The Ragsdale Report from Mike Ellis at the Jamestown News

I used to have to look Mike Ellis and Ogi Overman up on Yahoo, but now I just go to
www.womacknewspapers.com…..Ragsdale was off for one week, but now they are back…Thought I saw Pete Romer(Ragsdale HS) with one of the ODAC teams(Randolph-Macon) last week and the Ragsdale people would know….

After a bye week, Ragsdale was back in action Friday with an important Piedmont Triad Conference battle with the Glenn Bobcats in Kernersville. Having dropped their last game at Northwest Guilford to fall into a tie for fourth place in the conference with those same Bobcats, the game had significant state playoff implications. A loss to Glenn would pretty much eliminate any possibility of a playoff berth as the Tigers would fall into fifth place. A win against the Bobcats and Ragsdale would keep alive their hopes for a second-place tie in the conference standings.

After a scoreless first quarter, Ragsdale got into the end zone on the first play of the second quarter on a Colson Herndon to Brandon Walker pass. On their next possession, the Tigers took advantage of a short field, set up by a Marquez Eleazer punt return to drive 28 yards in three plays, culminating with a Herndon quarterback sneak to up the lead to 14-0 at the half. They then added another score in the fourth on a Herndon to Erik Romer pass as the Tigers went on to wrap up the 20-7 win.

The second possession of the night for both teams led to the Tigers’ first score. After a Xan Swaim punt pinned the Bobcats deep in their territory at the 12 yard line, the Tiger defense forced a three and out, and after the punt the offense was back in business on the Glenn 36 yard line. Brandon Walker ran a sweep to the left side for 11 yards and a first down. Marquez Eleazer ran two consecutive times picking up seven yards, before Herndon rolled out of the pocket to his left on third down and connected with Walker for nine more yards to set up a first and goal at the 9 yard line. After Herndon ran for one yard to end the first quarter, he threw a perfect pass to a wide open Walker in the right side of the end zone for the game’s first touchdown. The Lucas Hicks extra point gave the Tigers a 7-0 lead on the first play of the second quarter.

Glenn was once again unable to move the ball and punted to Marquez Eleazer, who fielded it at the 50 yard line and returned it 22 yards to set up the offense on the Glenn 28. On the first play from scrimmage, Walker ran a sweep to the right side and picked up 23 yards. Eleazer then went four yards to the 1 and Herndon ran a quarterback sneak for the final yard. Hicks converted the point-after and Ragsdale took a 14-0 lead into the half.

The Ragsdale defense had dominated the first half, holding Glenn to 40 yards in total offense, three first downs and forcing the Bobcats to punt on all five possessions. Glenn never moved the ball past the Tigers’ 46 yard line.

Neither team could move the ball in the third quarter, with each team punting the ball twice. With just over a minute left in the quarter, Ragsdale finally began to move the ball, starting at their 29. QB Herndon and wide receiver Erik Romer got the drive started with a pass down the left sideline. Romer went up over the defender to pull it in for a 24-yard gain. Two plays later, Herndon and tight end Winston Craig picked up a first down on an eight-yard completion. After a bad snap led to a seven-yard loss, Ragsdale was facing a third and 8 from the Glenn 34 yard line. Herndon dropped back and lofted a pass to Romer who again took the ball away from the defender at the 5 and battled his way toward the end zone. The point after failed but Ragsdale had gone up 20-0 just over two minutes into the fourth quarter.
XXGlenn got on the board late in the quarter. A 47-yard, 10-play drive, highlighted by a Terrell Jones 25-yard run on fourth and eight which moved the ball to the Ragsdale 20. The drive ended with Jones going into the end zone from the 1 with 48 seconds left in the game to make the final score 20-7.

Ragsdale ended up with 230 yards in total offense as Colson Herndon completed 12 of 14 passes for 156 yards and two touchdowns. Herndon also scored a touchdown on the ground with a quarterback sneak. Erik Romer was the leading receiver with five catches for 80 yards and a touchdown while Brandon Walker had four receptions for 50 yards and a score. Walker also rushed the ball two times for 34 yards. Marquez Eleazer had 16 carries for 49 yards as the ground game pounded away at the middle of the Bobcat line.

The Ragsdale defense played well all night, shutting down the Glenn offense and never letting them get into any rhythm. They held the Bobcats to 88 net yards rushing on 35 carries, and Glenn only picked up 28 yards through the air. Glenn’s Terrell Jones was the leading ground gainer for the game with 96 yards on 21 carries. The Tigers recorded three sacks, by Bryce Walker, Sidney Thompson and Winston Craig.

With the win, Ragsdale kept alive their hopes of a share of second place in the conference. They will close out the regular season on Friday night with a home game against the High Point Central Bison. Central is coming into the game after defeating Southwest Guilford by a 58-0 score and they are currently in second place alone with a 4-1 record and are 8-2 overall. A Tiger win will force a three-way tie for second place with the Tigers, the Bison and Northwest Guilford all having identical 4-2 league marks. Northwest has finished their regular season and will await the outcome of the Tiger-Bison matchup. A Central win would assure them of at least second place alone.

Ragsdale will also celebrate Senior Night on Friday night as all fall sports and band member seniors and their parents will be introduced before the game. Ragsdale will also unveil their new state-of-the-art scoreboard which is now in place and replaces the previous scoreboard that had been used for over 30 years.

Ragsdale 0 14 0 6 20
Glenn 0 0 0 7 7

Scoring Summary
Second Quarter
R-Brandon Walker 8 yard pass from Colson Herndon (Lucas Hicks kick) (11:53)
R-Herndon 1 yard run (Hicks kick) (8:55)
Fourth Quarter
R-Erik Romer 34 yard pass from Herndon (kick failed) (9:46)
G-Terrell Jones 1 yard run (Matthew Murray kick) (0:48)

First Downs 10R 6G
Rushing Yardage 74R 88G
Rushes 33R 35G
Passing Yardage 156R 8G
Pass Comp/Attempts/Int. 12/14/0R 5/10/0G
Punts/Avg. Yards 5/27.4R 8/33.4G
Fumbles/Lost 2/0R 2/0G
Penalties/Yards 5/40R 7/55G
Time of Possession 23:36R 24:24G

Piedmont Triad 4A
Conf Overall
East Forsyth 5-0 1.000 10-0
High Point Central 4-1 800 8-2
Northwest Guilford 4-2 .667 7-3
Ragsdale 3-2 .600 7-2
Glenn 2-3 400 3-6
Southwest Guilford 0-5 .000 1-9
Parkland 0-5 000 1-9

One thought on “The Ragsdale Report from Mike Ellis at the Jamestown News

  1. Thank you, Mike Ellis, for another great write up on the Tigers! You’ve done a super job all season! Thank you, Andy, for keeping these posted all season, so we can get the details of the games.
    Friday night: let’s go Tigers!

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