Ridge Reverses Fortune, Beats Immaculata

With on Monday, the Ridge High School football team beat rival Immaculata High School 20-7 Friday night.

The game was the second victory of the season for the Red Devils — and a reversal of two years of losses to Immaculata.

Touchdowns were scored by Evan Skea, Nick Franzese and Ryan Bell, with a number of other plays by the team members, including Conor Hughes, cementing a strong performance on the field.

"It's a nice win. I'm very happy for the town and for the fans as well as our players," Ridge Head Coach Bill Tracy said after the game. 

The game played out with emphasis on defense after Ridge gained a 20-point lead, and Immaculata scored once in the fourth quarter. At that point, "We didn't throw as much as we might have," the coach said. 

With two wins to start off the season, the team has a good momentum going through the rest of the schedule, Tracy said.

Tracy credited Immaculata, a tough team, with "big plays too — and I thought our kids had poise under fire."

Tracy said he was gratified — as he was sure that the team was — that some of the team's alumni were on hand for the win over Immaculata.

Even though the team was down last year, and was struggling, last year's seniors kept giving it their all, Tracy said.

Those players "left a legacy" for this year's team, he added.

This Friday's game is scheduled to be televised on Optimum's channel 14 at 4 p.m. on Monday.

The game against Immaculata is always one of the year's hottest contests — with wins being passed back and forth. The last time that Ridge won against the Somerville school was in 2009. The 2010 game between the two teams, which went to Immaculata, was filmed as