Hours before Cedar Ridge’s homecoming game Friday night against Rouse, defensive tackle Jeremiah Passmore promised himself that he was going to record a sack.

“Just manifesting,” Passmore said of the self-made vow. “Got to manifest every game because last year I didn’t really get to play at my full potential.”

The 6-foot-3 lineman netted 1½ sacks, a forced fumble and three tackles for loss at the Kelly Reeves Athletic Center, as the Raiders defeated Rouse 34-16 to move to 4-0 on the season for the first time since 2017, when Cedar Ridge won a district title.

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Friday marked another dominant performance for Passmore in a season in which the senior has been a mainstay of the Raiders’ drastically improved defense.

“Our energy, we’ve really come together as a team,” Passmore said after the homecoming triumph. “Everybody wants it. Everybody wants to get stops and stuff like that. We’ve really come together as one unit.”

Defense has sparked Cedar Ridge’s turnaround

Cedar Ridge’s 2025 campaign ended one win short of making the playoffs and with a defense that allowed just shy of 40 points per game. As the season slipped away and opponents kept stacking points, Passmore, who holds an FBS offer from Florida Atlantic, admitted that he mentally checked out.

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“I wasn’t really getting a lot of TFLs, I wasn’t as dominant,” he said.

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But things changed when the program brought on Brian Gaylor as its defensive coordinator. The hire of Gaylor, whom Passmore credited with his success this season, helped Passmore shed last year’s failures and fully commit to maximizing his final year. The new coordinator has aided a drastic leap in Cedar Ridge’s defense, which has allowed 20 points per game thus far, cutting its number from last fall by almost half.

“(Defensive) linemen really make it to where the (line)backers only have to worry about one gap,” said linebacker Ayden O’Brien Brown, Cedar Ridge’s leading tackler. “The front seven is playing really well together.”

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Behind the front seven, the Cedar Ridge secondary is thriving. The Raiders have intercepted seven passes this season.

Rouse’s high-scoring offense shut down

A consistent defense has complemented an explosive offense. After averaging just over 36 points last season, Cedar Ridge is scoring 41.8 points this year, which includes a 21-6 season-opening win against East View that was ended at the half due to weather.

“We talk about a get-it-back mentality on defense,” said Bryan Vardeman, the team’s second-year head coach. “Our job is to get the ball back for the offense as fast as possible, and give them as many opportunities as we can.”

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On Friday, against a Rouse squad that had scored 100 points in its previous two games, Cedar Ridge’s defense gave its offense plenty of opportunities.

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After allowing Rouse to march 80 yards and score on the opening possession, the defense shut out its opponent until the end of the third quarter. In that time, Cedar Ridge scored 27 unanswered points via Dylan Snoga’s two first-half touchdown passes and third-quarter scores from running backs Tyler Mutz and Devin Patterson, who recovered a Mutz fumble near the goal line and ran it into the end zone.

After Rouse cut the lead to 27-14 at the end of the third quarter, it began the fourth by intercepting a pass at the Cedar Ridge 32-yard line. But Cedar Ridge caught a break on the next play, when a trick-play touchdown that would have cut the lead to one possession was negated due to a holding penalty.

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On the next snap, Passmore broke through Rouse’s offensive line and sacked quarterback Chase Whitten, forcing a fumble that was recovered by his linemate TJ Daniel near midfield. Eight plays later, receiver Terrez Harrison evaded multiple tacklers on a 3-yard score on an end-around – his second touchdown of the night – cementing a win that sends Cedar Ridge into District 25-6A play next week against Westwood unbeaten.

Passmore and the Cedar Ridge defense are eager to prove that the unit’s performance through four weeks isn’t a fluke in district competition, where it will battle regional powers Lake Travis and Westlake.

“We just got to play with a chip on our shoulders and just really, really physical,” Passmore said. “That’s really it – every drive.”

As Vardeman prepared to be interviewed after the game, he spotted Passmore talking with his family.

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The coach walked over, and standing next to the star defensive tackle, said, “We’re proud of him. He knows that.”

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This article originally published at Latest impressive defensive performance helps undefeated Cedar Ridge stuff Rouse.