from Mike Ellis with the Jamestown News at www.jamestownnews.com:
Ragsdale was at home on Friday night seeking their second win of the 2013 football season. The opponent was the East Chapel Hill High School Wildcats of the 4A PAC 6 Conference. Both teams came into the game with identical 1-4 records and were looking to find some way to capture a victory before heading into conference play.
Ragsdale utilized their special teams and defense to set up all of the scores they would need, finding the end zone four times in the first half and shutting out the Wildcats until late in the fourth quarter to secure the 28-7 win.
The Ragsdale defense wasted little time in getting a turnover to give the offense excellent field position. East Chapel Hill had taken the opening kickoff and used nine plays to move the ball to the Ragsdale 19-yard line. Facing a fourth-and-three, East quarterback Connor Stough threw a pass that was tipped and picked off by Ragsdale’s Brian Flaskrud at the 15-yard line. Flaskrud made his way up the left sideline, picked up some great blocking and made it all the way to East Chapel Hill’s 15-yard line before he was pulled down. From there, the Tiger offense needed five plays to get the ball into the end zone. The score came from the 5-yard line on a slant pass from Alec Cobb to TJ Parker and the Tigers were on the scoreboard first. Lucas Hicks was good on the extra point and Ragsdale was up 7-0.
After setting up the first touchdown with his interception return, Flaskrud went one step further on the next Wildcat possession. After the Tiger defense held East without a first down, Flaskrud dropped back to return the Wildcat punt. Fielding the ball at the Tiger 45, and with a full head of steam, Flaskrud went by the first wave of defenders, found an opening and went untouched for 55 yards and the second Ragsdale touchdown. Hicks converted the point-after and with 2:04 left in the first quarter, Ragsdale had taken a 14-0 lead.
The Tigers found a unique way to put points on the board with their first possession of the second quarter. After the offense was unable to move the ball and facing a fourth-and-13 from their 45-yard line, Xan Swaim came on to punt the ball. Aaron Washington was split out to the right to cover the punt and realized there was no East Chapel Hill player covering him. A quick signal to Swaim set a fake punt play in motion. Swaim fielded the snap and lofted a pass to Washington who was wide open 15 yards down the field. Washington pulled in the pass and broke a tackle at the 20-yard line and went into the end zone. The Swaim-to-Washington connection combined with the Hicks point after upped the Tiger lead to 21-0.
Late in the second quarter, the Ragsdale defense came up with a fourth down stop to once again turn the ball over to their offense. East had moved the ball to the Ragsdale 48 and after a 3-yard pass play on third down, faced a fourth-and-4 from the 45. A pass over the middle was defended well but fell incomplete. The Tiger offense came on with just over a minute left in the half. On first down, junior Devon Parks went around right end, got great blocking at the line of scrimmage and went 43 yards to the East 12-yard line. Mike Hukill, who had come on as quarterback, threw a perfect fade pass into the end zone on the next play that wide receiver TJ Parker ran under and caught for the score. Hicks kept his perfect night intact by booting the ball through the uprights and Ragsdale went into the locker room with a 28-0 lead.
Ragsdale wasted several scoring opportunities in the second half, fumbling the ball twice into the end zone when it appeared they were going in for the score and turning the ball over a third time on a fumble on their end of the field. East Chapel Hill picked up a touchdown late in the fourth quarter as they went on an 80-yard drive, utilizing eight plays and scoring on a 6-yard pass from their sophomore quarterback, Stough to Arkavious Parks to prevent the shutout and to make the final score 28-7.
As they did in their only other victory of the year, Ragsdale got excellent play from their special teams and defense. Flaskrud, who had missed the last two games, had an excellent night with an interception that gave the offense a short field leading to the first touchdown and then returned a punt for another score. Flaskrud also had six tackles from his safety position. The defense gave up some yardage but kept the Wildcats out of the end zone until late in the game when the outcome was already decided. Neondre Woods was also credited with six tackles on the night. The defense kept constant pressure on the quarterback and came up with seven sacks. Sydney Thompson had three sacks and Woods and Swaim each had two sacks.
The offense was able to move the ball and took advantage of the short field that the defense gave them to put points on the board. Cobb and Hukill shared the quarterback duties and both threw a touchdown pass along with Swaim who had his first ever varsity touchdown pass, completing the 55-yard “bomb” to Aaron Washington from his punting position. TJ Parker caught two touchdown passes to make the most of his two receptions for the night. Tevin Quick also had two catches for 46 yards and Bryce Craig had one catch for 58 yards. Jerry Gaither gained 77 yards on the night and Parks added 52 yards.
Ragsdale now has a bye week before heading into Piedmont Triad Conference play. They will next take the field on Friday, Oct. 11, as they will face the Northwest Guilford Vikings in a 7:30 p.m. game that will also be Ragsdale’s Homecoming. Northwest also has a bye next week and will come into the game with a 5-1 record, having defeated Grimsley this past week by a 39-7 score.
East Chapel Hill 0 0 0 7 – 7, Ragsdale 14 14 0 0 – 28
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
R – TJ Parker 5 yard pass from Alec Cobb (Lucas Hicks kick) (4:02)
R – Brian Flaskrud 55 yard punt return (Hicks kick) (2:04)
Second Quarter
R – Aaron Washington 55 yard pass from Xan Swaim (Hicks kick) (10:47)
R – Parker 12 yard pass from Mike Hukill (Hicks kick) (0:46.7)
Fourth Quarter
E – Arkavious Parks 6 yard pass from Connor Stough (Ellis Llewellyn kick) (4:10)
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