FAYETTEVILLE — The Ramay Indians made it two conference wins in a row Thursday night by shutting out Rogers Heritage, 21-0 at Harmon Field.
An early turnover by Heritage deep in Ramay territory swung the momentum and a 92-yard scoring run by Brice Gahagans on the next play set the tone for a long night for the War Eagles.
"We felt like we had a play there that would work. I didn't think it would go 90 yards but certainly with [Gahagans'] ability he's able to do things like that," Ramay head coach CraigForinger said.
Gahagans rushed for 183 yards and scored all three touchdowns for the Indians. It was actually Gahagans that took the ball away from a Heritage receiver at Ramay's eightyard line that set up his big run.
Defensively, the Indians (2-2, 2-1 NWAC) turned in a stellar performance. Ramay limited the War Eagles to 94 total yards and forced four turnovers.
"Our defense really stepped it up," Foringer said. "Our goal is to keep a team under 125 yards and create two turnovers. Wedown to the 15 following Cook's 29-yard ramble. Three plays later, Gahagans went in from three-yards out to make it 14-0. Cook ended the night with 52 yards rushing.
The Indians ended the half with a nine-play, 77-yard drive to put the finishing touches on the scoreboard. Gahagans ripped off runs of 16, 13 and 15 yards before finding the end zone once again from 19-yards out.
The War Eagles (0-4, 0-3 NWAC) threatened in the third quarter but an 11-play drive went for naught after Joey Brown picked off Heritage QB Forrest Johnson at Ramay's 14-yard line. Ricky Tuttle led Heritage with 35 yards rushing and Johnson added 18.
Ramay ends its three-game homestand with a non-conference clash with Siloam Springs.
"From what I understand, [Siloam] has a good football team and we've got to be ready and make sure we keep taking steps forwards before we make that last run in conference," Foringer said.
In the eighth-grade game, Oakdale shocked Ramay, 12-9. An Indians win looked to be in the bag after Roberto Solis' field goal broke a 6-6 tie with 49 seconds remaining but Patriots quarterback Josh Qualls' unlikely 12-yard keeper on fourth down with no time left proved the game winner.
feel like we're going to win the ballgame if we can do that. We're getting better and that's what it's going to take to make a run with one loss in this conference."
Heritage opened the game with a nice drive before Gahagans turned its night around. The War Eagles earned only one first down the rest of the half.
Leading 7-0, the Indians looked to add to their total. A six-yard pass from Brayden Cook to Nathanial Wright put Ramay on Heritage's side of the field and the Indians got
Sports, Pages 8, 9 on 09/25/2009