JOHNSONBURG — It will be a battle of opposites when Ridgway and Brookville square off with the Large School Division title on the line tonight in Johnsonburg.
The high-octane Raiders (7-1) come in averaging 33 points per game with a pass-first approach under quarterback Jack Krug, placing them as one of District 9’s premier offenses.
Meanwhile, the Elkers (7-1) are giving up just eight points per game on defense, and have held six of their eight opponents to one score or less.
It’s a game that will pit strengths against strengths, and a chess match that Ridgway head coach Mark Heindl says will keep his team’s hands full the entire night as it looks to win another Large School title.
“We’re prepared, and the kids know what’s at stake. There’s been no discussion about the what-ifs,” he said of the division race. “We just need to control our business, and that’s each of (our players) taking care of their assignments. If we do that, we’ll be in good shape. Brookville is tough, and we’re looking forward to the challenge.”
The challenge begins with slowing down Krug. The junior quarterback has completed 124 out of 201 passing attempts for 1,432 yards and 18 touchdowns, but has been picked off six times on the year.
He also leads the Raiders in rushing, accounting for 369 yards and six scores on 36 carries.
To combat the dual-threat Krug presents, Heindl says getting pressure and containing him from big scrambles are key.
“Our kids know you can’t let a kid like (Krug) just sit back and pick you apart,” Heindl said. “We’ll have to force him out of the pocket, and then contain him so he doesn’t take off. He’s a rare breed and puts a lot of pressure on other teams. We’ll have to force him into throws he’s not comfortable with, and then capitalize on it.”
To take advantage of those throws, Heindl wants to see his defense force turnovers, and then convert those takeaways into points, while taking care of the ball themselves.
Krug threw four interceptions last week against Kane, but the Wolves couldn’t make Brookville pay, as they coughed the ball up five times themselves in a 33-14 Raider victory.
Defensively, Ridgway has forced seven interceptions and six fumble recovering this season.
“Turnovers are key number one, and capitalizing is number two,” Heindl said. “It’s just like what Brookville did to Kane — they put them into bad situations. We’ll have to put (Brookville) into situations they’re not comfortable with.”
When Krug does make completions — and he will — the Ridgway defense will have to make open field tackles and prevent short gains from becoming explosive plays.
“We know he’ll complete passes, we just have to keep them to a minimum and we can’t let them explode for big gains,” Heindl said.
Along with turnovers and preventing big plays, the Elkers want to sustain long drives while on offense to keep Krug and his playmakers off the field. That will require getting the ground game going early and often.
Thus far, Ridgway has primarily relied on two running backs to carry the workload: Gabe Watts and Jake Wickett. Watts leads the team in carries with 58, and has rushed for 395 yards and six touchdowns on the year, while Wickett has toted the ball 57 times for 403 yards and seven touchdowns.
“We have to keep (Brookville) off the field as much as possible. Our best defense will be our offense to get some drives going to keep Krug off the field,” Heindl said. “So it’s important to run the ball… controlling the trenches will be key.”
If the Elkers can manage to do those things, they’ll be in good shape for their second-consecutive District 9 Large School Division title. Ridgway won the 2018 crown in the first year under the District’s new format.
Tonight’s game kicks off at 7 p.m. at Johnsonburg stadium.
