from Mike Ellis at the Jamestown News, a Womack Newspaper….CLICK HERE for the Jamestown News….Ogi Overman editor….
Ragsdale entered the second round of the NCHSAA state playoffs for the third consecutive year on Friday night, this time by traveling to Winston-Salem to take on the Mount Tabor Spartans. After falling behind early, the Tigers came back to take a halftime lead only to see the Spartans rally in the third quarter and then watching their fourth-quarter rally come up short in a 26-23 defeat.
Mount Tabor struck quickly as their senior quarterback Mike Eldridge connected with Jaquez Bonner on a 72-yard pass play on the game’s second play to take a 7-0 lead less than one minute into the game. Ragsdale was completely fooled on the play as the run-oriented Spartans went to the air and Bonner was 15 yards behind the nearest Ragsdale defender.
Despite that shaky start, Ragsdale bounced back and dominated the rest of the first half. The defense settled in and completely shut down the Spartans offense. After giving up 73 yards on the first drive of the game, Ragsdale’s defense held Mount Tabor to eight yards in total offense over the next 23 minutes. The Spartans had five more possessions in the first half and the drives ended with three punts, an interception and a safety. On the other side of the ball, the Ragsdale offense started slowly with a fumble on their first possession, but got new life after the Tiger special team put the first points on the board.
Facing a fourth and 18 from their 11 yard line, the Spartans punter lined up in his end zone to punt the ball away. When he fumbled the snap he was swarmed on by the punt return team led by Joe Pantuso and Sharif Diaz for a safety.
The Ragsdale offense then marched 55 yards in four plays after the ensuing kickoff to take the lead. The big play on the drive was a 33-yard pass completion from quarterback Garrison Herndon to Anthony Stewart to the 10 yard line. Brandon Walker picked up nine yards before Herndon followed the block of his center, Chris Whitesell, for the final one yard and the score. Brad Davis converted the point after and Ragsdale had taken a 9-7 lead.
Ragsdale struck again on their second possession of the second quarter, this score set up by the defensive efforts of Xavier Jones. Jones made a diving interception to set up the offense at the Mount Tabor 37 yard line. Marquez Eleazer and the offensive line took over from there. Two carries picked up 14 yards and a Spartan offsides penalty moved the ball to the 18 yard line. Eleazer took a handoff from Herndon and followed a pulling Austin Greene off right guard and into the end zone for the touchdown. Davis was again successful on the point-after and Ragsdale took a 16-7 lead into the halftime break.
The third quarter was a complete disaster for the visitors. Mount Tabor was determined to get back in the game, while the Tigers came out flat and could not establish any offense. In the third quarter, Ragsdale ran nine plays, picked up one first down and had 29 yards in total offense. The Spartans, on the other hand, after being stymied in the opening half, picked up 134 yards in total offense in the quarter and scored two touchdowns to retake the lead at 20-16 with one quarter left.
The long pass was again the answer for Mount Tabor as a 45-yard completion from Eldridge to Charlie Dixon on their first second-half possession set up a six-yard Eldridge touchdown run. On their next possession, Eldridge and Dixon hooked up three times. The first two covered 12 and 32 yards before Dixon got open in the left corner of the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown pass.
Mount Tabor continued to control the flow of the game in the fourth quarter and when Shakel Jackson intercepted Herndon at the Ragsdale 19 yard line and Juawan Ferguson scored from there on the first offensive play, it looked as if the game was over. The extra-point attempt was wide right, but the Spartans had taken a 26-16 lead and the Tigers had displayed no semblance of a second-half offensive threat.
Ragsdale finally moved the ball after the kickoff, getting two consecutive Herndon to Stewart completions for 23 yards and moving the ball into Mount Tabor territory. Two plays later, Herndon tried to go deep to Stewart again, but Dishan Beasley picked the pass off at the Spartan 12 yard line to end the threat. With just 3:44 left in the game, it seemed that play would end the night for the Tigers, but Ragsdale got renewed life when Mount Tabor fumbled the ball back on the first play from scrimmage after the interception. Defensive end Will Sams recovered and Ragsdale went 15 yards in less than a minute, aided by a Spartan pass interference penalty that set up first and goal from the 6. Eleazer carried twice with the score coming from the one. With Davis’s PAT, Ragsdale had cut the lead to 26-23 with 2:42 remaining.
