. Kraljic was mad because he thought if he heard the guy call it out, how could the referee not? So he got the penalty. And by the way, I’m not sure what kind of punishment you could possibly get for this, and Kraljic also said he realized he must have said the play call too loud. Kraljic thought it was one of the EMTs on the sidelines who said it).

Westwood had their best drive of the game after all that fuss, and kicked a 25 yard FG by Eric Lilien. But it was just so hard for them to pass with any consistency. The RP defensive backs could afford to just sit back and react, because every throw was held up in the wind.
7-3, but then RP scored in 2 plays, Carlos for 15 yards and then Carlos a 68-yard run down the RP sidelines. 14-3. This was a big momentum shift. Westwood had RP back inside their own 20, but couldn’t keep them there.
Westwood would punt on their next possession. Ridgefield Park would score on 4th and 1 from inside the 1 late in the half on another Carlos run. The PAT was missed 20-3.

There isn’t much to talk about in the 2nd half, Westwood had another problem on a punt, almost looked like the wind gusted as the punter dropped the ball, yes, the dreaded whiff on a punt (google: Sean Landetta miss punt). RP would get the ball at the Cardinals 17 and score in 2 plays. The final was 34-3.

So part of my desire to see this game was to see how Westwood would respond after losing to Mahwah. Now they have lost 2 in a row, and with River Dell coming up, they could be looking at 3 straight. The Cardinals are the 2x North 1, Group 2 sectional champs. The section is good, Glen Rock looks good, Mahwah of course, Pascack Hills had a good win last night, but if Westwood can get in, it’s not like they can’t make some noise, you know what I mean?
For RP, well, they have a game in hand on the rest of their section (thank you Big North scheduling people) and are sitting pretty at 4-1. They’d love to get some home games in the playoffs.

I know it seems early to talk playoffs, but hey man, the season is almost half over.