Stone Ridge faces familiar foe

Stone Ridge Christian’s offense relies not on deception but on an old-school, smash-mouth double-wing attack.

Elliot Christian’s offense is equally physical with a pair of 1,000-yard backs in Dominic Spadafore (1,745 yards and 19 touchdowns) and Kade Piazza (1,158 yards and 16 touchdowns).

Expect plenty of big hits and tough yards when the teams meet today in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division VII football championship game at Lodi’s Grape Bowl.

Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.

“It’s two power-running teams,” Stone Ridge Christian coach Art DeJager said. “It’s two teams with tough defenses. Both teams focus on defense a lot. I don’t expect a high scoring game. I expect a lot of hard hitting. The ball may stay between the 20s (yard lines) most of the game.”

The teams met on Oct. 10, with Elliot Christian defeating the Knights 20-13.

The Knights believe today will be different.

“This time we’ve fixed a lot of things we did wrong the first time,” Knights quarterback Luke Lange said. “We had some guys injured the first time and they’re all back. We saw where we messed up and we’ve worked all week to fix that.”

The Knights are hoping their offensive line can create openings for Bailey Dahlhoff (1,766 rushing yards and 35 touchdowns) and fullback Austin Rees (701 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns).

“It’s going to be a physical game,” Rees said. “A lot of running plays. Both teams hit hard. The game is really going to be won at the line of scrimmage.”

Like the Knights, the Eagles aren’t trying to fool you. Elliot Christian averages under six passes per game.

“They are very physical, especially at the point of attack,” Stone Ridge Christian assistant Anthony DeJager said. “They don’t throw the ball very much. They have very basic schemes. They don’t do a lot of things, but they do a few things well.”

The Knights have come a long way since an 0-10 season three years ago. Stone Ridge Christian made the playoffs for the first time last season and now has a shot at the school’s first section title in any sport.

“The section title isn’t the goal, improving ourselves every day has been the goal,” Anthony DeJager said. “The opportunity to play for the section title has been the result.”

This story was originally published November 28, 2014 at 10:08 PM with the headline "Stone Ridge faces familiar foe."