Ringgold, Gardner get redemption against Big Macs

CANONSBURG - Friday night was payback time for Ringgold High's football team and its quarterback, Lorenzo Gardner.

A year ago, the Rams suffered their lone Quad West Conference loss to Canon-McMillan, 31-14.

Gardner, meanwhile, had one of the worst games of his career ,completing only two of 16 passes for 38 yards and three interceptions.

Last night, however, the Rams and Gardner were too much for the Big Macs.

Gardner ran for 175 yards and three touchdowns, and also threw for 111 yards and another score as Ringgold coasted to a misleading 32-22 victory.

'Lorenzo was fired up for tonight's game,' Ringgold coach Scott Venick said. 'He was ready to play and very focused. He played well and made a lot of good decisions.'

Gardner didn't waste any time getting even with Canon-McMillan.

On the game's third play, with only 83 seconds elapsed, Gardner raced 46 yards on a draw play for a touchdown.

Gardner then teamed with Dwayne Crews for a 22-yard touchdown pass with 1:57 left in the first quarter to give the Rams a 19-2 advantage.

Gardner upped the lead to a commanding 26-2 at halftime when he went in from six yards out with 8:56 left in the second quarter.

After the Big Macs' Jarred Freeman scored twice from one yard out to trim the margin to 26-15 with 5:15 to go, Gardner ended Canon-McMillan's comeback hopes with a 37-yard scoring run with 3:34 remaining.

The Rams (2-2, 2-0) piled up 364 offensive yards including 253 on the ground Ð even though leading rusher Joe Webb sat out the second half with an injury.

'This was a good win for us,' Venick said. 'We're where we want to be in the conference and showed a lot of flashes we could be explosive.'

Venick liked what he saw from the offensive line, which was missing its lone returning starter, center Todd West, who was injured.

'They really stepped it up,' Venick said.

Pat Smith, a 278-pound junior, played center the first half and finished there after another junior Chuck Loutitt was on the ball in the third quarter.

One statistic concerned Venick.

The Rams had 12 penalties for 105 yards including eight for 65 following intermission.

'Penalties really cost us in the second half,' he said. 'It never should have been that close.'

LEFTOVERS: Canon-McMillan's first two points came when Tanny Deliere blocked Chris Morgan's punt for a safety. Morgan made a one-hand catch of a 21-yard pass from Gardner to set up the Rams' second touchdown, a four-yard run by fullback Jason Kirschner. Caz Alvarez's interception preceded Ringgold's third TD. Ringgold is home Friday with Fox Chapel.