FOOTBALL: Immaculata shines on both sides of the ball to beat Ridge

BERNARDS TOWNSHIP – The Immaculata High School football team has relied on its defense for much of the success it has had this season, entering this week’s game at Ridge having allowed just 13 points per game, and just over 7 points per contest in its victories. But while the Spartans defense certainly came up huge in Friday night’s contest, holding the Red Devils’ vaunted attack to just a couple of scores, the Immaculata offense that has been inconsistent at times, scoring just seven points in each of its past two outings, came up huge in some key spots, earning the Spartans their biggest win of the year.

Junior quarterback Nathan Barnett led the way, as Immaculata found its offensive groove in the second half. Barnett finished with two passing touchdowns to senior Stephen Dwyer and added a rushing score, as Immaculata held off Ridge 21-14 at Lee Field.

“I’m extremely proud of these guys,” said Immaculata coach Tom Falato said, whose team improved to 4-2. “We thought all week that we had a great week of practice. We thought we could come in here (and get it done). They’re well coached, well trained, they’re great kids, and we beat them.”

“We started preparing for this team in the summer,” said Barnett, whose team fell to Ridge 43-0 last season and was well award the Red Devils had been averaging 32 points per game this year. “We spent two weeks in the summer just preparing for this offense because it’s nothing we have seen before. This week we just came to practice always focused, came here and took care of business.”

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Both defenses held the opposing offense in check for most of the first half, before Ridge finally broke through on a three-yard run by RJ Milligan and Nolan Hughes kicked the extra point to make it 7-0 with 1:34 left in the second quarter. But that’s when Immaculata got a gift it immediately capitalized on, one that might have provided exactly the wakeup call it needed.

The Spartans went 3-and-out on the possession that followed Ridge’s score, choosing to try and get a drive together via the pass instead of letting the clock run down to intermission. The Spartans punted from their own 28-yard line, getting a fortunate bounce that gave the Red Devils the ball at their 23. But Ridge, too, decided to try and mount a drive, and when the first play from scrimmage was intercepted by Immaculata linebacker Xavier Powell, giving his team the ball at the Ridge 11-yard line, the Spartans wasted no time cashing in.

Barnett found Dwyer in the end zone for the score on the first play, before Immaculata faked the extra-point attempt, instead having Barnett – the holder – roll out, and the junior hit Donavan Rivera in the end zone for 2 points, giving the Spartans an 8-7 halftime advantage.

“They gave us an opportunity,” Falato said. “With our team, sometimes we’re just inconsistent. We can score in a lot of ways – we can run the ball, we can throw the ball and the quarterback can run the ball.  We’ve just got to be more consistent. We cleaned a lot of things up tonight, but we’ve got more work to do for sure.”

The third quarter was much like the first, as the defenses took the lead. Immaculata’s unit did a phenomenal job limiting Ridge’s star back, Milligan, to just 98 yards for the game, and mobile quarterback Brandon Radice to 70 on the ground, while allowing just 66 total passing yards for the evening.

Immaculata’s offense finally found its rhythm in the fourth quarter, as the Spartans capitalized on a short field, starting on the Ridge 29-yard line and finishing with a two-yard Barnett scoring run, and Immaculata led 14-7 after a failed 2-point attempt.

Ridge (2-4) retorted immediately to tie it, as a 21-yard Radice-to-Devin Stieglitz pass and a 42-yard Radice touchdown run highlighted a quick three-play, 67-yard drive, with Hughes adding the kick to make it 14-14 with 9:20 remaining.

But like the Red Devils did, Immaculata also had an immediate response, answering with the game-winning drive, as a 49-yard Barnett-to-Noah Stansbury completion on a 2nd-and-6 from the Spartans’ 19-yard line preceded a 17-yard Barnett scoring pass to Dwyer to cap the five-play, 85-yard drive, with Zach Helleis booting the extra point to provide the final margin.

“When we went in at halftime, our coach gave us a great talk,” Barnett said. “We just capitalized on the mistakes they were making. Not really mistakes, just things they were doing that we saw openings in the defense, so we took (advantage) of it.”

Ridge had one more chance, getting the ball back with 3:12 remaining, but Patrick Frauenheim grabbed Immaculata’s third interception of the evening to end the Red Devils’ final push and seal the victory.

“We wanted to take away what they do best, and we did,” said Falato, who credited Powell, his middle linebacker, for much of the success Immaculata had limiting the Ridge rushing attack. “We knew this; you’re not going to hold down Milligan and Radice and entire game. But we wanted to limit them. And while we were limiting them, we wanted to score, and we did. And one of the things I’m most proud of is that when they scored, we answered. And that’s the sign of a good team.”

Simeon Pincus can be reached at SPincus@GannettNJ.com. Follow him on Twitter @SimeonPincus and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SimeonPincusCN

IMMACULATA (4-2) 0-8-0-13 -- 21
RIDGE (2-4) 0-7-0-7 -- 14
SCORING PLAYS:
R – Milligan 3 run (Hughes kick)
I – Dwyer 11 pass from Barnett (Rivera pass from Barnett)
I – Barnett 2 run (run failed)
R – Radice 42 run (Hughes kick)
I – Dwyer 17 pass from Barnett (Helleis kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:
RUSHING: I—Barnett 19-61, Bello 11-42, Santana 3-6, Matthews 2-5, Jones 1-(-1); R—Milligan 18-98, Radice 7-70, Stieglitz 4-17, Sweeney 5-18.
PASSING: I—Barnett 12-18-2-0-125; R—Radice 5-15-0-3-66.
RECEIVING: I—Dwyer 4-40, Santana 2-8, Stansbury 3-61, Matthews 2-16; R—Lusardi 1-5, Stieglitz 2-36, Milligan 2-25.