Hickory Ridge Ragin Bulls vs. AL Brown Wonders

In the battle for first place in the 3A South Piedmont Conference the Wonders of AL Brown arise victorious.  The Hickory Ridge Ragin Bulls fought hard and played well, but in the end that was not enough.  The Final score was Wonders 38, Ragin Bulls 13.

In the first quarter, the Wonders Travis Riley would run 75 of his 207 yards for a TD on their second possession of the game.  Travis Riley would score again, this time from the 7 yard line.  The score at the end of the first quarter was Wonders 14, Ragin Bulls 0.

In the second quarter, Brian Baltimore had a nice 45 yard run for a TD.  The Ragin Bulls PAT kick was blocked putting the Ragin Bulls within 8 points of the Wonders.  This was as close as the Ragin Bulls would come to the Wonders for the rest of the night.  The Wonders scored one more TD in the second quarter by Travis Riley on a 4 yd run.  Then the Wonders would kick a field goal to end the half.  The score at halftime was Wonders 24, Ragin Bulls 6.

The only score in the third quarter was by Wonders QB Martell Campbell on a 24 yard run.  In the fourth quarter, Ragin Bull running back Brian Baltimore would score on a 20 yard run.  The Wonders would answer on a 56 yard run by Travis Riley.  The final score was Wonders 38, Ragin Bulls 13.

The game was fairly even on the stats with the Wonders having 359 yards of total offense compared to the Ragin Bulls 235 yards of total offense.  AL Brown had 81 yards of passing compared to the Ragin Bulls 12 yards of passing.  AL Brown threw one interception and both teams lost the ball on a fumble.  AL Brown had 90 yards on penalties and the Ragin Bulls had 25 yards of penalities.  The Ragin Bulls have improved tremendously in the areas of turnovers and penalities.

On the offense, Ragin Bull running back Brian Baltimore had 137 yards on 26 carries.  Slot back Cody Cothren had 43 yards on 9 carries.  Danny Book had a fumble recovery.  On special teams, Alex Daniels kicked a field goal.  Blake Sides punted 6 times averaging 41 yards with 3 punts landing inside the 20.  John Martinez had a 20 yard kickoff return and Jacolby Thompson had a 16 yard kickoff return.  On the defense, Ragin Bull defensive end Dillon Burdette lead the team with about 10 tackles and 2 hurries.  Dakota Shoe had an interception.  Dale Brown had a good game as well.

Next week the Ragin Bulls travel to Concord to face the Spiders who have won 3 in a row.  The Ragin Bulls are currently in second place in the South Piedmont Conference at 4-1.  If the Ragin Bulls win next week and the Wonders loose to the Northwest Cabarrus Trojans, the Ragin Bulls will be in a 3 way tie for first place in the conference again.  Go Bulls!

Hickory Ridge Ragin Bulls vs. AL Brown Wonders

It is the Game of the Week and the biggest football game in Hickory Ridge High School’s history.  After the huge comeback, and victory last week against conference rival Northwest Cabarrus, the Ragin Bulls have won 3 games in a row and remain undefeated in the South Piedmont Conference.  Tonight’s match up against the Wonders of AL Brown promises to be a good one and has all the makings of a championship game.  Both teams are 4-0 in the conference and are tied for first place.  The Wonders are 6-1 overall and the Ragin Bulls are 5-3 overall.  The winner of tonight’s big game will remain undefeated in the South Piedmont Conference and will sit in sole first place for the first time since the season began.  You can fill it in the air!  The anticipation, the excitement, the hype. This is what football is all about!

 

Last week, the Ragin Bulls offense and the defense performed well.  The offense drove the ball up and down the field all night long, dominating the time of possession.  The rushing game and passing game were firing on all pistons.  The offense scored 3 TD’s in the fourth quarter to come from behind and win the game.  The defense stopped a very strong Northwest offense 6 out of 8 possessions.  The Trojans were forced to punt 5 times.  On the Trojans last offensive possession the defense had an interception to seal the victory.  Except for a TD from the 2 yard line, the result of a special teams turnover, the Trojans offense had only one touchdown on the night.

 

The Wonders have a very good football team with a lot of history.  However, the Ragin Bulls are playing very well and are getting better every week.  There is no reason why the Ragin Bulls cannot play as well tonight as they did last week.  I believe in the Ragin Bull football team and I believe that they will be victorious.  No matter what the outcome of tonight’s game is, the Ragin Bulls are already winners.  For this three year old football program to be in the position they are today is phenomenal!  Come out to the game and experience history.  It is the Game of the Week and is at Kannapolis. Kickoff is at 7:30.  Do not forget to bring your cow bell.  Go Bulls!

JV-Hickory Ridge vs. AL Brown

It was a whale of a game.  The Hickory Ridge Ragin Bulls junior  varsity football team came from behind and scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to defeat the Wonders of AL Brown 28-26.

