Rifle – Why run the ball outside when going up the middle works just fine?
That was a question the Florence Huskies did not have a chance to ponder, because the yards were piling up too quickly to think.
A potent option team, Florence opted to run over center for much of its 35-14 victory over Rifle in the Class 3A state football championship Saturday at Bears Stadium.
Running behind Nick Karpilo, a 210-pound center, and guards Calvin Rutter and Jared Crussell, backs Brandon Ridgeway and Garrett Wilson pounded out 316 yards between them.
“We do it with a great offensive line. Our line was awesome, and it’s awesome to be able to pick up that many yards,” Wilson said.
Florence somehow found a way to stay upright on a slippery, muddy field, and that is one reason coach Mark Buderus gave for the straight-ahead approach.
“A lot of it had to do with the field,” Buderus said. “We talked about how we had to be a bad-weather team today. We showed we can play in good weather, then we had to show we could do it in bad weather.”
The Huskies scored more points than any other 3A team this season behind the three-man rushing attack of Wilson, Ridgeway and quarterback Jeremy Young. The trio finished the season with 369 yards in the title game and 4,055 on the season.
“The linemen (including tackles Tanner Wilcox and Osha Hampton) are the heart and soul of this offense,” Ridgeway said. “They are taking out guys twice their size.”
Through much of the regular season, Florence tore into opposing defenses with options, counters and bootlegs. But when those defenses started to focus on Young and Ridgeway on the option, it opened up the middle.
“Teams had been keying on me and Ridgeway, so Garrett stepped up and took it up the middle,” Young said.
A prime example of the Huskies’ attack came in the third quarter with the score 21-7 in favor of Florence.
Standing 12 yards from the end zone, Wilson took the handoff from Young and ran straight up the middle. He cleared the defensive line before plowing into and over the safety at the 5-yard line, then spinning into the end zone on an impressive run.
“We had to suck it up and get tough,” said Ridgeway, who scored on three runs of 3 yards or fewer.
