Big plays spur Spudders to football win over Castle Rock

RIDGEFIELD — Kevin Miser made his first career start at linebacker Friday night.

Cade Morrill started for the first time at quarterback.

Together, they made the two big plays that lifted Ridgefield to a 23-10 season-opening non-league victory over Castle Rock at Spudder Stadium.

Miser returned a fumble 25 yards for the Spudders’ opening touchdown, and Morrill’s Houdini-like scramble turned into a 76-yard touchdown pass to Taylor Nolan late in the third quarter that gave Ridgefield a 23-3 lead.

“Like I told the team afterward, it was a win,” said fourth-year Spudders coach Dan Andersen. “Some of them are ugly ones, but it’s a win.”

Morrill, who played tight end for Ridgefield last season, won the job over fellow senior Jarrett Mocca in the preseason.

At times, he looked like a first-year starter who had not played the position for a while, but on the touchdown play, he showed off the athleticism that won Andersen over.

On third down from his own 24, Morrill scrambled left to avoid initial pressure, then stopped, turned to his right to avoid two defenders, used his left arm to stay upright, then floated a ball toward Nolan at the right hashmark on the 30.

“Instantly, I thought it would be intercepted,” Morrill said.

Instead, the defensive back mistimed his leap, and the ball dropped into Nolan’s arms.

Nolan dashed upfield and, helped by a pair of downfield blocks, weaved through traffic before breaking free at the Rockets’ 30-yard line and sprinting to the end zone.

“That was a crazy play,” Morrill said. “I thought, ‘Uh-oh, I’d made a bad read,’ but Taylor caught it and then did most of the work. He made me look good.”

Miser certainly looked good on only his sixth play as a starting linebacker.

The junior picked up the loose ball after Spencer Fix jarred it loose and raced untouched to the left corner of the end zone.

“I was like, ‘Welcome to varsity,’ ” Miser said. “I saw the ball on the ground, didn’t hear the whistle blow, and just picked it up and kept running.”

Miser also had a team-high eight tackles as Ridgefield held Castle Rock to just 182 yards of total offense and kept the Rockets out of the end zone until the final five minutes.

The Spudders also forced three turnovers and earned a third-quarter safety after fumbling the ball away on the goal line.

“I’m very proud of our effort,” Miser said. “We worked hard in the offseason and for the last three weeks, and this showed that hard work pays off.”

Morrill finished just 4 of 13 passing for 110 yards with an interception, but he had a pair of first-down runs on a second-quarter drive capped by Tommy Herz’s 23-yard touchdown run for a 14-0 lead with 8:00 left until halftime.

Castle Rock drew within 14-3 just before halftime on Cole Brister’s 28-yard field goal.

“We had a lot of good things that happened, but there also are things that we can easily fix,” said Andersen, whose team plays at 1A Kalama next week. “We’ll put on a better show next week, and maybe we’ll win one that looks good.”

RIDGEFIELD 23, CASTLE ROCK 10

Castle Rock 0 3 0 7—10

Ridgefield 7 7 9 0—23

First Quarter

R—Kevin Miser 25 fumble return (Michael Martin kick)

Second Quarter

R—Tommy Herz 21 run (Martin kick)

CR—FG Cole Brister 28

Third Quarter

R—Safety, Talib Meeks tackled in end zone

R—Taylor Nolan 76 pass from Cade Morrill (Martin kick)

Fourth Quarter

CR—Dylan Libby 1 run (Brister kick)

Individual statistics

RUSHING—CR, Meeks 15-44, Libby 9-8, Nathan Myklebust 4-11, Chris Millward 3-12, Dakota Golden 2-8, Nathan Halladay 1-0. R, Jalen Williams 16-75, T.Herz 11-36, Morrill 7-27, Lane Andersen 1-2.

PASSING—CR, Golden 12-26-1-99, Parker Patching 0-1-0-0. R, Morrill 4-13-1-110, Jarrett Mocca 2-4-0-9.

RECEIVING—CR, Libby 4-38, Black Adam 3-35, Meeks 2-13, Brady Bach 1-13, Jeran Keough 1-2, Nickolas Proudfit 1-(minus 2). R, Nolan 3-84, Caleb Robbins 1-12, Brock Harrison 1-18, Riley Abrams 1-5.