Homecoming Football Game

As the ThunderRidge versus Doherty Homecoming game ended with heightened excitement, the competitive nature of the players also soared.. Last year, ThunderRidge lost by a single point due to a missed two point conversion, but this year they were determined to win in front of the home of the home faithful.

This year, Doherty came in after three blowout losses to Mullen, Cherry Creek, and Pine Creek. They have given up a combined 138 points, while only scoring 44 points. Although the Grizzlies are 1-2, they had a runaway win against Rangeview 42-14 in there season opener, but they would lose their next two games. The first loss was to Lakewood, the second loss was to Fairview. In all three games, ThunderRidge hadn’t scored a point in the second half of the football game. The year after, ThunderRidge beat Doherty 24-7. At first, the ThunderRidge offense started a little slow and only scored seven points in the first two quarters, which was a Brent Huber pass to Chris Franquemont. In the third and fourth quarter, the ThunderRidge offense got going in the third and fourth quarter and ended the football game with 24 points. The defense was dominant with eight sacks, one interception, and a forced fumble.

“At the beginning of the year our energy was pretty lackluster but that last game was very high energy. We got a couple of stops on defense and our offense stepped up. Another big part of energy was the amazing crowd turn out. We can only do so much to help how we are on the field and a big crowd watching and cheering always boosts the team to perform better,” commented Charlie Ryan, an inside linebacker.

The Grizzlies’ high powered offense last year was not enough to secure a win. Former Quarterback, Ryan Gilmore, threw for 192 yards with 12 completions and one touchdown pass, while former star running back, Spencer Lambert, rushed for 161 yards on 27 carries and scored three touchdowns in the process. On the other side of the field, the former Doherty Quarterback Brody Gish threw for 100 yards on five completions with two touchdown passes and the former RB rushed for 121 yards on 10 carries.

For this year, the magnitude of the Homecoming game was full of exciting plays and high energy. It is up to the Grizzlies and the fans to keep this energy up so when we get into the harder games, we can come home on top.