Ridgeland Faces Another Tough Schedule This Fall

Rossville, GA-(WDEF-TV) The Ridgeland Panthers must be glutton for punishment. They persevered through a punishing schedule last year, and they’ll have to run another tough gauntlet this year.

Ridgeland lost four of their first five games last year, but they still finished with a winning record and a trip to the playoffs.
Reporter:”What kind of lessons do you think you learned last year that you will take into this year?”
Said defensive end Jeremiah Turner:”Never give up. Keep pushing on. Keep moving forward.”
Said head coach Kip Klein:”We ended up winning the region title. We may have backed into it, but we won it. Our kids were really focused on that. They were able to get their goal last year of the unfinished business.”
The Panthers played some heavy hitters last year, and they’ve got some more on the schedule this year in Dalton, Calhoun, Rabun County, and Cedartown, who feature D-one prospects.
Said lineman Thomas Lamb:”It really doesn’t faze me that much. I mean they’ve got some dudes going to Alabama, but I’ve played against people going to Auburn, Alabama, and Georgia. It doesn’t really matter. I don’t really care.”
Reporter:”Why do you think the Panthers are going to be successful this year.”
Said back Kesean Eubanks:”Team work. We all come together. One big family.”
And speaking of a big family. That describes the Panthers offensive line.
Said Klein:”The two tackles. You know one is 6’5 and-a-half. One is almost 6’7. One is weighing 285, and one is weighing 305. And then our center, he actually weighed 340 last year. He came in after the COVID at 295.”
The Panthers defense held only one opponent under 20 points last year, so this year, Ridgeland is going with a new 4-2-5 area code formation on defense.
Said Klein:”One of the things that hurt us last year was the long ball. We’ll be able to protect that plus have people come up.”