La Center bounces back vs. Ridgefield

LA CENTER — Beating a veteran La Center football team figured to be a challenge for Ridgefield on Friday. The fact that La Center was coming off a loss didn’t make the job any easier.

With Ryan Kulla rushing for 165 yards and three touchdowns, the determined Wildcats were opportunistic early and devastatingly efficient late to beat the visiting Spudders, 27-13. The result left both teams at 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the Trico League.

“We really challenged the kids this week, because if we had lost this game we would be on the outside looking in,” La Center coach John Lambert said.

Part of that challenge was a physical week of practice that carried into Friday’s contest. The Wildcats won the battle up front, both on offense and defense, which kept Ridgefield’s slippery Dylan Young to 56 yards rushing and allowed Kulla to rack up some impressive numbers.

“I was focusing on keeping the ball and just ran hard,” Kulla said, explaining that he was determined to bounce back from some costly fumbles in the loss to Toledo a week earlier.

This week, it was the Wildcats who made the opponent pay for fumbles.

La Center led by two touchdowns before Ridgefield even had a chance to get started. The Spudders fumbled their first snap of the game and the Wildcats marched 41 yards on six plays with Kulla scoring on a 12-yard run. Ridgefield fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and La Center went 35 yards on nine plays to lead 13-0 eight minutes into the game.

When Kulla cut against the grain and dashed 45 yards midway through the second quarter, the Wildcats lead was 19-3 and La Center looked poised for a runaway win.

But the Spudders came to life with a 65-yard, 13-play drive to a Young touchdown. The key play on that drive was a 27-yard pass from Matt Newman to Clayton Farr on a fake punt. When Newman kicked his second long field goal to end the first half, the score was 19-13 and Ridgefield had some momentum.

That shifted on the second-half kickoff. La Center’s Zachary Olivera took a handoff from Kulla and weaved his way along the right sideline for a 68-yard return.

“It was a great call on their part, just like our fake punt,” Ridgefield coach Kitt Rawlings said. “I think we just missed some tackles. We had some guys in the spot to make a play, but we missed the tackle.”

The Wildcats took advantage, with Kulla scoring from 5-yards out and then catching a pass for the 2-point conversion.

La Center didn’t score again, but the Wildcats had the ball much of the rest of the night.

“We were driving on offense and stopping them on defense, too,” Kulla said. “They were wearing down, and we just kept going.”

That, Ridgefield’s Rawlings said, summed up a frustrating evening for his Spudders.

“They beat us up front,” Rawlings said. “They beat us up good.”

LA CENTER 27, RIDGEFIELD 13

Ridgefield 0 13 0 0—13

La Center 13 6 8 0—27

First quarter

LC — Ryan Kulla 12 run (Jacob Mendez kick)

LC — Seth Baxter 2 run (kick blocked)

Second quarter

Rid — Matt Newman 42 FG

LC — Kulla 45 run (run failed)

Rid — Dylan Young 6 run (Newman kick)

Rid — Newman 37 FG

Third quarter

LC — Kulla 5 run (Kulla pass from Nick Deotsch)

Leaders

Rushing — Ridgefield — Young 15-56, Juan Valencia 7-16, Clay barton 4-19; La Center — Kulla 21-165, Baxter 9-29, Chris Mayolo 8-29, Curtis Nye 2-22, Nick Deotsch 7-2, Zachary Olivera 1-(minus 15).

Passing — Ridgefield — Barton 5-14-0-31, Newman 1-1-0-27; La Center — Deotsch 2-4-0-16.

Receiving — Ridgefield — Clayton Farr 1-27, Young 2-18, James Oman 1-19, Valencia 1-(minus 8); La Center — Kulla 1-4, Brody Hollingshead 1-12.

Next up: Ridgefield (3-1) vs. Stevenson (4-0); La Center (3-1) at Ilwaco