Ridge Football Blasts Somerville By Nearly 50 Points

Photos and story by Terry Boudreau

The Ridge High School Red Devils football team may not have known what to expect when players took the field at home Friday night against Somerville. But it only took a few minutes to see that this was going to be a one-sided battle with Ridge on top.  

The game's final score was 53-7, in Ridge's favor.


Only three minutes into the game, Ridge only  three minutes to march down the field and score on a 6-yard run by Matt Soulas. That was only the beginning.

On the next series, Nick Franzese intercepted a pass and took the ball 50 yards to the 2-yard line. On the next play, quarterback Conor Hughes handed off to Franzese for the second score by Ridge.
  
Still in the first quarter, Matt Soulas scored another touchdown on a 6-yard run.  Alexander Hatala would add another score before the quarter ended.  Ridge was now up 28-0.  
The second quarter would see a another TD for Franzese and a field goal by Hughes. Ridge would also give up just one TD to Somerville before the end of the half. 

With a running clock for most of the second half, Ridge was able to work in many of the underclassmen and give a lot of substitutes some playing time.  Ridge would wrap up the scoring with a TD run from Soulas, a safety and a TD from Danny Phillips.

"The kids played well and I have no complaints," said Ridge head coach Bill Tracy. "All the guys were hard and some of our seniors and juniors don't always get a chance to play and I was really happy to get them in there. They played well when they went in. I was very proud of them. We just have to take it a day at a time."

Next week, Tracy said, "We have a big game...with North Hunterdon. The game will require our best."

"This was much better than last week, that's for sure," said Matt Soulas.  "We had a better week of practice and we were able to execute better.  It was a good time tonight. This is best time of my life."

"It was a great game," said another Ridge player, AJ Peterpaul. "We worked hard all week.  We knew we were going to come out strong for this one. It was awesome."

Ridge next will play North Hunterdon Friday night, October 11, in Annandale.