Rams knock Trinity out of playoff race
Ringgold quarterback Nico Law stretches past Trinity defender Tyler Denman to score a touchdown in the first half that gave the Rams a 28-14laed over Trinity Friday night.
Trinity running back Joseph Koroly breaks past Ringgold linebacker Luke Baldesberger to score the Hillers' second touchdown late in the second quarter Friday night at Joe Montana Stadium.
Ram receiver Dalton Holt breaks free from Trinity defenders Nicholas Moretti and Robert West (21) in Ringgold's game against the Hillers Friday night at Joe Montana Stadium.
MONONGAHELA – It was a Berry good night for Ringgold High School’s football team.
Chacar Berry, a 5-8, 180-pound junior, rushed for 253 yards on 15 carries and scored three times to power Ringgold to a 49-14 victory in a Class AAA Big 9 Conference game Friday night at Joe Montana Stadium.
“This is definitely one of my best games of the season,” said Berry. “I ran the ball well.”
Berry surpassed 1,000 yards for the season. He came into the game needing 16 and finished with the year with 1,237.
“I wasn’t worried about it,” Berry said.
“I never did anything like that before. I’m kind of shocked by it.”
Trinity (3-5, 4-5) came into the game with a chance to finish in either fourth or fifth place, the latter also keeping the Hillers alive for a wild-card spot in the WPIAL playoffs.
Instead, Trinity saw its three-game winning streak end along with any playoff possibilities.
“I’m very proud of this team,” said Trinity head coach Ryan Coyle. “We were able to accomplish what other teams can’t do, turn things around from a bad start. We fought back from that and we beat a very good West Mifflin team. That’s a very good team that Ringgold has with a tremendous amount of talent.”
Tailback Joey Koroly rushed for 128 yards on 16 carries and scored a touchdown for the Hillers. The other score came on a sneak by quarterback Forrest Cullings.
Ringgold (7-1, 8-1) finished in second place in the conference and will learn its first-round opponent in the playoffs at Monday night’s WPIAL pairings meeting.
“I don’t want to guess who we might play,” said Ringgold head coach Nick Milchovich. “I’ll just wait and see who we get. You can’t worry about that. We’ll just practice hard and see who we play Friday night.”
Brenden Small also had a strong game, gaining 121 yards on 5 carries and scoring a touchdown. Small is the son of former Ringgold and Washington & Jefferson player Ramont Small. The Rams had 409 rushing yards.
Quarterback Nico Law had 48 yards passing and 22 rushing and scored a touchdown. He engineered a 21-point third quarter that turned the game into a Mercy Rule finish.
“We have a lot of weapons,” Milchovich said. “All these weapons open up the field for us.”
Ringgold built a 28-14 halftime lead over the Hillers, thanks to Berry’s 161 yards on 9 carries and two touchdown runs.
Trinity took a 7-0 lead on its first possession on a beautiful, 11-play drive, that Cullings capped with a 1-yard quarterback sneak. Berry broke off a 78-yard run, then went the final 2 yards to cut the Hillers’ lead to 7-6 as the extra-point was missed.
Berry gave Ringgold a 14-7 lead on a 6-yard run with 9:15 left in the half. The big play was a 36-yard run by Small, who also added the two-point conversion.
Ringgold began pulling away after that as Brandon Thomas caught a 33-yard pass from Law to make it 21-7. Koroly got Trinity to within 7 points with a beautiful 33-yard run in which he broke three tackles but just as quickly, Ringgold answered on a 20-yard run by Law.