It was a big night Friday for Ridgemont’s football team as it came away with its first victory in 14 games.

The Gophers held on to beat visiting St. Wendelin 19-6 in a Northwest Central Conference matchup. 

Ridgemont (1-4, 1-0) piled up 335 yards of offense against the Mohawks (0-5, 0-1). The Gophers’ last win was in week 10 of the 2007 season.

“It was a good win for the kids, the school and the community,” said Ridgemont head coach Ernie Simpson. “That losing streak was getting long and we wanted to get that out of the way.”

Shawn Smith led the Gophers with two touchdown runs, while the offense racked up 274 yards on the ground.

“We came out in our spread offense and then switched to the ground game and St. Wendelin wasn’t ready for that,” said Simpson. “It was a nice win and we can enjoy it, but we have to move on and get ready for the next game.”

Smith scored the only touchdown of the first half with a 1-yard plunge in the second quarter. A missed extra-point attempt made it a 6-0 halftime score.

In the third quarter, Smith added another 1-yard TD run to increased the Gophers’ lead to 13-0. St. Wendelin scored on a 67-yard touchdown pass in the third period, but missed the point after to trail 13-6.

Ridgemont tacked on another score when Derick Bailey raced 31 yards to paydirt.

“Derick Bailey had a good game at tailback,” said Simpson. “Reese Overly ran well at fullback and Shawn Smith made a lot of good decisions at quarterback. It was probably his best game of the season.”

The Gophers travel to Riverside on Friday for their next NWCC contest.