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!