Numbers responsible for Ripley turnaround

Ripley captains, from left, Tyson Pritt, Chris Jenkins, Cooper Durst and Noah Hall head out for the coin toss prior to the Hatchet Game earlier this season at Ravenswood.
(Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — Ripley definitely flipped the script while earning a postseason bid in the Class AAA state football playoffs.

One year after winning just one game, first-year head coach Ryan Simon hit the in-house recruiting process hard. Athletes who played in other sports at the high school filtered into the football family.

“We had 16 seniors this year and a lot of those guys came back out to play,” Simon said.

“We also got some athletes from other sports. My assistant coaches and myself really hit the recruiting trail hard within the school. We pulled some kids from other sports who really helped us.”

The selling point was all about becoming a family.

“There was a lot of excitement just in general at that time at the school,” said Simon, who has been at the school for 15 years and 12 years within the football program. “Other sports were doing well. I know a lot of these kids from the past and those relationships we had helped with the process.”

Ripley, which closed out the regular season at 7-3, earned the No. 9 ranking in the 16-team postseason field and scheduled to play at No. 8 North Marion (7-3).

Game time is set for 7 p.m. on Friday

The Vikings set the tone from the start of the season by winning their first four games.

“You have to try and keep it going at that point, so you just have to keep pushing and pushing,” Simon said. “Of course we had a couple of losses. For the most part, we had a really good season.

“We had a family-type atmosphere, which was what we were looking for all along.”

Quantity and quality played in Ripley’s favor this season. The roster hovered around 65 players – up nearly 15 to 20 individuals from recent years.

“That was the first step, getting kids to be here,” Simon said. “It allowed us to do a lot of platooning. Numbers are a huge thing. That’s what I wanted. Not just for us coaches, but for the kids, too.

“This season, I was impressed just with their effort. When we played South Charleston at the beginning of the year I could tell. I could see it in their eyes how hungry they were. You could just feel the excitement.”

Ripley returns to the playoffs for the first time since 2018. The Vikings and North Marion met once in their history, which resulted in a North Marion 40-14 first-round win in 1996.

“This turnaround, as a first-year coach it means a lot,” Simon said. “I just want the season to last as long as it can for the seniors”

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com