By Thomas Sellers Jr.
Ridgeway’s Cameron Stansbury escapes from the tackle of Millington’s D’Monte Kemp during Friday night’s game at Halle Stadium.
MEMPHIS — One of the top offenses in Shelby County took on one of the youngest teams in the area. The final score from Halle Stadium Friday night might have been predictable with the high-powered Ridgeway Roadrunners defeating the youthful Millington Trojans 60-6. “We couldn’t stop them,” Millington Head Coach Chris Michael said. “We’re underman. It’s going to be a battle. It was big chunks, real quick. And our offense couldn’t get a first down in the whole first half. I think they started on the 30, 35, maybe the 40 and the 21. They didn’t have to go very far to get their first 40 points. It was basically scrimmaging on our end of the field.” The Roadrunners (4-1) picked up the district win over the Trojans scoring 40 points in the first quarter. Millington struggled with field position and missing normal punter Tyler Denson, out with an ankle injury. Ridgeway’s first touchdown came at the 10:40 mark when running back Cameron Stansbury broke loose for a 15-yard run to the end zone. Ahead 8-0, the Roadrunners added to the tally 2 minutes later when quarterback Tyrique Sandusky located receiver Vincent Taylor for a 35-yard touchdown. Behind 16-0, the Trojans (0-5) turned over the ball with an interception. Moments later, Sandusky made Millington pay for the turnover with a slant pass to Taylor for a 19-yard TD and a 24-0 score. Ridgeway went ahead 32-0 when Kundarrius Taylor hauled in a Sandusky pass from 30 yards out reaching the end zone over the middle. “We’re minus our punter,” Michael said. “You can’t change field position on the punt even on the times we could get the punt off that could have changed field position. The defense was battling. And they were in an uphill battle anyway. You can’t give a great team field position like that with the weapons they got and expect good results.” The Trojans’ offense still couldn’t manage a first down in their final series of the first quarter. Millington was forced to punt again. This time Taylor kept the Ridgeway offense off the field taking the ball 55 yards to the end zone for the touchdown and a 40-0 advantage entering the second quarter. Ridgeway scored twice in the second quarter with Stansbury finding the end zone again, this time from 7 yards out. The tally was 46-0. Then Sandusky hit his biggest pass play of the night hitting Taylor with a short pass. He did the rest of the work racing to the end zone from 74 yards out. The Roadrunners were ahead 54-0 at the break. Eating the clock in the third quarter, the Roadrunners drove down the field capping off the drive with a 2-yard TD. The final score of the night came courtesy of the Trojans. Millington’s defense forced a fumble recovered by Mathew Thomas. Thomas took the tall to the 8 yard line. A couple of plays later Millington freshman quarterback Tommy Clifton raced into the end zone for a 6-yard touchdown. The Trojans ended the first half of the season winless. With three shots left in league play and needing one win to earn a playoff spot, Michael wants to see his players reach a new mental level. “I’ve got to see some maturity and some growth,” he said. “We’re playing a lot of young kids. But they’ve got to learn going into that fight to go hard at the get go. Right now we’re not getting off to a good start. When things happen to them, right now they’re not mentally strong to fight through that early adversity. To get out there in the next series and get stops or get out there to get first downs, that’s what I’ve got to see in the second half of the season. “I’ve got to see the kids have some fight in them even when things are not going their way,” Michael concluded. “They’re going to keep fighting without us having to jump and yell at them. Just do things right. We didn’t have a ton of mistakes tonight. We just got beat. We got beat in every position of the offensive and defense lines. And you’re not going to win too many games when you’re not winning too many of those wars.”
The Roadrunners will travel to take on MUS next week. Meanwhile the Trojans return to Flag City next week for Homecoming against Kirby kicking off at 7 p.m.
