The Ridgefield Spudders traveled up the Columbia River to Longview Memorial Stadium for a matchup against the Mark Morris Monarchs. After the air-raid sirens sounded, the Spudders forced seven turnovers with five interceptions en route to a 31-12 win on Friday, Oct. 11.
The Ridgefield Spudders coaches and players studied the Monarchs pass–heavy offense during film sessions and practices throughout the week leading up to the matchup. That preparation and focus paid off.
“We had a pretty clear plan that that’s what they were going to do, you know. The run game is not in their strong suit yet, right?” Spudders head coach Scott Rice said. “I know that … [Mark Morris head coach Mike Peck] get it going in his years to come while he’s here. They’re young and made a lot of mistakes. Luckily, we came away with seven turnovers in the deal.”
The Spudders had a 17-6 lead at half, which turned into a 17-12 lead in the third quarter before distancing themselves on the scoreboard with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Ridgefield running back Cly Stephens put the Spudders on the board with a run in the first quarter. In the second quarter, a deep pass from quarterback Landon DeBeaumont to wide receiver Talon Sosky was the first of two connections the pair made for touchdowns, the next occurring in the fourth quarter. To reach the four touchdown mark, Noah Stromberg returned a 70-yard interception for the pick-six.
Rice said Stephens is the best running back in the 2A Greater St. Helens League.
“I think he’s a high-water mark as far as our program is concerned over three years of varsity play,” he added.
Stephens finished the game with 111 rushing yards.
Reece Holmes was also essential to the Spudders defense as he added two interceptions from both the corner and safety positions, Rice said.
Now that the team is 6-0 on the season and 4-0 in league, Rice still thinks the Spudders have more to do to reach their full potential.
“It feels great to sit there and say there’s still meat on the bone, you know, like we’re not at a point where we’ve been satisfied, at least I haven’t been as far as our play and what can happen with this football team. So we just need to get to a position where we’re maximizing those,” Rice said. “And it’s the same thing that we’ve talked about all year, that while we have 16 seniors, three of them don’t have any experience. So they’re still learning, and they’re learning really fast, and I think there’s a lot of opportunities still there that we can fix.”
As the Spudders look to their last three weeks of the season, Rice knows wins won’t come easy with the Columbia River Rapids and R.A. Long Lumberjacks followed by the week nine rivalry matchup with Woodland High School. Both the Ridgefield Spudders and Woodland Beavers sit undefeated in the 2A GSHL at 4-0 in league play as of last week.
“You know, next week against River and then against an R.A. Long team that aren’t going to just waltz in and be like, ‘Oh, you know what, we’ll just give it to you,’ you know, and that’s what we talked about with these guys this week,” Rice said. “We feel at times a little bit like we’re looking opponents over … and unfortunately we play games like that where it feels like we’re in more of a shootout than we really are on the scoreboard. So, I think we have to continue to take advantage of the opportunities and get better and not be in a position where we’re battling, battling, battling.”
Up next for the Ridgefield Spudders is the Columbia River Rapids at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 18, at home.