The Tigers kicked the ball deep and the defense came through, forcing the Spartans into a three and out from their 9. Brandon Walker fielded the punt and returned it 13 yards up the middle to give the offense the ball at the Mount Tabor 32 yard line. The offense came onto the field with the game on the line, 1:29 remaining on the clock and needing to cover 32 yards for a score or to at least move the ball into range for a potential tying field goal. Herndon connected with Stewart on first down for a six-yard completion to move the ball to the Spartan 26 yard line. Two straight incomplete passes brought up a fourth down and four yards to go for a first down. Coach Tommy Norwood faced a difficult decision. A possible tying field goal would be a 43-yard attempt or the offense needed to pick up four yards to prolong the drive. Brad Davis had kicked five field goals on the season, with a long of 41 yards coming against Grimsley in the season opener. Coach Norwood rolled the dice and kept the offense on the field. A short pass over the middle was picked off by the Spartans’ Jereme Gamble and the Tigers season came to an end. With less than a minute left in the game, Mount Tabor ran out the clock to secure the 26-23 win.
The Tiger offense picked up 111 yards on the ground with Marquez Eleazer with 66 yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns. Eleazer also caught four passes for 28 yards. Brandon Walker carried the ball six times for 32 yards. Garrison Herndon wrapped up his Ragsdale career 15 of 30 passes for 137 yards but suffered with three fourth-quarter interceptions. Herndon also scored one TD on the ground. Anthony Stewart caught four passes for 62 yards and Walker also had six receptions for 34 yards.
The defense played well but was susceptible to the long pass. Mount Tabor had the Tigers well scouted as that had been an issue the entire season. A Spartan team that had mainly relied on the ground game, struck early with the long ball, completing a 72-yard touchdown pass on the game’s second play. They only completed six of 14 passes but those six completions were for a total of 190 yards. In addition to the 72-yard pass they had 45- and 32-yard completions to set up touchdowns and a 17-yard completion to a wide open receiver for a score.
Ragsdale just did not do a good job on coverage and attacking the ball when it was in the air and the Spartans designed their game plan to make them pay for it. The defense did an outstanding job controlling the ground game, limiting the Spartans to 82 yards rushing on 42 carries. Quarterback Mike Eldridge, the Spartans leading ground gainer for the season, was held to 24 yards on 22 carries and their other leading runner, Juawan Ferguson was held to 50 yards on 14 carries. Xavier Jones and Will Sams came up with turnovers for the Tigers on an interception and a fumble recovery.
Ragsdale’s season comes to an end with a 9-3 record. They secured a share of the Piedmont Triad Conference regular-season championship, the fifth consecutive year Ragsdale has been at the top of the conference. Twenty-two seniors suited up for the last time for the Tigers on Friday night and they will leave behind some significant holes to fill for next season’s team. See next week’s edition for a recap of the 2011 season.
Mount Tabor moves on to the third round of the playoffs with an 11-1 record and will travel to Indian Trail, N.C. to take on the 12-0 Porter Ridge Pirates.
Ragsdale 9 7 0 7 23
Mount Tabor 7 0 13 6 26
First Downs 12-R 9-MT
Rushing Yardage 111-R 82-MT
Rushes 26-R 42-MT
Passing Yardage 137-R 190-MT
Pass Comp/Att/Int. 15/30/3-R 6/14/1-MT
Punts/Avg Yds 5/39.4-R 5/35.4-MT
Fumbles/Lost 2/1-R 3/1-MT
Penalties/Yds 5/30-R 8/57-MT
Time of Possession 21:34-R 26:26-MT
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
MT – Jaquez Bonner 72 yard pass from Mike Eldridge (Neal Callahan kick) (11:03)
R – Safety – punter pushed ball out of end zone (2:57)
R – Garrison Herndon 1 yard run (Brad Davis kick) (1:17)
Second Quarter
R – Marquez Eleazer 18 yard run (Davis kick) (4:20)
Third Quarter
MT – Eldridge 6 yard run (Callahan kick) (8:02)
MT – Charlie Dixon 17 yard pass from Eldridge (run failed) (0:45)
Fourth Quarter
MT – Juawan Ferguson 19 yard run (kick missed) (4:45)
R – Eleazer 1 yard run (Davis kick) (2:42)