Berkeley opens season with win at Ashley Ridge
Berkeley quarterback Henry Rivers had a big night Aug. 25 to lead the Stags to a 35-21 win at Ashley Ridge. Photo by Roger Lee
By Roger Lee
HSSR Contributing Writer
Summerville - Berkeley quarterback Henry Rivers rushed for three touchdowns and passed for another Aug. 25 to lead the Stags to a 35-21 victory over Ashley Ridge during the 2025 season opener for both teams.
Berkeley’s stable of runners shined during the victory, but the Stags also had some success moving the ball through the air. Overall Berkeley’s defense was sound, but the unit did allow the Swamp Foxes to break some big plays to stay in the game.
“This is a good way to open the season,” said Berkeley coach Eric Lodge. “I told the boys before the game this is culture and development versus recruiting and I’m glad the good guys won one. I really like how physical we were tonight.”
On the first play of its second possession, Ashley Ridge broke its first big play. Running back Ryan Campbell took the handoff and dashed 69-yards into the end zone to open the scoring. Wyatt Carter added his first of three successful PAT kicks for a 7-0 Swamp Foxes lead.
The rest of the first half belonged to the Stags.
Rivers connected with Elijah Mitchell for a 36-yard TD pass with just more than two minutes remaining in the first quarter. Ryland Curwen hit his first of three successful PAT kicks to tie the game.
Cameron McCue intercepted an Ashley Ridge pass on the Swamp Foxes’ ensuing drive to give the Stags’ possession inside the Swamp Foxes’ 30-yard line. That led to a six-yard touchdown run by Rivers early in the second quarter and a 14-7 Stags’ lead.
Berkeley went on to score on a 10-yard run by Rivers and a seven-yard run by Jahmir Heyward to take a 28-7 lead into halftime.
Ashley Ridge came out of the locker room fired up and forced a punt on the opening possession of the second half. The Swamp Foxes turned the ball over on downs at midfield on their first possession of the third quarter, but then defensive lineman JT King recovered a Berkeley fumble.
Ashley Ridge went up-tempo and drove 54 yards for their next score. Quarterback Trevor Kalisz completed a 24-yard pass to Jagger Spivey and a seven-yard pass to Jaylin Grant before Campbell had a big run to breech the red zone. Soon after, Grant caught a 20-yard pass for a first-and-goal at the 1. Campbell punched the ball in to cut the lead in half with the PAT kick.
After a defensive stop, Ashley Ridge took over inside their own 40. Soon after, Kalisz threw a backward pass to a receiver, who then threw a 48-yard TD pass to Campbell to cut the lead to seven points with the PAT kick.
“We came out and played hard in the second half,” said Ashley Ridge coach Ashley Haskins. “I like what I saw from our defense against a very good offensive team, but they were put in some bad situations and were just out on the field too long. Berkeley has some explosive players on both sides of the ball. They have good team speed and are very physical.”
Ashley Ridge’s next possession ended when Stags’ defensive back Dennis Thompson intercepted a pass. However, Berkeley’s following possession ended when AR defensive back Cole Anderson recovered a fumble at the Swamp Foxes’ 1.
The Stags forced a punt and on their next drive managed to chew up a lot of clock and pretty much ice the game on a five-yard TD run by Rivers with 1:50 remaining in the final quarter.
On Friday, Aug. 29, Berkeley hosts an opponent from out of state.
“We have three hard games to open our schedule,” Lodge said. “Next we have Winter Park coming up from Florida and then Summerville. We wanted that to help us get ready so when November hits we’ve seen good opponents.”
Ashley Ridge hosts Cane Bay Aug. 29
“We will have to be physical on defense and stop the run,” Haskins said. “They have always been a strong, Wing-T or Double Wing-T type offense so the key is to get them off the field. They try to eat up the clock and make it a close game going into the fourth quarter so we will need to take our shots on offense and play good defense.”
