NOVEMBER 30, 2015 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2015, 1:43 PM
BY JIM MCCONVILLE
CORRESPONDENT |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
RIDGEWOOD – On Saturday, just before 4 p.m., the Ridgewood High School football team will run out of the tunnel at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford to play the North 1, Group 5 championship game against Passaic County Tech.
Let that sink in for a minute. For the seventh time in program history, the Maroons (9-2) will play for a state-sectional title. Those are words that many would not have associated with this team a few months ago.
Yet, this merry band of overachievers has put together one of the most improbable and impressive seasons in head coach Chuck Johnson’s 32 seasons at RHS, and they capped it off on Friday, Nov. 20 with a little history.
With its come-from-behind, 24-17 victory in overtime against No. 5 seed Montclair, top-seeded Ridgewood exorcised its biggest playoff demon.
The Mounties had won each of the teams’ previous four playoff meetings, including a 33-0 shellacking in the North 1, Group 5 final two years ago, which ruined the Maroons’ unbeaten season.
“Wow. I’m so happy for this group,” Johnson said. “They’ve been so great to coach, and they’ve worked as hard as any team we’ve had. The commitment they put in the weight room this summer paid off for them.”
Nothing improbable about it…Grp 5 teams aren’t very good up here in North 1.
I bet that Mahwah (Gr 3) and Old Tappan (Gr 4) would win the Grp 5 playoffs if given the opportunity…