Defensive tackle eager to steal the headlines from Catholic quarterback -- By Tim Tassa
(Daily Staff Writer)
WINCHESTER — Shenandoah nose tackle Dallas Pryor doesn't know Catholic quarterback Keith Ricca personally, though he may still hold a friendly rivalry with the Cardinals' field general.
While playing for Frederick (Md.) High School, Pryor enjoyed waking up on Saturday mornings to read The Frederick News-Post, which would report on the local high school football games from the night before.
However, there was a constant centerpiece that grew tiresome for Pryor, as Ricca, a quarterback for St. John's Catholic Prep in Frederick, would throw for five or six touchdowns seemingly every week, outshining even some of the community's football powerhouses, such as Urbana and Linganore, in the local headlines.
"Who are you guys playing?" Pryor remembers saying to himself, thinking back to his high school days and the weekend mornings where he thought the school's statistics seemed absurd. "Please play us sometime," he thought.
Though the teams resided in the same region, St. Johns, a small independent school that graduated 81 seniors in 2007, and Frederick, a much larger public school, never met.
"Everyone kind of found out that they were playing J.V. prep schools," Pryor said. "I think one year he threw like 52 touchdown passes. Not to take nothing away from him. You throw 52 touchdown passes, obviously, you are doing something right."
Pryor, now in his last year of collegiate eligibility, finally got a chance to witness the quarterback in action two seasons ago in Shenandoah's 12-0 victory, as Ricca passed for 158 yards. And though Ricca failed to throw five or six touchdown passes in last season's rematch, the then-sophomore quarterback led the Cardinals to a 17-6 victory.
Apparently, he had some skills after all.
Despite the constant badgering from his friends and former teammates back in Frederick about losing to Ricca, Pryor and the rest of the Hornets know that limiting the Cardinals quarterback in the passing game will be a determining factor in today's opener in Washington — which is extra incentive for the Hornets' most experienced defensive lineman.
"One of their strengths is definitely gong to be their threat at quarterback," Pryor admitted. "He's got a real strong arm, he's a pretty accurate guy, so we're going to really have to try and make his day as abysmal as possible."
For Pryor, maybe it was Ricca's 11 of 17 passing day for 73 yards, including a game-sealing strike to Noah Rogers with 5:39 remaining in the fourth quarter, spoiling Shenandoah's Thursday night home opener, that caused the change of heart. Consequently, Pryor isn't the only one thinking about his former hometown adversary.
"I think offensively they're going to rely on Ricca to spread the ball around, and they've got some nice receivers and things like that," Shenandoah head coach Paul Barnes said.
For the Shenandoah defense, that other "thing" will come in the form of 6-foot-3, 240-pound tight end Dan Saunders, likely to be a favorable target for Ricca, complementing starting receivers Andrew Buis and Rogers, who combined for 66 receptions last season. In 10 games played in 2006, Ricca completed 173 of 341 passes for 2,066 yards and 13 touchdowns. However, he did throw 17 interceptions — an area that the Shenandoah coaching staff hopes to exploit.
"That's the biggest thing from last year we've been stressing. [We] only created one turnover and we didn't get to the quarterback," defensive coordinator Garry Fisher said of his team, which failed to tally a sack compared to four by the Cardinals.
Added Pryor, "Defensively, if we can get to [Ricca] then the game is going to be in our favor. If we can eliminate the passing threat of the game, we'll dominate the game."
Starting on the defensive line alongside Pryor for the Hornets will be a trio of sophomores — newly converted defensive end (via linebacker) Lorenzo Smith, defensive tackle Tony Dunn and defensive end Andrew Fisher — who Pryor praised as guys ready to contribute.
"Lorenzo and Andrew have such great character," Pryor said. "They come to practice, they work hard every day. I'm really blessed to have them as teammates. I see those guys as guys to look up to and just try to give them words of wisdom."
Fisher said that Pryor, 5-11, 250 pounds, has moved from a three technique to the nose position, which should give the Hornets' best pass rusher more opportunities to go one-on-one with the center and make plays.
Pryor said that because they've only seen film of Catholic's first scrimmage against Johns Hopkins, it's unfair to justify any weaknesses the Cardinals might have, but Pryor expects to "exploit them on the fly," as they become evident in the game.
"You've got to rely on your seniors to play their best football they're capable of playing," Barnes said. "That's what they're seniors for. He's got to have a good game, and he's been working really hard and I expect him to get after it."
Pryor is coming off knee surgery in March to repair a torn meniscus, but according to his coach, he is healed and ready to have an impact this season, beginning with a familiar opponent.
"Once the end of your season is over, you know the offseason starts and you just know your first game is Catholic, so you know it's a much-anticipated battle," Pryor said.
And whether it's in disrupting the run or the pass, hopefully for the senior, today will be an opportunity for him to hog the headlines for himself and for his team.
