Well on their way to a 35th consecutive high school football loss, Ridgeland decided it was time to get physical to, as head coach Craig Pritchett said, “get the monkey off our backs.”
Trailing 16-0 against Walker County rival LaFayette Saturday afternoon, the Panthers turned the game over to their cannonball of a running back, Bryson Donald, and a huge offensive line to rally for a 28-23 win.
The 5-foot-6, 180-pound Donald rushed for 197 yards and a touchdown — almost all of the yards and the TD came after halftime — to give Ridgeland the massive victory. The effort earned the junior this week’s Times Free Press Player of the Week award, and it’s one he gladly shares with his teammates.
“We talked at the half about why would we come this far and just give up because we’re down,” Donald said. “Coach Pritchett told us to keep fighting and make it a dog fight and that’s what we did.
“I was just in the moment in the second half. I was telling my O-linemen to keep digging and making those blocks and I would keep making the runs.”