Ramapo makes more big plays than Dwight Morrow by Greg Mattura of The Record
ENGLEWOOD – Ramapo owned almost every big play in a matchup expected to be chock full of big plays.
The Green Raiders surrendered plenty of real estate but only one touchdown in a 35-8 victory over Dwight Morrow on Saturday in the North Jersey Super Football Conference Patriot Blue Division.
Ramapo made four of the game’s five biggest gainers, highlighted by a 48-yard TD run in the third quarter by muscular junior fullback Luke Ragone to extend the lead to 28-8. Ragone ran for three scores.
“We knew they had a lot of big-play athletes, so the game plan was to try to contain them, stop the big play,” Ramapo coach Drew Gibbs said. “We knew we’d give up some short stuff in the passing game, but we wanted to prevent the home run.”
Ramapo opened the scoring at 8:06 of the first quarter with the game’s first big play, a 47-yard TD pass from junior quarterback AJ Wingfield to junior receiver Ty Jaten.
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The Green Raiders’ second big play helped set up their second score of the first quarter for a 14-0 lead. Senior receiver Michael Graff caught a 39-yard pass from Wingfield, and six plays later Ragone scored on a 2-yard run.
Ramapo’s third long gainer set up its third TD to help forge a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter. Graff caught a 34-yard pass from Wingfield, then two plays later Ragone scored on a 16-yard run.
Dwight Morrow’s lone score came with 20 seconds left in the first half, when senior quarterback Andrew Jones threw a 16-yard TD pass to junior Jihad Edmond in the left corner of the end zone to cut the deficit to 21-8.
Key stat: Dwight Morrow had 382 total yards but only had one play bigger than 30 yards: In the third, on a first-and-10 from its 29-yard line, speedy senior running back Malachi McFadden ran for 40 yards.
“They have plenty of kids who can run all over the field very fast,” said Ramapo junior linebacker Mike Connor. “We kept that in mind, we held our spots, held our leverage, and coach made sure that we made the tackle, rather than missing.”
Fourth down “D”: Three times in the second half, Ramapo stopped a driving Dwight Morrow on fourth down. On a fourth-and-5 at the 20-yard line, the Green Raiders made a quick tackle on a 2-yard completion. On a fourth-and-goal at the 2-yard line, the Green Raiders forced an incompletion. On a fourth-and-6 at the 36-yard line, they forced another incompletion.
What it means: Ramapo (4-1 overall, 3-0 Patriot Blue) remains in contention for the division title. The Green Raiders can clinch with a home win Friday over Paramus (2-3, 2-0). Dwight Morrow (3-2, 1-2) is out of the division race, but can join the Green Raiders in the North 1, Group 3 playoffs.
Quotable: “We actually pride ourselves on the explosive plays that we normally get,” Dwight Morrow coach Sean O’Connor said. “We try to get four or five explosive plays a game, and limit the other team to maybe one or two a game. And today they really stopped us with our explosive plays, really hurt us. That’s kind of what gets us going, gets our momentum moving, and they did a good job of slowing us down.”