Spudders to try to rebound from close loss to Mark Morris in Week 6

Ridgefield Spudders (1-5, 0-3 2A GSHL)

Week 1: Ridgefield 41, Castle Rock 0

Week 2: W.F. West 33, Ridgefield 13

Week 3: La Center 35, Ridgefield 7
Week 4: Hockinson 42, Ridgefield 15
Week 5: Washougal 34, Ridgefield 14
Week 6: Mark Morris 30, Ridgefield 27

Next: at R.A. Long, 7 p.m. Friday

The Spudders allowed two fourth-quarter touchdowns and just missed out on their first league win of the season.

So close for the Spudders:

Ridgefield ended up losing the lead with just more than a minute left in the game. But the Spudders would not have been in that position had it not been for two earlier scoring drives by the Monarchs.

Mark Morris opened the game with a touchdown drive that featured two fourth-down conversions.

And in the third quarter, the Monarchs once again converted two fourth-down plays on the scoring drive to give them a 22-21 lead.

On offense, Ridgefield had a first-and-goal situation in the first half but failed to score.

Ridgefield’s Jeremy Martin (35), shown here in a game earlier this season against Washougal, had an 81-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the Spudders’ loss to Mark Morris last week. Photo by Mike Schultz

Short lead:

That 22-21 lead lasted all of 14 seconds, though.

Ridgefield’s Jeremy Martin returned the ensuing kickoff 81 yards for a touchdown and a 27-21 advantage.

That was awesome:

Hunter Abrams made one of the more impressive runs you will see all season. His 54-yard touchdown in the second quarter gave Ridgefield a 14-6 lead.

On the play, he broke one tackle near the line of scrimmage. About 10, 15 yards later, he was surrounded by three Monarchs. One appeared to be taking down Abrams, but Abrams did a spin move on the way down, planted his hand into the turf to stop from going all the way to the ground, then broke free from the defenders and was back to top speed the rest of the way.

No chance:

Mark Morris was on a long losing streak. So when the Monarchs took the lead with just more than a minute to play, they had no intention of giving the Spudders a chance to take that victory away from them.

Yes, Mark Morris went for the onside kick, up three with a minute or so to play.

The Monarchs recovered and were able to run out the clock.

Coach Speak:

What did Kim Ulman think of his team’s performance in Week 6? “We had some key injuries. Some kids were asked to play who haven’t spent much time on the field for varsity games. I was happy with how hard our kids played.”

MVP on offense: Hunter Abrams for that touchdown and his 101 yards from scrimmage.

MVP on defense: Simon Berkey with 10.5 tackles, including one tackle-for-loss.

Thoughts on Week 7 vs. R.A. Long: “We will travel to Longview again,’’ Ulman said. “It is a winnable game for us. Same story, though. We will need to play the best we have all season. Specifically, we will need to be the best ‘mentally’ we have been.”