TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Highlands Today

Ridge Runs Over Red Devils

Chris Hoffman/Highlands Today

Avon Park tailback Virgil Cooper looks for running room during Friday night's game against Ridge Community.

ADVERTISEMENT

By CHRIS HOFFMAN

Highlands Today

Published: September 7, 2008

DAVENPORT - A lonely Avon Park fan sat in the stands by himself at Ridge Stadium and just shook his head after another play resulted in a loss against Ridge Community on Friday night.

That fan was not alone in his obvious assessment of the state of affairs for Avon Park football, as the fans of the Red Devils had little to cheer about under the bright lights in Davenport.

The Red Devils played out of sync and without much passion for most of the game, as they watched the Bolts run over, under and around them in a 27-0 season opening loss that had head coach Andy Bonjokian nearly speechless.

"We had no direction on offense," Bonjokian said. "We needed to make some better decisions from a coaching standpoint. For that, I put that all on myself.

"We're going to have to find some answers from what happened out there tonight."

The Red Devils were stuck in a quagmire of penalties -- 18 for the game -- that negated everything that Bonjokian and his staff was trying to do on offense.

"I literally don't know what to say," said Bonjokian after he was informed of the amount of penalties against his squad. "We had way too many mental breakdowns and we lost our composure, especially late in the game.

Three players were ejected late in the game, including Tekoven Miller.

Ridge running back Mike James was a workhorse for the Bolts, rushing for 115 yards on 17 carries and two touchdowns, while quarterback Chris Flowers bolted for 71 yards and a score.

The scoring tandem for the Bolts was a perfect combination of strength and speed.

James was the power back that broke through the Avon Park defensive line time after time, while Flowers slipped numerous tackles in the backfield to make something out of nothing and pick up chunks of yardage.

Flowers also went 3-for-5 for 88 yards threw the air, including a 47-yard touchdown strike to Jerrion Harris to give the Bolts a 20-0 half time lead.

Avon Park linebacker Dwayne Council Jr. saw first hand what that duo could do on the field and felt that his team had a good game plan going into the contest.

"We were able to hold them through most of the first half by just getting after the ball and being aggressive," Council Jr. said. "Ridge Community was able to break some runs on us, but defensively we held firm to our game plan and executed.

"But you have to hand it to them. They kept running and found a way to get into the end zone."

Ridge torched the Avon Park defense for 243 total yards in the first half alone, while the Red Devils was held to an embarrassing -3 yards of offense at the half.

But the first half was a tale of two Red Devil teams.

Avon Park looked sharp early as they hit James at the line of scrimmage and forced Flowers out of the pocket to make him throw the ball before he was ready.

After AP forced a punt on their first possession, James finally broke through the Red Devil defensive front for a 36-yard run to give Ridge the ball on the Avon Park 28-yard line.

Moments later, the Red Devil defense came up with the play of the game, as they poked the ball loose on a quarterback keeper by Flowers and Avon Park linebacker Chaz Jones recovered the fumble to bring the AP players and fans to life.

"That is the type of aggressiveness I like to see out of our defense," Bonjokian said. "Those are the types of plays that can turn around a ball game."

But the Red Devils couldn't capitalize on the turnover, as they went three and out to end the first quarter.

After the two teams wavered back and forth for a series each, Ridge finally broke the scoring drought as James ran straight up the middle for a 12-yard touchdown run as the home team took an early 7-0 lead with five minutes left in the half.

That touchdown proved to be the turning point of the game for Avon Park - and not in a good way.

"I think after that first score we weren't the same team," Bonjokian said. "I think we drifted back to last season a bit and we lost our composure on both sides of the ball."

Sophomore quarterback Avierre Conner, who was starting in place of the injured Albert Moses, succumbed to the relentless pass rush and made an ill-advised throw that was picked off by the Bolts' Karlos Williams to give Ridge first-and-10 inside the 50-yard line.

On the very next play, Flowers was nearly sacked by Avon Park's Teddy Allen, but managed to break free, scramble to his left then connected with Jerrion Harris for a 47-yard touchdown strike for a 14-0 lead with 3:40 left in the half.

After forcing Avon Park to punt on it's next possession, Flowers showed his offensive muscle by passing to James for a 31-yard gain and rushing three times for 53 yards, including a 25-yard touchdown run that saw him eluded the Red Devil pass rush yet again to turn a busted play into a cause for celebration.

"Flowers is hard to bring down by yourself," Council said. "He's great at making the first tackler miss and then he cuts across the field and burns you for a big gain. I thought we had him numerous times, but he just wouldn't go down."

Council, along with offensive lineman Jace Grimmett and linebacker James Bland, went out with undisclosed injuries to deplete the Red Devil team that saw several players, including sophomore receiver Alonzo Robertson, forced to sit out the game due to violation of team rules.

Avon Park senior running back Teddy Allen was the bright light of optimism for the Red Devils, as took a pitch from quarterback Chris Morales deep in their own territory and ran down the right side line into the end zone, but the referees called him out of bounds at the Ridge 15-yard line - a gain of 48 yards - and AP was knocking on the door with just four minutes left in the game.

But a questionable offensive pass interference penalty against Avon Park drove them back to the 20 and Paul Carero's 25-yard field goal attempt was wide right to end AP's last chance to get points on the board.

Avon Park is back in action next Friday when they travel to face Okeechobee.

Ridge Community 27, Avon Park 6

Friday at Ridge Stadium

Ridge Community 0 20 7 0

Avon Park 0 0 0 0

SCORING SUMMARY

Second quarter

RC -- James 12 run (Jose Martinez kick), 4:54

RC -- Jenian Harris 47 pass from Chris Flowers (Jose Martinez kick), 3:39

RC -- Chris Flowers 25 run (kick failed), 0:02

Third quarter

RC -- Mike James 4 run (Jose Martinez kick), 3:35

INDIVIDUAL STATS

RUSHING: Avon Park; Cooper 13-36, Allen 7-81, Jones 1-7, Duke 1-2, Miler 2-(-3), Conner 1- (-11), Morales 3-(-18). Ridge; James 17-115, Flowers 9-71, West 2-17, Harris 2-9, Williams 3-9, James 1-(-4)

PASSING: Avon Park; Conner 2-5-10-0, Morales 1-2-5, Cooper 0-1. Ridge; Flowers 3-5-88-1, Williams 3-5-24-0.

RECEIVING: Avon Park; Young 1-6, Cooper 1-4, Conner 1-5. Ridge; Carter 2-20, Harris 1-47-1, James 1-31, Harsin 1-18, Flowers 1-(-4).

Chris Hoffman can be reached at 863-386-5827 or at choffman@highlandstoday.com. Chris Hoffman can be reached at 863-386-5827 or at choffman@highlandstoday.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT