Published: November 21, 2009 12:23 am      

Top-seed Rangers advance in 6-AA

SIDMAN — The undefeated Forest Hills Rangers are playing for another District 6-AA title.

The Rangers took advantage of some key turnovers by Richland, and Nick Dudukovich put together an outstanding rushing performance with 260 yards on 29 carries, scoring three touchdowns, as the Rangers overwhelmed the Rams, 32-7.

Coach Don Bailey is happy with the performance that his squad has put forth this season.

“Tonight, we knew that we had to play good defense to be able to win the football game,” Bailey said of his team, which is now 12-0.

The Rangers advance to the 6-AA title game for the first time since they won in 2005.

Forest Hills will play the winner of the Central-Tyrone game that will be played tonight in Roaring Spring.

The game started as if it would be a high-scoring affair.

The Rams scored on their first possession, with senior quarterback Gino Ramires finding Ryan Sylvia wide open for a 42-yard touchdown just 2 minutes,

10 seconds into the game.

John George’s kick gave the Rams a 7-0 advantage.

The Rangers answered. Quarterback Zack Glessner dumped off a screen pass to Dudukovich on the first pass from scrimmage, and the running back cut through the Rams secondary for an apparent touchdown.

However, an illegal block violation brought back the TD.

Three plays later, Glessner tossed to Dudukovich on an option right and the junior running back rushed in from

10 yards out. Patrick Donoughe’s kick evened the score at 7-7.

At that point, the Rangers started to control the game.

On Richland’s next possession, Ramires’ pass was intercepted by Chris Moss, who brought the ball back to midfield.

That led to a 10-yard touchdown by Dudukovich, giving the Rangers a 14-0 lead.

After that, it was the Nick Dudukovich show, although the junior downplayed his performance and looked to next week’s championship game.

“Our season is not done. We have at least one more game, and then we will have to see what we can do after that,” Dudukovich said, adding about Richland, “The second half we felt that we could overpower them. We felt that they were tired.”

The Rangers rushed for 361 yards on 52 carries, and passed for another

85 yards, giving them 446 for the game.

The Rams finished at 9-3.

“I’m proud of our kids. This senior class has won nine games, which duplicates the record here at Richland,” coach Brandon Bailey said.

“The first half, I thought that we played pretty good football. You can’t beat a good football team with four turnovers.”

Ramires finished the season with more than 2,000 yards passing for the second consecutive year.