East Ridge football: Leach leads Raptors to first win of 2012

It wasn’t always pretty, but it got the job done.

East Ridge earned its first win of the 2012 season, 42-7 over Suburban East Conference Forest Lake in a penalty-laden football game at Forest Lake High School.

East Ridge (1-1; 1-1 SEC) opened up a 35-7 halftime lead in the game then coasted to victory over the Rangers (0-2; 0-2 SEC).

Junior running back Nick Leach led the way for the Raptors in the win. Leach had 122 yards rushing and two touchdowns in the first half alone.

The game started out with a bang as East Ridge junior defensive back Augie Ollrich returned the opening kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown, giving the Raptors a 7-0 lead after the extra point. It was the first kickoff return for a touchdown in East Ridge history.

After Forest Lake tied the game with a long passing play, East Ridge senior Keith Durham nearly made it back-to-back kickoff return touchdowns, but was hauled down at the 6-yard line. Leach punched in his first touchdown of the game on the very next play putting the Raptors ahead 14-7 with 5:57 left in the first quarter.

After a Forest Lake fumble, East Ridge put together a 12-play drive, capped by Leach’s second touchdown of the game to go up 21-7 with 8:44 remaining in the first half. Then, after the Raptors’ defense forced Forest Lake to punt, East Ridge scored again – on a quick five play drive highlighted by back-to-back runs of 35 and 30 yards by Leach and capped by a 1-yard touchdown by freshman quarterback Seth Green. The score put the Raptors up 28-7 with 4:08 left in the half.

After another Forest Lake punt, East Ridge found the endzone one more time before the first half expired as junior Stephen Orehosky ran in a 4-yard touchdown with 36 remaining on the clock.

With the Raptors’ starters on the bench after the third quarter, East Ridge’s final score of the game came in the fourth quarter as Orehosky found junior receiver Lucas Berry with a 12 yard jump ball in the endzone for a touchdown, making it a 42-7 game and forcing running time.

East Ridge has a tough task next week when it travels to Mounds View to take on the undefeated Mustangs. Mounds View, ranked fifth in Class 6A, beat third-ranked Cretin-Derham Hall 17-16 in St. Paul on Friday.

See the full story and additional photos in the Sept. 12 issue of the Bulletin

Tags: east ridge, sports, football, prep, raptors, updates