Football: St. Joseph (Metuchen) Rallies to Beat Ridge, 37-34

METUCHEN, NJ -- In a football game replete with big plays, wild momentum swings and a lot of cramping stoppages on a humid day, St. Joseph erased an early 14-point deficit and defeated Ridge, 37-34, in the opener for both teams on Saturday afternoon.

Five years after his last game as Ridge High School's head coach, St. Joe's coach Bill Tracy coached for the first time against his former program. Most of the staff that was in place as Tracy's assistants in 2019 remain at Ridge, including current head coach Andy West.

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Junior quarterback Justin Scaramuzzo completed 15 of 25 passes for 387 yards and three touchdowns and also ran for a touchdown for St. Joe's. Senior receiver Ashton Irvin caught eight passes for 147 yards and two TDs for the Falcons.

But in the first few minutes of the contest, it looked like senior back Ryan Turner of Ridge was going to run away with star of the game honors. Turner gained 150 all-purpose yards in the first four minutes of the game: He capped the Red Devils' opening possession with a 52-yard TD run on a counter play that he took down the left sideline.

On St. Joe's first play from scrimmage after that touchdown, Scaramuzzo executed a perfect play-action fake and threw a bomb to Jacob Pappas for a 68-yard touchdown. Then, Turner returned the ensuing kickoff 96 yards down the left sideline and Sean Davis kicked the extra point to give Ridge a 14-7 lead with 7:59 still to play in the first quarter.

Turner, though, touched the ball just three more times the rest of the game, as he was frequently being treated on the sidelines for leg cramps -- an affliction that beset many players on both teams as the day went from a sunny, muggy start to a cloudy, blustery finish three hours later.

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"Turner is electric. Great things happen when he has the ball," West said. "Unfortunately, I think those long runs he had early in the game might have led to some of the cramping he was experiencing. When we walked off the bus today, my first thought was that it was a little humid out here. It's not uncommon for your first game to have cramping issues."

"It was tough for Andy, and I know some of their better players were out for a lot of the second half," Tracy said.

Senior fullback Aidan Stieglitz, who also had a big game for Ridge, scored on a 67-yard touchdown run with 5:46 to go in the first quarter as the Red Devils extended their lead to 21-7. On the play, Stieglitz ran off left tackle, then broke several tackles downfield on his way to the end zone.

Stieglitz finished with 105 yards and three TDs on 13 carries. After St. Joe's had turned an early double-digit deficit into a double-digit lead in the second half, Stieglitz' final TD run, a 6-yard burst with 6:16 left in the game, enabled the Red Devils to close to within three points, 37-34. But they never got the ball back after that.

On third-and-20 from its own 31-yard line, St. Joe's essentially sealed the game when Irving came down with a leaping catch of Scaramuzzo's third-down throw to give the Falcons a first down at the Ridge 42 with 3:23 left in the game.

"I know coach Tracy likes his quarterback a lot, and I can certainly see why after today," West said. "On several of his completions, we were in the right spot (defensively), but it's tough to defend a perfect pass."

After Stieglitz' long run had given Ridge a 21-7 lead with 5:46 left in the first quarter, the Red Devils only had one first down the rest of the half. St. Joe's took its first lead with 2:47 left in the second quarter on a 19-yard pass to Irving in the right flat, a play on which he made a deft move to free himself after the catch. Tyler Huseth's extra point gave the Falcons a 24-21 lead.

Huseth also kicked field goals of 35, 33 and 39 yards for St. Joe's.

Connor McLachlan of Ridge passed for 160 yards, completing 5 of 13 passes.

Ridge will play Hillsborough in its home opener on Friday night. St. Joe's has a home game against Union next Saturday.

RIDGE (0-1)   21 0    7  6 -- 34
ST. JOE (1-0) 10 14 13 0 -- 37

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