In the first quarter, Steven Jordan of the Wonders had a 5 yard TD run making the score 7 to 0 Wonders.  In the second quarter,  Ragin Bull Foil Stafford threw a 2 yard TD pass to DJ Barnes.  The Wonders answered with a 60 yard TD run by Steven Jordan and then another TD run by Steven Jordan from the 35 yard line.  The score at halftime was Wonders 20, Ragin Bulls 7.

In the fourth quarter the Ragin Bulls would dominate!  Ragin Bull Andrew Reynolds would score on the 2 yard run.  Next up, D.J. Barnes would complete on an 81 yard TD pass to Jason Eury.  Derric Pitts followed with a 42 yard interception for a TD.  The Wonders made a valiant attempt to come back, but to no avail.  The Wonders Darius Smotherson had a 47 yard TD run.  The Wonders then tried the 2 point conversion to tie the game, but were unsuccessful.  The final score of this conference game was Ragin Bulls 28, Wonders 26.

Congratulations to the JV Ragin Bull football team.  Go Bulls!

Hickory Ridge High School vs. Northwest Cabarrus

That was the best football game I have ever seen!  If you weren't there you missed it.  In the 3A South Piedmont Conference show down for first place, it was the Hickory Ridge Ragin Bulls who came from 14 points down and scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to defeat the Northwest Cabarrus Trojans.

In the first quarter, the Ragin Bulls defense would stop the Trojans offense to force the punt.  On the punt the Ragin Bulls would loose the ball on the 2 yard line after droping the fair catch.  On the ensuing play Trojan Liquan Davis would punch the ball into the end zone.  After the Ragin Bulls got the ball back they were unable to get the first down and were forced to punt.  Grant Keyes would return the punt 58 yards for the second Trojan touchdown of the night. The score at the end of the first quarter was Ragin Bulls 0, Trojans 14.

In the second quarter, the Ragin Bulls would drive the ball down the field and finish with a PAT kick by Alex Daniels. The Ragin Bulls would score again in the second quarter with a nice 25 yard run around the end by senior Coye Still.  The score at halftime was Ragin Bulls 10, Trojans 14.

In the third quarter, the Trojans would score from the 1 yard line on the QB keeper by Jeremy Cannon.  The Ragin Bulls defense would stop the Trojans 2 point conversion attempt.  The score at the end of the third quarter was Ragin Bulls 10, Trojans 20.

In the fourth quarter, Ragin Bull running back Brian Baltimore would score with a run from the 4 yard line and again with a run from the 1 yard line.  The 1 yard TD by Baltimore was setup by Mike Lewis who forced the fumble on the previous kickoff and by senior Chuckie Sahanas who recovered that fumble on the previous kickoff.  When the Trojans got the ball back the Ragin Bulls had a 15 yard penalty that enabled the Trojans to score on a 5 yard touchdown run by Liquan Davis.  The Ragin Bulls would then answer with only 31 seconds left in the game on a 21 yard pass from senior Nick Moelle to John Martinez.  The final score was Ragin Bulls 30, Trojans 27.

The Hickory Ridge offense had 20 first downs compared to Northwest's 10 first downs.  The Ragin Bulls completed 16 of 27 passes for 223 yards.  The Ragin Bull defense held the Trojans to 4 completions on 19 attempts for only 48 yards.  The Ragin Bulls had a TD pass and the Trojans had an interception that was picked off by senior linebacker Robbie Newell.  Hickory Ridge had 75 offensive plays compared to the Trojans 50 plays.  The Ragin Bulls had 361 yards of total offense compared to 204 yards of total offense for the Trojans.  The Ragin Bull defense held the Trojans to only 13 yards from the line of scrimmage.  The Ragin Bull defense also kept the ball out of the Trojans hands, whose time of possession was only 17 minutes compared to the Ragin Bulls time of possession of 30 minutes.  FYI-The Ragin Bull defense has held their opponents to less than 23 rushing yards/game from the line of scrimmage over the last 3 games.  The Ragin Bull defense has allowed less than 70 yards of total rushing from the line of scrimmage over the last 3 games.

Ragin Bull running back Brian Baltimore and senior slotback Coye Still had 78 yards and 61 yards respectively.  Senior quarterback Nick Moelle had his best game completing 11 of 17 passes for 120 yards and threw the game winning touchdown pass.  Blake Sides completed 4 of 9 passes for 72 yards.  Jacolby Thompson threw a 31 yard pass to John Martinez on 4th and 21 to give the Ragin Bulls the first down on the last drive of the game.  John Martinez caught 6 passes for 97 yards including the game winning TD reception.  Cody Cothren caught 3 passes for 51 yards.  Senior wideout Chuckie Sahanas caught 2 passes on the night.  On the defense, defensive end Dillon Burdette lead the team with 8 tackles and 3 tackles for a loss.  Linebacker Dale Brown had a good game with 6 tackles and a pass deflection.

The Ragin Bulls are now 5-3 overall and 5-0 in the conference.  Next the Ragin Bulls face off against AL Brown who is 6-1 overall and 5-0 in the conference.  This matchup will be at Kannapolis and both teams are tied for first place in the 3A South Piedmont Conference.  Go Bulls!