WEYMOUTH — With leading rusher Cam Aieta nursing an injury, the Weymouth High football team turned to alternate power sources for Friday’s statement win over Milton.
There was plenty of Michael Farrow, with the senior tight end-turned running back taking many direct shotgun snaps out of a Wildcat formation en route to 105 yards on the ground.
There was a lot of Tyler Munchbach, who ripped off an 80-yard touchdown gallop as part of his 158-yard effort.
And, of course, there was a dash of Naheem Ridore.
Aieta’s absence was a major one, as he came in leading the Wildcats in carries (66), yards (776) and TDs (10), so a little outside-the-box thinking wasn’t a surprise. Except that letting Ridore, a 6-2, 230-pound senior two-way lineman, tote the rock isn’t as outlandish an idea as it might sound.
“If you’ve seen Naheem Ridore run, you know you have to find a way to get him the ball in a big moment,” coach Michael Donovan said after the 28-21 victory, the program’s first over Milton since 2012.
On the football field, Ridore might be better known for his punishing blocking as an offensive tackle and his thunderous hits as a defensive end. (He had plenty of both against Milton.) But he’s a terrific all-around athlete who has 24 career tries (equivalent to touchdowns) while helping the Wildcats rugby team win three straight state titles in the spring.
Donovan unleashed Ridore’s offensive game in the fourth quarter against Milton. QB Thomas Kelly threw a swing pass to T.J. Saadat in the left flat. Ridore came around behind like a freight train, and Saadat hit him in stride with a pitch. Ridore rumbled down to the Milton 13 for a 25-yard gain on the hook-and-lateral, setting up what turned out to be the winning TD.
“We put it in at the beginning of the week,” Ridore said of the trick play. “We ran it probably four or five times in practice. We knew that if we got in the red zone we’d run it. We got there and the next play I hear the play call for the hook-and-ladder. I was excited, yeah. I made it a priority to hang onto the ball.”
“He’s an incredible athlete,” Donovan said of Ridore. “He’s out here in rugby in the spring, and you see him with the ball and he could play running back if he wanted to. Yeah, that one definitely had the heart rate pulsing.”
Ridore, who chided himself for not scoring on the play, went back into the trenches after that moment in the spotlight, helping Weymouth churn out 323 yards on the ground. He also was just about everywhere on defense, repeatedly splattering ball-carriers.
Ho-hum. Just another day at the office for the big fella.
“He is one of the most impressive humans I have ever been around,” said Weymouth wrestling coach Danny Murphy, who gets Ridore in the winter as a talented 215-pounder. “A teacher in the hallway was just complimenting him on how well he played Friday, and all Naheem would talk about was how fun the game was and how well the team played. Linemen don’t get a ton of praise, and him deflecting the compliments that came his way speaks to his character.”
Ridore says he enjoys being a three-sport athlete, noting, “More sports is better. I just try to learn new things, and I try to translate everything (I learn in other sports) over to the football field.” Ridore said rugby helps him with “tackling (and) grit,” while wrestling fine-tunes his hand usage for football season.
“To me, that’s the classic football-player combo — you go from football to wrestling to rugby,” Donovan said. “You’re just in physical sports all year long. What it does for you from a leverage standpoint and from a toughness standpoint is awesome.”
In wrestling, Ridore will carry a 66-27 career record into his senior season. He was 38-13 last winter when he placed at every tournament he entered. In rugby, where he plays the 8-man position, coach Ryan Casey has called him the “anchor of the team” and a “coach’s dream player.”
Right now it’s all about football, though, and Ridore is a big reason (one of many) that Weymouth hits its bye week at 5-0 and checks in a No. 8 in the latest MIAA Division 1 power ranking.
“I’ve been around a long time, and he’s as good as any kid I’ve seen at any high-school level,” said defensive coordinator Greg Burke, who won 188 games as the Stoughton High head coach from 1990-2022. “He’s super fast and he’s very smart. He had a million tackles (against Milton). One-on-one, you can’t block him; he’s that good.”
Ridore would like to continue his football career at a Division I or Div. II college. But for now he’s focused on helping Weymouth take the next step. Fresh off a breakthrough 2023 campaign that featured the program’s first winning season (7-4) since 2012 and first-ever playoff victory, the Wildcats appear to be ushering in another Golden Era. The first one, from 2006-12, featured six winning seasons in seven years, with the high point an 11-1 finish in 2010.
“I’ve been playing football since second grade,” Ridore said. “I remember coming down to the field and watching (Weymouth) play. I’ve seen the program change throughout the years; to see where it is now is really great.”
“It’s like a dream,” agreed Farrow. “We just have to keep it rolling.”
This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Weymouth’s Naheem Ridore is a man for all (three) seasons for Wildcats
