Southeastern Pennsylvania Top 10
1. Ridley (13-1. Weeks rated: 4. Last week: 4)
2. La Salle (12-1. Weeks rated: 15. Last week: 2)
3. North Penn (13-1. Season over.)
4. Archbishop Wood (11-2. Weeks rated: 1. Last week: Unrated)
5. Pottsgrove (13-1. Season over.)
6. Avon Grove (12-1. Season over.)
7. George Washington (8-3. Season over.)
8. Interboro (12-1. Season over.)
9. St. Joseph’s Prep (9-3. Season over.)
10. Downingtown East (10-3. Season over.)
For years, the criticism would roll in: The Central League isn’t strong enough. Delaware County is a basketball hotbed, not a football area. Bucks and Montgomery counties have much stronger leagues, much stronger teams.
For years, Ridley just kept on winning. The Green Raiders kept winning Central League title after Central League title, rolled through Delaware County in the 1980s and ’90s, before a little bump in the road called Strath Haven interrupted those runs this decade.
Now it appears Ridley is holding the mantle of being the premier program in Delaware County again — and a Southeastern Pennsylvania powerhouse once more under new head coach Dennis Decker, who brought Ridley to its only PIAA Class AAAA (large school) state championship appearance as a star quarterback in 1990, when he was chosen Pennsylvania’s Player of the Year.
This comes in the wake of Ridley doing something that not many high school football watchers in Pennsylvania, let alone the country, thought they could do last Friday. That’s take out world-beater North Penn, the area’s No. 1 team since the start of the season, in a thoroughly dominating 19-10 victory.
The Green Raiders punished North Penn. Ridley tacklers swamped over and smacked Knight ballcarriers. The only time North Penn got into the end zone was on a trick play near the end of the first half. Otherwise, it was total Ridley domination.
In fact, this postseason has been nothing but Ridley domination — starting and ending with the defense. The Green Raiders have outscored their four playoff opponents 124-32 — with North Penn’s 10 points being the only points coming against Ridley’s first-team defense.
Before that, Ridley's first-team defense hadn’t surrendered a point this postseason. Council Rock South scored on a blocked punt on Ridley’s second-team defense in the Green Raiders’ 40-15 victory. Ridley then held Downingtown East to only 124 yards of total offense against its first-team defense before Decker pulled his defensive starters in the fourth quarter.
The mastermind behind this whole thing, Decker will be the first to tell you, is defensive coordinator Ralph Batty. The veteran defensive whiz knows how to take away opposing teams' strengths and game plan against their best weapons. North Penn had averaged 33.5 points a game through its first 13 victories, and 38.6 in the postseason.
"They just hit us, and hit us; they’re the hardest-hitting team and the toughest team we played all year," North Penn quarterback Todd Smolinsky said. "Every time you looked down field, they had everyone covered. There’s only so many things you can do against a team like that. They took everything away."
This Saturday, in the PIAA Class AAAA state semifinals at 1 p.m. at Northeast High in Philadelphia, Batty and his defense will once again be faced with a monumental challenge — holding down the explosive La Salle offense.
Once again, the whispers are filtering back to Ridley. Things like, 'The Green Raiders played their state championship game last week against North Penn,' 'They can’t contain the powerful Explorers’ offense,' 'They played a weaker schedule.'
Decker, who’s done a masterful job in his first season ever as a head coach, just shrugs.
"Hey, what are you going to do? These kids busted their butts and did something no one thought they could do last week in beating North Penn," Decker said. "We don’t think about that stuff here. We focus on what’s ahead and keeping to what we have next. Some people want to give us credit, that’s fine. But some people don’t seem to want to do that. For now, we’re still here, one of four teams still playing in the state."
And now the frightening part for anyone who has to line up and play Ridley next year — the bulk of this season’s team is sophomores and juniors. The Green Raiders may actually be a year ahead of schedule. But Decker and his crew wouldn’t change a thing. Winning speaks volumes enough.
Joseph Santoliquito covers high schools for the Philadelphia Daily News and is a contributor to MaxPreps.com. He can be contacted at JSantoliquito@yahoo.com.
