🏈 THE FRIDAY NIGHT HOLLER REPORT 🏈

With Special Guest Reporter, the Legendary John Madden

Hill and Grant provide the fireworks, but Ridgeview's muscle in the trenches sets the table for a 43-7 Mountain 7 win

ROSE RIDGE, VA — Now this is my kind of football. Everybody likes quarterbacks, running backs and those fast guys who catch a pass and disappear down the sideline, but if you really want to know why the Ridgeview Wolfpack is 3-0, quit watching the football for a few plays and look at the big guys.

Watch the line of scrimmage. Watch who's moving forward and who's getting pushed backward. Do that for a while and Ridgeview's 43-7 win over previously unbeaten Wise County Central starts making a whole lot of sense.

The Wolfpack held Central to 140 yards of total offense, got big nights from Colin Hill and Alex Grant, and carried a 29-0 lead into halftime.

🐗 MADDEN LOVES THE HOGS

Watching Ridgeview got me thinking about those old Washington teams with the Hogs up front. Joe Gibbs understood that if you've got some big fellas who can move people around, an awful lot of other things in football get easier.

Then came those great Dallas Cowboys teams of the 1990s. Everybody remembers Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin, but Emmitt wasn't running through those holes by himself. He had fellas like Larry Allen, Nate Newton and Erik Williams clearing the road.

The running back gets his picture in Saturday's paper, but there's usually some 250-pound kid with a bent up facemask who helped put him there.

Ridgeview had plenty of those guys doing the dirty work Friday. Senior Gunner McCoy and junior Logan Justice played well along the defensive front, while linebackers Xander Wallace, Kaleb Wagner and Colin Hill helped bottle up a Central offense that had been playing good football through its first two games.

Coach Kent Grant called it a “solid effort by our defense.”

That's a coach for you. Beat an unbeaten team by 36 points, hold them to 140 yards and call it “solid.” I'd probably grab the telestrator, circle that defensive front and write HOGS over top of it.

💥 HILL AND GRANT BRING THE FIREWORKS

Once the Wolfpack controlled things up front, Hill and Grant took care of the highlights.

Hill carried nine times for 81 yards and two touchdowns and caught a 22-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Braxton Deel. He also played linebacker on that smothering Ridgeview defense. At some point you quit worrying about what position Hill plays and just write “football player” beside his name.

Grant rushed for 110 yards, including a 69-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, then returned a punt 75 yards for another score.

That's when I'd need the telestrator. Circle Grant, draw where he's supposed to go, add a couple of arrows, watch him change direction and mess up the whole drawing. Eventually I'd just circle the end zone and say, “Well, that's where he ended up.”

Sometimes football analysis doesn't have to be complicated.

🏈 BRAxton DEEL KEEPS THE MACHINE MOVING

Quarterback Braxton Deel didn't need to throw it all over Rose Ridge. He completed 4 of 5 passes for 50 yards and two touchdowns, connecting with Landon Yates for a 19-yard score and Hill for the 22-yard touchdown.

That's efficient quarterbacking. If the running game is working and your defense is controlling the other side of the ball, there's no reason to get fancy.

Those old Cowboys understood that too. Troy Aikman could throw it, but if Emmitt was running through holes big enough to drive a pickup truck through, you kept handing him the football.

By halftime Ridgeview led 29-0.

🧱 CENTRAL KEPT BATTLING

Central came to Rose Ridge 2-0, so this wasn't some team that wandered into town looking for directions. The Warriors had already shown they could run the football and play physical, but Ridgeview never let them establish control.

Colton Elkins finished with 59 yards on 14 carries and Aiden Phillips added 47 yards on 11 attempts. Gabe Lassiter scored Central's touchdown on a four-yard run in the fourth quarter, with Cole Duncan adding the extra point.

Grant made sure to credit the Warriors afterward.

“Good team win. Still have some things to clean up and have to keep working to where we want to be. Give Central credit. They made us earn everything.”

That's another thing I like. Ridgeview is 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the Mountain 7, just won by 36 points, and its coach is already talking about what needs fixing.

That's because September isn't the goal.

Ridgeview went 11-2 and reached the Region 2D championship game last season. This team knows what it feels like to get close, and they're trying to take another step.

🏆 MADDEN'S GAME BALL GOES TO THE HOGS

Hill deserves one after scoring three touchdowns and helping anchor the defense. Grant deserves another after rushing for 110 yards and scoring on runs of 69 and 75 yards, the latter on a punt return.

But my game ball is going to those guys in the trenches.

Football has changed plenty over the years. Offenses spread people all over the field and coaches carry play sheets big enough to wallpaper a bathroom. But the basic idea hasn't changed much.

Somebody has to block. Somebody has to tackle. And somebody has to control the line of scrimmage.

Washington did it with the Hogs. Dallas did it with that overpowering offensive line in the 1990s. Friday night, Ridgeview did it at Rose Ridge.

So if you're looking for the story behind that 43-7 scoreboard, don't start with the touchdown runs or the punt return.

Look in the trenches.

That's where the Hogs cleared the road and let the Wolfpack run.

RIDGEVIEW 43, WISE CENTRAL 7 — BOOM! THAT'S FOOTBALL.

🏈 Friday Night Holler Football Reports
Big hits, big plays, small-town football and a reminder that the big fellas still matter.