By J. Daniel Pearson
For the News-Gazette

Sometimes the scoreboard just doesn’t tell the whole story.  History will show the 2012 high school football season came to an end for the Harmony Longhorns on Friday night with a 24-0 loss at Ridge Community High School.

But, not everyone saw it that way, including Ridge Head Coach Richard Tate.

After meeting Harmony Head Coach Jerrad Butler for a post-game handshake, Tate stopped in front of a small group of dejected Harmony seniors who were sprawled out from exhaustion near midfield.

“Keep your heads up men,” Tate said. “You guys played with the hearts of champions tonight. The scoreboard doesn’t really matter because you never quit, you played to the final whistle and you have a lot to be proud of. You are winners.”

Butler echoed the sentiment.

“I could not be prouder of these guys.  Our playoffs actually started three weeks ago.  We had must-win games against Gateway and St. Cloud and we responded. We just ran into a bigger, stronger team but we never quit.”

Harmony’s defense played an outstanding game, Butler said, even without the team’s leading tackler, junior linebacker Colton Keene, who was injured early in the first quarter.

“He had a hip injury and couldn’t come back in,” Butler said.

Tristan Reaves stepped in to join Chase Fields and Quozell Browne to stymie the Bolts attack, Butler said.

Offensively, 15 of Ridge’s 24-points came from a short field.  The Bolts took a 6-0 lead on their first possession on a 56-yard drive that ended on a 20-yard touchdown run by E’Shawn Davis. Ridge upped the lead to 9-0 midway through the second period on a 37-yard field goal by Daniel Delgado.

But, the real back-breaker came right before the half, as Ridge marched 80 yards on seven plays to take a 16-0 lead with 1:20 remaining. Running back Trayvon Howard rushed for 27 yards, quarterback Shykeem Pitts completed two passes for 23 yards and running back JaDe’Rian Johnson covered the last 32 yards on a breakaway touchdown run.

After a scoreless third period, Ridge tacked on the final score of the game on another short touchdown drive for the 24-0 final.

Harmony had trouble moving the ball against the fast, stout defense of Ridge. Bolts defensive end Stephaun Maddox harassed quarterback Jeremiah Murray all night and Harmony could not muster any type of ground game.  The first eight Longhorn possessions netted just 16 yards and three first downs – with two of those coming via penalty.

“Other than perhaps Palm Bay Heritage and Osceola, they were the most physical team we played all season,” Butler said.  “We had a tough time matching up with their speed and size.”

Harmony did show a bit of life late in the fourth quarter. While Bolt defenders were waiting for a Ridge punt to roll dead, senior Matt Corvin surprised Ridge by scooping the ball up and racing 44 yards to the Ridge 45-yard line.

On the ensuing play, Murray was intercepted by Jacob Harwell, who returned the ball 45 yards, only to fumble back to Harmony.  Murray competed four of five passes for 46 yards before being knocked out of the game with a rib injury.  After an initial completion to Preston Jones, back-up Sterling Hicks missed on three straight passes and the drive stalled at the Ridge 14.

For the game, Harmony gained just 68 total yards and four first downs on 43 plays; while Ridge countered with 330 yards of offense and 17 first downs on 48 plays. Ridge has allowed just 13 points in their last four games in running their record to 9-2.

Harmony fell to 4-7 after an 0-5 start.

“Ridge was just the better team and hats off to Coach Tate and his players,” Butler added.  “But I was proud of my team, especially our seniors, for the fight we showed.  For our younger players, this game was important because it gave them a taste of playoff football. They now understand how hard it is to get here and once you do get here, the need to step up the intensity to another level.

“Hopefully they’ll remember this experience and want to get back to it next year.”

Butler said it is difficult to say goodbye to a senior group that rallied the team to success, winning four of its last six games and reaching the playoffs for the first time in five years.

“I was the freshman coach under Dayne (Brown), so I had these guys all the way through,” Butler said. “I can’t say it enough about how proud I am of them.”

Rick Pedone contributed to this story.