High School Football Preview: Ridgefield ready for rough and tumble schedule
Talking Tubers – High octane offense should carry Spudders far
Nick Sisson for Blast Zone Media / blastzonenews@gmail.com
High School Football
The Basics
Team: Ridgefield Spudders
Head Coach: Scott Rice, 7th season
Helmets: White
League: 2A Greater St. Helens League
Last Year’s Record: 8-2, 6-1 league
Lost Week 10 crossover playoff round versus Fife, 34-7
RIDGEFIELD — A promising 2024 football season came to an abrupt halt last year down in the city that can lay claim to having the first In & Out restaurant in Washington State.
Indeed, Ridgefield is that city. And after a 34-7 loss to Fife in the opening round of the playoffs the Spudders found themselves, too in and out of the playoffs (just like every 2A GSHL playoff team). And even though the final whistle of that game marked the official end of the season, you can still feel a lingering effect in Spudderville.
That matchup with Fife came one week after the Spuds fell 14-7 to Woodland in what amounted to the league championship game. Winning that title was a goal that had been set forth immediately following the 2023 season’s ending, which once again came in the first round of the playoffs.
“We set that goal of winning that league championship, and once the Woodland game was over, you just got the sense that falling short of achieving that goal might have worked against us a little bit the following week,” said Ridgefield coach Scott Rice. “We still had a game to play, but I think the pain of losing a second straight season on the last league game stung some of the guys.”
And Rightfully so.
Last season Ridgefield started fast out of the gate with a romp over Prairie on the road, followed up with a win over perennial 1A power Montesano. The Spudders won their first eight games of the season and going into the final regular season contest they were leading the league in fewest points allowed.
It all added up to a massive heap of expectations.
But after that loss to the Beavers of South Cowlitz County, Ridgefield settled for second place in league and received a home game for their efforts against the Trojans of Fife High School. After the final horn most onlookers left the stadium bewildered as to what had just transpired on a soggy Saturday afternoon against a team that had a lot of guys with tough names to pronounce. And by the time the lights were off in the stadium coach Rice had already started to ponder the direction of program and how things might be vastly different in the not-too-distant future.
“I want to be here coaching this program for a very long time, so I think it’s important to reflect on how we do things and how we coach these young men both on and off the field,” Rice said.
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