WINNSBORO – The Fairfield Central Griffins and Ridge View Blazers faced off in the final game of the Midlands Honda Football Classic on Monday evening. The Griffins scored the lone touchdown of the two-quarter game with just under 10 minutes remaining to come out on top with a 7-0 win.
Ridge View took the opening kickoff and controlled the ball for the first 7:12 of game time, making it all the way to Griffins 15-yard line before turning the ball over on downs. The quarter ended scoreless.
The Blazers had the ball to start the second quarter, but a bad snap and pressure from the Griffin defense forced Ridge View to punt from its own five-yard line.
“It was big,” head coach Demetrius Davis said of the defensive stop. “We knew we had to come out here and play great defense. Offensively we still have a lot of work to do, but defensively we felt like we could come out here and make a couple of stops.”
The Griffins got the ball at the Blazers 38-yard line to begin their drive and put the ball in the end zone in just three plays. Senior running back Chris Suber found his way into end zone for the Griffins. Suber ran the ball two times for 25 yards on the three-play, 38-yard drive.
The Griffins and Blazers went back and forth, up and down the field the remainder of the game, but neither team was able to punch it in the end zone.
Davis took the 7-0 preseason win as progress from last season.
“We have a lot of work to do, but it is a confidence booster,” he said. “Coming off a 2-9 season, to be able to come out here and compete with a high powered team like Ridge View should give us some confidence.”
Fairfield Central will face Richland Northeast in the Ridge View Football Classic on Friday at 7 p.m.
