Ragsdale at High Point Central

Photo by Don Willimas www.LpPhotos.com
The game tonight was special for many reasons. It was for a conference championship. It was for a 3rd consecutive season of going undefeated in the conference. I was also for a 2nd consecutive season with an undefeated regular season. The team and coaches seemed up for the task with an outstanding performance to close the regular season. There were many outstanding performances last night - Luke Heavner was awesome. DeSean with his remarkable diving catch. Walt Sparks played a great game at LB. And the offensive line was simply pounding Central in the 2nd half.

Below is an article from the High Point Enterprise.

Tigers Remain Untamed

by Steve Hanf

HIGH POINT – One electrifying play got the Ragsdale offense roaring Friday night.

Three High Point Central miscues in the waning moments of the second half added fuel to the fire.

The Tigers scored 24 points in the final 7:23 of the second quarter – getting two touchdowns 22 seconds apart in the last minute – and romped to a 34-7 victory at Simeon Stadium. Ragsdale wrapped up an 11-0 regular season, the Piedmont Triad 4A Conference championship and no doubt an exceedingly high seed for the 4A playoffs.

The Bison, meanwhile, finished 8-3 overall and 4-2 in the league, tied for second with East Forsyth and Glenn. Central will learn its playoff seeding later today when the NCHSAA releases brackets.

“We made a couple of mistakes and it broke things open,” Central coach Wayne Jones said. “They took advantage of it. They hit us with some big plays – they’re a good team. We lost to a good football team.”

The good team became great early in the second quarter when Luke Heavner launched a pass that seemed impossibly long. But DeSean Anderson sped down the middle of the field and launched into a head-long dive, snaring the ball while fully extended and holding it as he crashed to the turf. The 37-yard gain set up a 3-yard scoring run by D-onovan Smith, and the rout was on.

“At first I thought he over-threw me, but the good Lord blessed me with some extra speed and I caught it,” Anderson said. “After that, I felt like we broke a barrier, that if we scored right here it would change the whole game around.”

The Tigers forced a punt and followed it with a Kasey Redfern 42-yard field goal to lead 10-0 at the 2:43 mark. Central then faced another punt from its own 36, but a snap to the up-back on a fake bounced away and was covered by Ragsdale’s Trey Swaim.

Jones took the blame for that call, saying not all of his players got the signal for the fake and that he should have punted. The Tigers drove that point home two plays later when Heavner hit Anderson on a beautiful 25-yarder down the middle with 49 seconds to go.

Central fumbled its second play of the next drive to give the Tigers the ball on the 20 still with 32 seconds remaining, and Heavner’s fade to Tyquan Roberts offered an exclamation point and 24-0 lead at the half.

Ragsdale pounded the ball on the ground in the final 24 minutes, getting a 20-yard field goal after a 13-play, 51-yard march that took 6:10 and a Heavner plunge from 1 yard out to cap a 15-play, 79-yard drive that chewed 7:18 off the clock. Smith, who carried just twice in the fourth quarter, ended with 117 yards on 26 carries.

The lone Bison score came on a Drew Adams to Derek Grant connection from 17 yards out at the 3:57 mark of the fourth quarter.

shanf@hpe.com | 888-3526

Scoring summary

Ragsdale 0 24 0 10 — 34

HP Central 0 0 0 7 — 7

R – Smith 3 run (Redfern kick), 7:23, 2nd

R – FG Redfern 42, 2:43, 2nd

R – Anderson 25 pass from Heavner (Redfern kick), 0:49, 2nd

R – Roberts 20 pass from Heavner (Redfern kick), 0:27, 2nd

R – FG Redfern 20, 3:53, 4th

R – Heavner 1 run (Redfern kick), 6:01, 4th

HPC – Grant 17 pass from Adams (Miller kick), 3:57, 4th