Football Preview: Ridgewood Maroons vs. Northern Highlands Highlanders
After each having a week off, the Ridgewood Maroons and the Northern Highlands Highlanders will dust off their jerseys to challenge one another at 6:15 p.m. on Friday. Northern Highlands took a loss in their last contest and will be looking to turn the tables on Ridgewood, who comes in off a win.
Ridgewood took a loss when they played away from home back in September, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed last Friday. They enjoyed a cozy 18-0 victory over Hackensack. Given the Maroons' advantage in MaxPreps' New Jersey football rankings (they are ranked 36th, while the Comets are ranked 159th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Colin Burns continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 137 yards and a touchdown on only 13 carries. With that strong performance, he is now averaging an impressive 102.2 rushing yards per game. Ridgewood also got a significant boost from Owen Laffey, who ran away from the competition to the tune of 104 yards.
Ridgewood didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. It was truly a group effort as A.J. Caruso, Michael McKenna, and Quinn Conneen picked up one apiece.
Meanwhile, Saturday just wasn't the day for Northern Highlands' offense. They took a blow against NV - Old Tappan last Saturday, falling 27-0. The match marked the first time this season in which the Highlanders were not able to get on the board.
Ridgewood's win bumped their record up to 5-1. As for Northern Highlands, their loss ended a six-game streak of away wins dating back to last season and brought them to 3-3.
Ridgewood was dealt a bruising 35-7 defeat at the hands of Northern Highlands in their previous matchup back in September of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Northern Highlands' Nate Johnson, who rushed for 39 yards and two touchdowns, and also threw for 104 yards and two touchdowns while completing 87.5% of his passes. Now that Ridgewood knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
