State Playoffs Preview: Ridge Boys LAX

After an impressive 12-4 season that witnessed the Ridge Red Devils make an impressive run in the Somerset County Tournament, most notably defeating top-seeded Bridgwater-Raritan, Ridge has been awarded with the top seed for the Group III State Playoffs.

"It's nice to be home, but it's going to be tough," Ridge head coach Ken Marsh said, "Any state tournament is going to be tough, so we're going to have to work hard, but yeah, it is nice to be playing at home."

The Red Devils will play the winner of 17th-seeded Fair Lawn and 16th-seeded Hanover Park Tuesday afternoon. Those two teams will play Saturday.

Throughout the season, laxpower.com ranked Ridge anywhere from 18th to 12th overall in the state. Their notable win was topping Bridgewater-Raritan 7-6 in the semifinals of the Somerset County Tournament.

The Montgomery Cougars are seeded fourth in the Group III tournament, meaning a match against Ridge would only be possible in the semifinals – a game that would be played at Ridge. In their only meeting this season, on April 10th at Montgomery, the Cougars out-lasted the Red Devils 10-9 in an overtime thriller.

Westfield is seeded eighth in the bracket, a team that Ridge could possibly face in the quarterfinals. On April 29th, the Red Devils came from behind in an electric fourth quarter at Westfield, eventually topping the Blue Devils 7-6 in another overtime thriller.

Moorestown, whom Ridge defeated 8-4 on April 7th, their first 'big win' of the season, is seeded 7th and Ridge will only face them if they both advance to the state final.

All-in-all, the Red Devils have their work cut out for them, and, after failing to win their first county championship after falling to Immaculata, motivation should be the catalyst for a Ridge team who has the ability and skill to win a state championship.

After all, there's nothing better than hearing "the state playoffs will go through Ridge", is there?