Ravenscroft football
PHOTO BY HEATHER KOPETSKIE
Defensive end Chase Douglas (20) and the Ravenscroft defense sqarm a Forsyth Country Day running back during Thursday's 21-7 win. The victory improves the Ravens' record to 3-2.
Ravens rebound, foil the Furies
Following Thursday night's 21-7 victory over Forsyth Country Day, Ravenscroft football coach Ned Gonet sat on the aluminum bench facing the Ravens' empty field, and conceded the importance of the Ravens' victory.
Just six days after a crushing loss to rival Cardinal Gibbons, Ravenscroft was back on the field, and the longtime coach thought it was the best scenario for his young squad.
"That was an emotional, physical game last week, but we had a quick turnaround," he explained. "We didn't have a lot of time to worry about it."
And the Ravens did an excellent job focusing on the present, jumping out to a 14-0 lead on Quinn Billerman's 54-yard touchdown pass to Shane Bird on the first play of the second quarter. Earlier in the game, running back Connor Gonet bursted in for a 1-yard score.
Bird said his team was determined to look forward and not back, concentrating on the Furies Thursday night and not their recent defeat.
"We don't want to look to the past, and what happened at Gibbons," he said following the game. "Obviously, they are our rivals and we lost to them, but this is the type of game we wanted to have, and we played hard from the beginning."
In the second half, Forsyth made a push as running back Sam Pullam reached the end zone on a 2-yard run midway through third quarter, pulling the Furies within seven, 14-7.
Highlights from the Ravens' 21-7 win Thursday night.
But two possessions later, the Ravens capitalized on good field position, mounting a 39-yard drive, capped by a 2-yard Temple Sloan touchdown run on the fourth quarter's opening play.
And Ravenscroft all but ended the game on the Furies' next possession, foiling Forsyth's fourth-down attempt at mid-field. Linebacker John Haslett slipped into the Furies' backfield, and made the crushing tackle, ending the drive and any realistic chance of a Forsyth comeback.
The Furies took over offensively two more times, but neither drive yielded points.
On Forsyth's second-to-last snap of the game, WR William Eversmann caught a 13-yard pass, and was leveled to the ground by Bird. The hit could be heard from across the field.
On the next play, the Furies turned the ball over on downs, and the Ravens ran out the clock.
Coach Gonet stated he wasn't surprised by Bird's outstanding game. In addition to his TD reception, the senior had an interception— narrowly missed second one — made a big punt return and administered the game's biggest hit.
"That is my expectation for Shane," the coach said. "He is athletic. He's been in the program a long time. And we put him in there to make plays, whether it's a big tackle, punt return or interception."
Hartland Jones, Connor Gonet and a handful of other Ravens are also responsible for making the big plays, the coach reasoned.
"We have people we expect to be playmakers," he said. "We aren't surprised to have those guys make big plays because they should be making big plays."
Jones finished with seven catches for 85 yards, including a beautiful, 30-yard, over-the-shoulder catch, setting up Sloan's TD in the second half.
"He is an extremely good athlete, and he's definitely our go-to guy when we need a deep play," Bird said of Jones.
Despite drawing more attention with each passing week, Connor Gonet continued to churn out yards Thursday, carrying the ball 18 times for 52 yards and a touchdown. "It is nearly impossible to bring him down because he has that good forward lean that makes it really hard to tackle him," Spears said.
Five games into the season, opponents have keyed on the bruising running back.
"I think people realized we featured Connor in the beginning of the season, and now they are defending him," said Coach Gonnet, adding the team must adjust as defenses focus on the run.
One player who's learned to adjust has been Hasslet, stepping in for injured linebacker Alex Spears. The junior had big shoes to fill considering Spears is the "nucleus of the defense," Gonet said.
"That's been a big loss not having Alex around, but John has benefitted from that time on the field," the coach explained. "He has always been very athletic, he just needed some game experience. And this is great because now we have a good 3 or 4 man rotation at linebacker."
Spears could be back for next Friday's game at Charlotte Country Day.
Ravenscroft's Jake Morin (3) cuts upfield as a Furies' defender gives pursuit Thursday.
The Ravens limited the Furies to just 241 yards of total offense, including just 46 yards on the ground. In comparison, the Ravens tallied 329 yards. Most of the yards yielded by the Ravenscroft defense came on short passing routes, while the Furies scrambled to get back in the game.
Bird commended the all-out effort of senior defensive end Chase Douglas. "Our defensive line doesn't get a lot of attention, but they have done well," the safety said. "And Chase, man, he is just all over the place."
In just his first season as the Ravens' varsity QB, Billerman continues to make strides, according to his coaches.
The sophomore threw for 204 yards on 16 of 31 attempts, adding one touchdown and two interception.
"Every game he is taking a step forward," Gonet said. "The important thing for us is to get his confidence up. He has shown a lot of development so far this year."
As teams focus more on defending the running game, the Ravens hope their young signalcaller can punish defenses which neglect the Ravenscroft air attack.
"We're trying to balance the offense out, open up the passing game a little bit," Gonet said. "We have a lot of young guys, and we are developing them. These kids are learning, they're growing and they're maturing."
Facing 4-0 Charlotte Country Day Sept. 25 should give the 3-2 Ravens plenty of opportunities to put what they've learn to the test.
