Ridge outlasts Range

The Rams were just too much for the Raiders to handle.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
NORTH LIMA -- Moments after Shawn Brown's Gatorade bath and the student section's foray at midfield, Mineral Ridge senior Levi Leigh gathered his team at midfield and started the chant.
"Na-na-Ackatula!" he shouted (or at least something that sounded like that). The Rams first started chanting it during two-a-days this summer. Now they do it before every game -- and after every win.
It's an Indian chant, meaning "Warriors, are you with me?"
The Rams chant back, in the foreign language: "Yes, yes, we are with you."
As for how it's spelled, well ...
"I have no idea," Brown said, laughing.
When Ridge was finished with the chant, Leigh led his team in a round of 15 pushups.
Strange? Yeah, well, no one ever said this Ridge team was normal. But after Friday's 20-7 win over host South Range, a lot of people will be saying it's good.
"This is the best feeling in the world," Ridge senior Brad Ward said. "We haven't got a win against them in ... I can't even remember."
For the record, it was 1998, when the Rams won the Inter-County League title and earned a playoff berth.
Barring catastrophe, this team will too.
"It's a big step for us," Leigh, who had 184 yards and two touchdowns, said. "Now we need two more."
Like his team on Friday, Leigh played much better in the second half. Ridge fumbled four times -- losing three -- in the first half and fell behind 7-0 on Tony Darkadakis' 7-yard touchdown run.
But the Rams (7-1, 4-0) opened the second half with a 12-play, 82-yard drive to tie the game, capped by a 13-yard touchdown pass from junior Vance Keirsey to senior David Gillie.
"In the first half, we were really shooting ourselves in the foot," Brown said. "We were really out of our game. In the second half, I told the guys to hold onto the football and quit making mental mistakes.
"We stayed after them and our defense played really well."
Leigh, who was held to 12 yards in the first half, started finding bigger holes behind the Rams' offensive line in the third quarter and, by the fourth quarter, he was gaining yards in chunks.
Ridge's second score came on a 10-play, 94-yard drive where Leigh carried six times for 90 yards, including a 3-yard touchdown with 7:42 left in the fourth quarter. On the Rams' next drive, Leigh broke through Range's defense for a 51-yard touchdown run with 4:18 left.
"The offensive line was incredible," said Leigh, who did not play much defense after taking a big shot to the head in the first half. "They were making big holes and I was just following them."
South Range drove to Ridge's 8-yard line in the closing minutes, but Ward picked off a pass on fourth-and-goal to end the suspense.
"We fought hard, but they're just a real good football team," said South Range coach Dan Yeagley, whose team had won 20 straight regular season games. "They've got a nice offensive line and two nice running backs. They're tough."
Ridge junior Micah Hall added 18 carries for 115 yards as Ridge rolled up 252 yards on the ground. Keirsey was 2 of 4 for 28 yards.
Ben Johnston had 16 carries for 75 yards for the Raiders (6-1, 3-1), who ran for 128 yards. John Less was 5 of 13 for 59 yards and Mike Leskosky was 2 of 11 for 22 yards.
The Raiders can still earn a playoff berth, but they'll probably need to win their last two games, including the finale against Springfield.
"We're going through the tough part of our schedule right now," said Yeagley. "This is the part of the season where you've gotta do a good job."
The Rams, who play McDonald and Western Reserve over the next two weeks, can heal the disappointment over last year's team with a playoff berth. Ridge finished ninth in Division V, Region 17 last season to just miss the playoffs.
A year later, they're almost there.
"But we've still got a couple games to go," Brown said.
After everyone had left the field on Friday, Hall and Leigh lingered to wait for Brown. Then, when Brown had finished his interviews, they walked off the field together, basking in the moment.
And in that moment, they looked like more than teammates.
They looked like warriors.
scalzo@vindy.com