RAMS LEAVING NOTHING TO CHANCE
By Matt Maher
MINERAL RIDGE, OH – The Rams showed up in a big way in their all important conference showdown against the Red Devils on Friday night. The players were pumped and came out of the gate with authority and played a strong game of football against a young and still learning Campbell team.
Memorial got the ball to start the game and had a nice run to begin but would eventually have their run thwarted by the Rams defense and with a punt away the Rams took over. Mineral Ridge took their time pushing to the end zone and finally broke the silence with 4:06 left thanks to an 18 yard passing touchdown to Jonathan Rozzi. The Red Devils committed a personal foul before the PAT and Mineral Ridge took advantage and scored 2 to make it 8-0.
Campbell had a strong run in response and would eventually run it 3 yards into the end zone off the heels of D’Ondre Brown. Demetrius Lambert Jr and his offense quickly lined up for a 2-point attempt and they connected with Mihali Koulias to tie the game.
The Rams tightened their defense and let their offense do its thing in the 2nd quarter and early in the quarter Jacob Russell would take it 3 yards to the house. This time they got the kick off and made it 15-8. The Rams defense did what it needed to and got the ball back to Owen Shingledecker. From there the Rams moved it down the field and scored another short running touchdown from Russell again. The kick would doink off the goal post and stay out putting the score at 21-8 which is the lead they took into halftime.
The Rams were feeling fantastic coming out of the break and Shingledecker showed us just how good by throwing a 72 yard touchdown pass to Rozzi which extended their lead to 27-8. The PAT would miss wide left. Campbell got the ball back but their possessions were riddled with miscues and missteps and after taking penalty after penalty the Rams would get the ball two more times and score twice, once off a 12 yard pass to Rozzi with the PAT not connecting from the snap and the 2-point attempt being blocked and then again from Rozzi with 32 seconds to play from 1 yard out, the PAT was good this time from Luke Porter.
The 4th quarter showed some lengthy possessions from both sides but neither came up with any more scoring drives and as a result the game ended 40-8 in favor of the Rams.
Mineral Ridge used a big 3rd quarter to propel themselves past the Red Devils and helped themselves in their battle for 1st place in the MVAC Scarlet. Campbell (2-5, 0-4) will be back home next Friday to take on McDonald at 7pm while Mineral Ridge (4-3, 3-1) will stay at home to face off against the dangerous Springfield Tigers at 7pm.