What we learned about Ridgewood football's season-opening win against Coshocton

COSHOCTON — Like veterans teams often do, Ridgewood didn't let a few early body blows faze them on Friday night.

In fact, the Generals absorbed them. Then they clenched their fists and came back throwing haymakers.

Senior quarterback Grant Lahmers and a swashbuckling defense helped shake off a sluggish start to pull away for a 42-2 win against host Coshocton in a nonleague clash at Stewart Field.

Ridgewood, a playoff team in Division V, Region 17 last season, improved to 20-0 in openers under coach John Slusser.

"That's pretty impressive I would say," Ridgewood senior quarterback Grant Lahmers said. "We knew about that coming in, and it's Coshocton. You always want to get that win."

Here is what we learned:

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1. Ridgewood defense is as advertised

With 10 starters back for a head coach notorious for producing quality defenses, it was no surprise that an aggressive group showed up with bad intentions.

Coshocton rode running backs Logan Wince, Champ Haley and Isaih Bronston for chunk yards on their first two drives, but the Generals held twice in their own territory in the first quarter to turn away potential scores.

They held again after facing a fourth down in their own territory following a safety, as Coshocton quarterback Colton Conkle was pressured up the middle and forced into an intentional grounding penalty. It gave the Generals possession at midfield.

Coshocton didn't cross midfield again until late in the third quarter, which was aided greatly by Coen Phillips' 35-yard kickoff return to midfield. By then, it was 35-2.

Sophomore linebacker Bryce Tolliver made an expected early impact, picking off a Conkle pass at the Coshocton 30-yard line five minutes into the second quarter. It led to an Aidan Sparger touchdown run from the 2, part of a stretch of 42 unanswered points.

"Tolly, he did phenomenal — me and him worked really well today," said Sparger, the team's All-Ohio linebacker who started alongside Tolliver in the lineup.

Added Slusser: "You notice when (Tolliver) hits people. It's different. It's like a shotgun going off."

Sparger said there was no panic for the defense after the early adversity. The core of players dealt with plenty in a roller-coaster 2023 season, so it wasn't foreign territory.

"We think of it that this is their Super Bowl," Sparger said. "When them come out, they are excited all of the time, and it hurts sometimes when you get excited and stuff doesn't go your way."

2. Ridgewood will lean on Lahmers

Senior quarterback Grant Lahmers isn't a flamboyant personality or a big play machine taking snaps for Ridgewood, but his play still does plenty of subtle talking for Chris Cabot's offense.

His hard runs wore down a Coshocton defense that spent much of the second and third quarters on the field. With slotbacks Matt Humphrey and Talon Carns providing perimeter bursts, Lahmers and Sparger provided the hard runs inside.

It led to drives of 48, 50, 30 and 50 yards in succession to end the first half — all ended in touchdowns. The 6-2, 195-pound Lahmers was at his best during a last-minute drive in the second quarter in which he hit tight end Logan Ridenbaugh with a 25-yard pass over the middle, then ran for 25 more to set up his 1-yard plunge as the half expired.

He had touchdowns of 8, 1 and 49 yards. The running game also set up Jackson Cabot's first career touchdown catch — a 66-yarder from Jace McQueen off a jet sweep pass that sucked up the secondary.

"I was so happy for our offensive line, because I've been questioning them all year about how tough they are and I thought they were the difference," Slusser said. "With Grant running it up in there behind them, they dominated the line of scrimmage."

3. Coshocton has plenty of room for growth

Between breaking in a glut of new playmakers and facing a veteran, well-schooled defense, Coshocton coach Steve Smith saw his team facing another uphill climb.

It wasn't exactly an ideal opener, even with a three-year starter in Conkle, a veteran line and a future star in sophomore wingback Logan Wince. Smith credited Ridgewood for "dominating every facet of the game."

"We had a great summer and a great camp," Smith said. "Obviously we've got lot of new players who are playing varsity football now, but we also had a lot of players coming back. This is not what I saw all summer, but hats off to them. They were more physical than us, they blocked better than us and tackled better than us."

The momentum took a heavy turn when Coshocton failed to convert from their own 35 with the 2-0 lead. Given the field position, Smith felt going for a conversion outweighed a short punt for field position.

"We were just trying to make something happen," Smith said. "We wanted to put it on our playmakers' hands. We were down there and needed momentum. We made a decision and didn't get it."

Now the focus turns to a Week 2 matchup with Johnstown, which blanked Zanesville, 38-0, in its opener. Marengo Highland, which dropped a 30-28 decision to Fredericktown in its home opener, awaits in Week 3.

"We start out with a couple of tough ones," Smith said. "That was a physical game, and we had a lot of injuries. We've got guys who are banged up, and we will assess where we're at on Sunday and regroup."

sblackbu@gannett.com; Twitter: @SamBlackburnTR

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: What we learned about Ridgewood football's season-opening win against Coshocton