Belle Vernon, Ringgold play deep into night
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Ringgold’s Landon Oslowski (11) dives for extra yardage as Belle Vernon’s Cole Weightman (15) makes the tackle during Friday night’s game at Joe Montana Stadium.
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Belle Vernon’s Devin Whitlock led the Leopards to a top seed in Class 4A for the WPIAL football playoffs.
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Belle Vernon’s Jake Gedekoh (10) muscles his way into the end zone for a touchdown against Ringgold late in the second quarter of Friday night’s game at Joe Montana Stadium.
MONONGAHELA – It was a long night at Joe Montana Stadium Friday night, but Belle Vernon made enough plays to down Ringgold in a Big Eight Conference football game, 35-21.
With 7:24 to go in the third quarter and Belle Vernon leading 14-7, the game was stopped at 8:29 p.m. because of lightning and was delayed two hours, until 10:29 p.m.
Belle Vernon’s Devin Whitlock displayed lightning of his own as the senior quarterback rushed for 171 yards and four scores on 12 carries and passed for 72 additional yards.
Ringgold coach Darwin Manges said Whitlock was the difference in the game.
“Our kids played their hearts out and we know what we have,” he said. “It is hard to defend a kid like that,” he said.
“We tried everything we could, tried to keep him in front of us, but he makes plays in every game he plays in. We wanted to keep him off the field and it was playing into our hands.”
Belle Vernon coach Matt Humbert wasn’t thrilled with how the Leopards looked, but he and the team will take the win.
“It was a sloppy game and a weird, bizarre game,” he said. “I have never been a part of something as goofy as this.
“From the delay to sputtering on offense and turning the ball over, we shot ourselves in the foot, but we did what we had to do to win.”
Manges said the game was going how he and his coaching staff wanted.
“That score is not indicative (of the game), and we were playing with the No. 1 team in the state for 28 minutes,” he said. “We know the cards are stacked against us against almost every opponent we play in that big conglomerate of the Big Eight and I am proud of our team.
“I love each and every one of those kids in that locker room.”
Belle Vernon (4-0, 6-0) finished with 321 total yards on 32 plays while Ringgold (0-3, 3-4) gained 246 yards on 59 carries as it tried to control the clock.
The Leopards took the opening kickoff and went 57 yards on seven plays, with Whitlock scoring from nine yards out. Tyler Kovatch’s extra point made the score 7-0 with nine minutes to go in the first quarter.
While the Leps took the lead, it suffered a loss on the first play of the drive as senior Ryan McGrew suffered a leg injury and did not return.
“When McGrew got hurt, it threw a monkey wrench into our D-line rotation and hopefully he will be alright,” said Humbert. “Defensively, we played solid at times, but we have to get healthy.”
Ringgold countered with a 16-play, 49-yard drive that took 8:50 off the clock, but the Leopards’ defense stopped the Rams at the 20-yard line.
On Belle Vernon’s first play of its next drive, Logan Simko recovered a fumble at the Belle Vernon 20. It was the first of three fumble recoveries for Simko.
The Leopards defense came up with their second Red Zone stop of the first half on the drive as the Rams made it no farther than the 17.
“We were down there twice and came up empty,” said Manges. “There are always wouldas, couldas and shouldas that are always out there.”
After another Simko recovered fumble on the next drive, the Rams were able to take advantage and tie the game. Nine plays after the recovery, Landon Oslowski scored from nine yards out and his extra point tied the score with 6:09 to play in the half.
At that point, with the game tied 7-7, Ringgold had ran 27 plays while Belle Vernon had eight.
After forcing a Belle Vernon punt, the Rams took over at the Leopards’ 43 but were not able to capitalize on the field possession. It turned the ball over on downs with 2:13 left before halftime and the Leopards took advantage of a short field.
After Whitlock ran for 12 yards on first down, he hit Chase Ruokonen on a 17-yard pass and then Jake Gedekoh for a 20-yard gain to the Rams’ 11.
On the next play, Gedekoh scored with 59 seconds to go in the second quarter and Belle Vernon took a 14-7 lead into halftime.
The Leopards gained 125 yards on 16 plays in the first half while the Rams gained 74 yards on 33 plays.
The second half started but once lightning was spotted, the teams were sent to their respective locker rooms.
“We had momentum before the delay and the kids were fired up,” said Manges. But (the delay) was the same for both teams, there was no advantage or disadvantage.”
After the delay, Whitlock extended the Belle Vernon lead with his second and third touchdown runs of the game, from 45 and nine yards, to make the score 28-7.
Deondre Dotson scored from four yards for Ringgold with 4:38 left in the game. Whitlock closed out the scoring with a one-yard scoring run with 1:21 to go.
Cole Weightman continued his dominating season for the Leopards as he recorded 15 tackles.
Belle Vernon sophomore Quinton Martin dressed and warmed up in pregame but was held out.
“He is good,” Humbert said. “We could have played him tonight but chose not to.”
Both teams return to conference play Friday as Belle Vernon hosts Trinity and Ringgold heads to Thomas Jefferson.