The Ridgefield Spudders players and coaching staff will not even mention 2A Greater St. Helens League title this season unless it is in the grasp the week of, said head coach Scott Rice.
“We take care of business every Friday night; we’ll be in a great position to be where we want to be at the end of the year,” Rice said.
Despite having a great regular season record, the stinging week nine loss to Woodland in a classic defensive affair, really peeled the Spudders and they were out in the opening post season game against a strong Fife team. But this year, an approach of taking it day-by-day, worrying about what’s next on a Friday night, could be the key to reaching the top after all.
“We made the playoffs. We did what we were supposed to do,” Rice said, “And so I think this year what our emphasis is going to be is today’s today and we’ll take advantage of this Friday at the jamboree. Then we’ll focus on Prairie next week and then we’ll focus on Montesano the week after that.”
To help achieve the success they want at the end of the year, the Spudders return starting quarterback Landon DeBeaumont but with a new offense. The new scheme was on the hush-hush but Rice said all of a sudden people around the high school football world were asking about it.
The offense in question? The Gun-T, a modern twist on a classic.
“I think that we’ll maximize our opportunity to get the ball to certain guys in the spread,” Rice said. “In the last few years, we haven’t effectively done a good job on that.”
One thing is for certain at Ridgefield no matter what a win/loss column looks like, the Spudders are going to be organized. Special teams, a major part of the game that sometimes may go overlooked certainly doesn’t slip by the Spudder coaches.
“The more organized we can be, the more reps we can do with special teams, I think the better we compete,” Rice said. “That all falls down on coaches to make sure that we’re ready to rock and roll.”
Rice said that the very day on the schedule against Hudson’s Bay High School in week four will mark 50 years since the Ridgefield Spudders made their home debut in their stadium. Ever since then, the Spudder faithful has filled the place week after week no matter the weather.
“I don’t think there’s a better community in Southwest Washington,” Rice said. “I think that our people show up, you know. Our stadium is full every Friday night. Our kids travel really well and especially as our community grows, it’s important that we give them a product on Friday night that they can be proud of.”
