No. 2 Mountain Ridge, Keyser battle Friday

Oct. 27—FROSTBURG — While Mountain Ridge enters tonight as the heavy favorite against an injury-laden Keyser, coach Ryan Patterson isn't taking the Tornado lightly.

Keyser, which sits outside the Class AA playoff picture at No. 20 (just 16 teams make the cut off), is fighting for its postseason survival. That can be a dangerous thing in a team.

For Keyser to even think about an upset, it needs to find an answer for electric quarterback Will Patterson. Mountain Ridge will try to build off its 45-8 rout of Williamsport last week, one that coach Patterson called the Miners' best performance of the season.

No. 2 Mountain Ridge (7-1) kicks off with Keyser (5-3) at Miner Stadium tonight at 7 p.m.

"They are a dangerous team," Ryan Patterson said. "They're playing for their playoff lives. They are backed up into a corner, and I think we're going to get their best showing.

"You turn on the film from last game, and it looked like Keyser was very angry. They were kicking onside kicks. You could see the sideline was very involved. It was probably their best game of the season. I think they're going to be very prepared."

Mountain Ridge can lock up the No. 2 seed in the Maryland Class 1A playoff standings with a victory tonight. Even if Fort Hill falters against Allegany tomorrow afternoon, the Miners can't overtake them.

With the No. 2 seed, Mountain Ridge would host Hancock in its playoff opener. Everybody makes the playoff in Maryland, but Hancock has forfeited its playoff game the last two years. Patterson said the Panthers do intend to play the game this year.

Keyser has missed the postseason each of the last two seasons, getting eliminated by Frankfort in the Mineral Bowl in both cases.

However, the Golden Tornado may need to beat Mountain Ridge tonight to have the points to get in, regardless of what happens in their final contest of the season.

Keyser is behind three four-loss opponents in the playoff ratings due to a lack of bonus points, as its five wins are over Moorefield (3-5), Hampshire (3-6), Robert C. Byrd (1-7), John Marshall (1-8) and Berkeley Springs (0-9).

A loss to Mountain Ridge and a win over Frankfort may still not be enough to sneak into the final 16 of the Class AA standings.

"We've been talking about the playoffs to the guys," Keyser head coach Derek Stephen said. "We said to them that our backs are still against the wall, and we're treating every game as a playoff game. Win or go home mentality. We're starting a little bit early."

Mountain Ridge has advanced to each of the last Class 1A state championship games, falling to Fort Hill both times. The Miners have a 30-4 record over the past three seasons.

Will Patterson has emerged as a Player of the Year candidate; he leads the area in passing and is second in rushing.

Patterson has gained 832 yards and scored 14 touchdowns on 107 carries, and he's completed 83 of 133 passes for 871 yards, nine touchdowns and three interceptions.

Andrew Ketterman, David Miller, Owen Bannon and Eli Sibley all have at least 100 receiving yards. Garrett Michaels has 334 yards on the ground and three TDs.

"He's really good," Stephen said of Patterson. "They have a lot of guys that can tote the football. They spread the ball around. They have a plethora of guys.

"I know it sounds like a coaching cliche, but we need to be able to tackle. Will Patterson keeps plays alive, extending plays and making people miss. We need to limit big plays."

For Mountain Ridge, the key to stopping Keyser starts with slowing Jack Stanislawczyk and the Tornado passing attack.

The Keyser speedster returned a kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown in a 56-13 loss to Allegany two weeks ago, and he caught a pair of 40-plus yard touchdown passes, both from Logan Rotruck, against Moorefield last week.

Rotruck, meanwhile, threw for more than 200 yards and scored four total TDs against the Yellow Jackets.

"(Stanislawczyk), he's one of the better payers I believe in the area," coach Patterson said. "I think he should be an Offensive Player of the Year candidate. They're utilizing him in the passing game, in the backfield on stretch plays.

"Keyser is operating mostly out of the shotgun these days, but they're still pulling guards. They do a nice job trying to stretch you with width and the quarterback will keep the ball off of that."

Defensively, Keyser is lining up in a 5-2 and Patterson notes the Tornado aren't as big in the trenches as they've been in recent years.

Keyser has drawn some inspiration from area squads Frankfort and Northern, which both battled Mountain Ridge but came up short in 28-21 losses.

"It's promising when you see teams that have similar styles to you play well," Stephen said. "You hate to compare scores, but it gives a little more hope when you're looking at them.

"We saw a couple things that we could maybe exploit. And there are some things that we do and that (Northern and Frankfort) do. We have plan As and plan Bs."

To Patterson, however, the close games were a sign of his team's toughness.

Keyser has battled the injury bug this season, losing its top three backs — Kaii Kingman, Keith Lawrence and Tristen Root — to injury. Patterson expects the Tornado to give them their best, no matter who is carrying the football.

"I'm impressed with how they've cycled through so many injuries," he said. "You turn on film and it's these backs, next game it's these backs. I'm impressed with how much they've battled adversity. They're a five-win team, and if they play their cards right, they could easily be a seven-win team.

Mountain Ridge expects to get starting center Cooper Lindeman (6-foot, 285 pounds) back, who has missed the last three games with a knee injury.

"He's a great quarterback of the offensive line," said Patterson. "He's on top of all the line calls and shows leadership out of that position."

Patterson denied that Mountain Ridge will be looking to make a statement tonight, saying that the Miners are just trying to improve day-by-day with the playoffs approaching.

For Keyser, however, tomorrow is not guaranteed. The unofficial playoffs begin tonight in Frostburg.

Alex Rychwalski is a sports reporter at the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @arychwal.