Havre de Grace’s quarterback who led it to a state quarterfinal appearance a season ago was gone, transferring to MIAA power St. Frances during the offseason. A young team made up of mostly juniors and sophomores needed a new leader.
Julian Ringgold took the challenge.
The junior diced through Fallston’s defense Thursday night in a 28-8 victory to move his team to 3-1 on the season. A young group that faced questions entering 2024, Havre de Grace is finding solutions as Ringgold is coming into his own.
“He’s embraced it,” Warriors coach Brian Eberhardt said. “He had his best game tonight.”
Ringgold got some starts as a sophomore a year ago before losing the job midway through the season. But once the spot opened up, the offseason was his. He spent the spring learning the offense, then the summer working out the kinks in seven-on-seven scrimmages.
Now at the helm, Ringgold is no longer playing defensive end and just happy to be making more of an impact.
“I was fired up,” the quarterback said. “Last year, I was playing defense a lot. I liked it, but I kinda missed QB. You’re the captain, you control everything.”
Ringgold delivered Havre de Grace’s first two scores. In the second quarter, he found Isaiah Frasier from 10 yards out to break the deadlock. On the opening drive out of halftime, the Fallston defense bit on a play-action that allowed Ringgold to hit Kevin Kinsey Jr. on a 33-yard strike to put the home team up 14-0.
Kamari McGirt added a rushing touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter to push Havre de Grace ahead by three scores, then another Ringgold passing touchdown gave the Warriors a lead insurmountable for a sluggish Fallston attack.
Meanwhile, Havre de Grace’s defense forced Fallston to punt on all five of its first-half possessions in a suffocating effort that could have been more impressive — two Warriors defenders let interceptions slip through their grasps.
FINAL: Havre de Grace 28, Fallston 8
Havre de Grace moves to 3-1 behind quarterback Julian Ringgold’s impressive night and a suffocating defensive effort. pic.twitter.com/coE4OQDi96
— Aegis Sports (@AegisSports) September 27, 2024
“We’ve been having a few struggles on defense, but we’re getting there,” senior linebacker Andre Williams said.
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The stranglehold carried into the second half. Fallston turned the ball over on downs on its opening drive and punted for the sixth time on its next possession. The Cougars (2-2) were held scoreless until a Hunter Solwold 52-yard touchdown catch with 10 minutes to play. They got the ball back down two scores with five minutes to play, but Havre de Grace forced a safety to punctuate its dominant defensive showing.
Havre de Grace switched to a nickel defense — five defensive backs on the field instead of an extra linebacker — to counter Fallston’s fast-paced passing game. The Cougars nearly had more punts than points.
Said senior linebacker Dorrell Norton Jr.: “It worked amazing.”
Thursday was Fallston quarterback Mike Griffin Jr.’s first stumble. The sophomore spent the summer in a battle for the starting spot with senior Dom Foster that, in coach Keith Robinson’s eyes, resulted in a stalemate. So he defaulted to Foster’s experience.
But a season-opening loss to Bel Air raised the question again. Robinson turned to Griffin, who flashed as a freshman and Fallston believes is its future.
Griffin spent the next two weeks backing his coach’s faith. The Cougars entered Thursday on the heels of two dominant wins in which they outscored opponents by an average of 25 points. With Griffin, Fallston can play with the up-tempo offense Robinson is more accustomed to and Harford County had yet to solve.
Havre de Grace became the first.
“You hope that it propels them in the right direction,” Eberhardt said. “You can see what you can be, so let’s build on that.”
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