Ridgewood Shines In New Offense
While Beginning 2026 Road Trip

MONTCLAIR- It’s still early and the tone of the new season is yet to be fully unveiled; however, the early returns on the promise of a new-look offense and the resiliency of the entire 2026 Ridgewood team appear to be developing a very positive early look.

Unveiling the now familiar and widely-utilized run-and-shoot for the first time after nearly a half century operating out of the Wing-T, and playing their first game in what will be a full season as road warriors, the Maroons (1-0) rode a high-powered and diversified attack to roar past Montclair, 42-7, in a Super Football Conference inter-division contest played on a warm and sun-drenched Saturday afternoon at Woodman Field.

Playing on the road will be something the Maroons have to get accustomed to all season long following recent flooding on their home football field and a subsequent safety test of the surface which revealed that there is not sufficient shock absorption present in order to have safe practices or games played there.

“We’ve faced a lot of adversity this pre-season, what with not being allowed to practice at our home field, and we have had to travel by bus to practice where we can, including in Fair Lawn and Midland Park, but we’re a resilient bunch,” said junior wide receiver-safety Greyson LoVecchio, who had a pair of touchdown catches on Saturday. “This team has so much heart and we’re ready to take on any challenges that we’re going to face this season.”

The first road test certainly was certainly an A-plus performance for head coach Torre Watson’s football team as Ridgewood overcame an early 7-0 deficit and proceeded to dominate much of the rest of the way vs. a young and mistake-prone Mounties squad playing in their first game under new head coach Manj Singh.

Ridgewood junior quarterback Gavin McCrone passed for 177 yards and 3 touchdowns, sophomore running back-safety Beau Wiatrak rushed for 87 yards and a pair of TDs plus had a big first half interception, while LoVecchio hauled in 4 passes for 127 yards and his pair of scores.

Along with executing well with its newly-unveiled run-and-shoot brought in by new offensive coordinator Brian Gibbs, the Maroons also came up with a couple of big plays defensively while also controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

“We worked on the new offense all summer long and it took a lot of patience from the players and coaches plus learning more in the classroom as well,” said Wiatrak, who had 12 carries for his 87 yards. “While playing every game on the road this season, we’re just going to look to make the most of every opportunity that we have, and we did just that today.”

Trailing 7-0 after the Mounties put together a game-opening, 8-play, 75-yard drive capped by senior QB Samad Jiles’ 1-yard run, Ridgewood was forced to punt  on its first possession before Wiatrak came up with a huge interception, picking off a Jiles pass of at the Mounties 38 and returning the ball 32 yards to set up the Maroons’ first score of the day, a 9-yard McCrone TD pass to tight end Rorik McCarthy who made a nice, leaping grab in the end zone.

Charlie Grassi’s first of six successful extra point placements tied the contest at 7-7 with 2:28 remaining in the first quarter.

“If we could have kept up that momentum we had with our early TD drive and then getting the ball back after stopping them on D it might have been a different story if we go in again to make it 14-0 or 10-0, but – unfortunately - their early interception really hurt,” said Singh, who came over to his alma mater Montclair after two seasons guiding Verona. “We weren’t doing a good job of getting their offennse off the field on third down and we gave up some big plays.”

Ridgewood would strike twice in the second quarter to take a 21-7 lead, first on McCrone to LoVecchio 3-yard pass to cap a 12-play, 85-yard drive with 5:09 remaining, and then on a 5-yard Wiatrak TD run to finish a 9-play, 55-yard advance with only 35 seconds left in the half.  

Then, the Maroons took firm control of the contest by finding pay dirt on just the third play of the second half when McCrone connected with LoVecchio on a back-breaking 82-yard TD pass play to make it 28-7 with 10:37 still showing in the third quarter.

Senior running back Anthony Chase (8 carries for 88 yards) bolted 14 yards to make it 35-7 with 3:36 still remaining in the third quarter and the Maroons capped the scoring while also invoking a running clock for the rest of the contest - with a lead of 33 points or more - when Wiatrak went 8 yards for his second TD and a 42-7 lead with 1:16 still showing in the third quarter.

“After transferring back from St. Joe’s I just wanted to play with my boys in my hometown and enjoy it all together including running our new offense,” said Chase. “No matter whatever adversity we’re going to face we are determined to have a big year together.”  

NOTES- Montclair’s depth – or lack of it – was tested when four senior starters –  QB-safety Jiles (wrist), WR Jesiah Godfrey-Pelham (recurring ankle sprain), WR-DB Zahir Huff (shoulder) and LB Jaydon Rodriguez (wrist) all had to exit the game at some point due to absorbing their injuries. Jiles (2-of-5 for 38 yards passing and 5 carries for 38 yards and a TD) left the game in the second quarter and was relieved by sophomore Andrew Reynolds who got his first varsity action behind center completing 4-of-9 for 56 yards…Two-way lineman and second-year co-captain Avery Burden was one of the few bright spots for the Mounties with 3 sacks and 2 tackles for a loss as part of his solid play on both sides of the ball…Singh said that he is hoping to find more depth at a number of positions and is concerned with the fact that linemen such as Burden, Fred Chitwood and Joshua Brooks are having to see such extensive action on both sides of the line…Ridgewood strong line play included solid work on the defensive side by senior Reed Mason who had a pair of sacks…The Maroons, who are members of the SFC-Freedom Blue Division, travel to meet Hackensack next Friday night (Sept. 4), while the Mounties travel down Bloomfield Avenue to Schools Stadium in Newark to take on the Barringer Blue Bears in a SFC-Freedom White Division showdown.

SFC INTER-DIVISIONAL GAME:
RIDGEWOOD (1-0)         7      14     21     0     -42
MONTCLAIR (0-1)           7        0        0    0     - 7
M- Samad Jiles 3 run (Jaxon Parma kick)
R- Rorik McCarthy 9 pass from Gavin McCrone (Charlie Grassi kick)
R- Greyson LoVecchio 3 pass from McCrone (Grassi kick)
R- Wiatrak 1 run (Grassi kick)
R- LoVecchio 82 pass from McCrone (Grassi kick)
R- Anthony Chase 24 run (Grassi kick)
R- Wiatrak 8 run (Grassi kick)   

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