On a wet night at Ridley, the played the Green Raiders to a scoreless first quarter, but were eventually overwhelmed by the home team's ground game. The Tigers record now stands at 3-1.
1 2 3 4 Final Marple Newtown 0 0 0 7 7 Ridley 0 6 14 7 27IN SHORT
The Tigers couldn't do anything about the rain on Friday night, and so they got wet. They couldn't do anything about Jalen Randolph either, and so they lost.
The Green Raiders gained 258 yards on 29 carries and scored from 31, 10, 9, and 3 yards in dealing the Tigers their first loss of the season. Marple Newtown simply had no answer for the powerful senior, who crossed the 200-yard mark with eight minutes still remaining in the third quarter and kept going.
While Ridley embraced the ground attack when the heavy rainfall made the passing game infeasible, the Tigers offense didn't adapt as successfully to the conditions: The only points the visitors scored came on a fourth quarter return touchdown from Cimarro Moat.
Quarterback James Ridinger in particular struggled. He threw a pair of rally-killing interceptions in the second half and often failed to get a good grip on the wet ball. Most of his passes fluttered. The accumulation of near misses, and not so near ones, eventually seemed to affect the young quarterback's confidence: On a late-fourth quarter sprintout, he had an open receiver along the sideline but hesitated and took a sack.
TIGER OF THE GAME
Cimarro Moat—On a day when the Tigers struggled to get any offensive rhythm, the shifty halfback, if only for a moment, got his team back in the game. With the Tigers down 20-0 after the third of four Randolph scores, Moat opened the fourth quarter with an 80-yard kick return touchdown.
OTHER KEY PERFORMANCES
Kenneth Smith—The 6-foot-3-inch senior defensive end got consistent pressure on Ridley quarterback Matt Davis, including a fourth down sack of Davis that ended a Raider drive on the Tiger 26.
Chris Kurkian—The 5-foot-6-inch senior might be built like George Costanza, but he punts more like George Blanda: On two separate occasions Friday, Kurkian fielded a wet ground ball from the long snapper, stepped into the teeth of the Ridley rush, and delivered a serviceable punt.
COACH'S TAKE
"Each game is a learning experience for a team that's young like we are. This is the first negative thing that's happened to us this year. The question is, are we gonna react in a positive way. I think we are." —Marple Newtown head coach Ray Gionta
THEY SAID IT
"Thirty-three is a good player."—Gionta, on the 258 yard, four touchdown performance of Randolph
UP NEXT—The Tigers play Lower Merion, at home, Sept. 30.
