QHS All-Time Starting XI: Jumping around, getting dirty enables Bridal to be Blue Devils’ stonewall

This is the 11th and final installment in a series highlighting the Quincy High School boys soccer players the Muddy River Sports staff has named to the program’s all-time starting 11 in conjunction with the Blue Devils’ 50th season.

Ron Bridal, Goalkeeper, Class of 1995

QUINCY — The opportunity to coach not only the Quincy High School boys soccer team but also a pair of youth teams means Ron Bridal gets to relive his youth occasionally and jump in and play goalie.

“I’m not as quick as I once was with my reactions,” said Bridal, now in his seventh season guiding the QHS program. “But I still want to hop in there and do it today. I still love to fly around and get dirty.”

It’s how he got to be a goalkeeper in the first place.

“I loved to jump around and get dirty when I was a kid,” Bridal said. “I was full of energy. It was the same reason I liked playing shortstop in baseball. I could leave the field with a dirty uniform, and it was one of those things where I just loved to jump around and dive around.”

That’s what made Bridal one of the most accomplished goalkeepers in program history.

From 1992-94, Bridal and the QHS defense posted 39 shutouts, which is the school record for a goalkeeper and is still tied for 17th in Illinois High School Association history. Bridal strung together eight consecutive shutouts during the 1994 season and finished that season with 17 shutouts, which is tied for the single-season record.

Bridal remains one of two players in QHS history in the IHSA record books. Josh Vandiver is the other, having recorded eight consecutive shutouts as a goalkeeper spanning the 1988-89 seasons. 

“I was lucky to have the defense I did in front of me, and I know my success was a product of their success,” said Bridal, who finished his three-year varsity career with a 50-8-10 record. “They limited opportunities, and I was able to make saves when I was called upon. I look at what they were able to do and they made my job a little bit easier.”

That’s always the case with any celebrated goalkeeper.

“As a goalkeeper, when teams are down your throat, it’s a tough spot to be sometimes,” said Bridal, who was inducted into the QHS Hall of Fame in 2020. “When things are going well, it’s a great spot to be. When your defense is playing well, you get to enjoy success because of the way they can limit it.

“That’s why the camaraderie and the brotherhood piece is so important. Those guys would have done anything for me, and I would have done anything for them. That’s the piece that you love about team sports.”

The 1994 team finished 20-1-2, setting single-season school records for most consecutive victories (18) and fewest goals allowed (7). Bridal was the backstop that ensured defensive success.

“When he needed to make a save or when he needed to do something positive or encouraging for us, we could always count on him,” said former QHS coach Matt Longo, who now serves as an assistant on Bridal’s staff. “He always made that big save at a special time in a game when we needed him to come up big.

“He’d stop a shot or he’d come out on a cross and win the ball in the air. If a ball got past a defender, you were always comfortable with him back there. You weren’t happy about it, but you knew you had Ron back there. As a coach, when someone gets beat, you say, ‘Uh-oh.’ There weren’t too many ‘uh-oh’ situations with him in goal.

“You always knew he was going to be back there. Like you always say, he was a big ol’ stonewall. He was able to stop a lot.”

Pair that with dynamic defenders and the best scoring tandem in program history, and it’s no wonder the Blue Devils enjoyed so much success during that era.

“When I look at the time I had, I enjoyed every minute of it, and a big part of that was I was surrounded by people I loved,” Bridal said. “It was like a family.”

To read more of the Starting XI profiles as they are published, follow the links below:

Speed, skill allow Abbey to develop into dynamic scoring machine

Work ethic enables Bradshaw to seize opportunity to be great

Finding footing as freshman helps Smith become part of tradition

Deft touch, high IQ turn Reeves into one of Blue Devils’ greatest players

Playing up paves way for Sandercock’s Hall of Fame career

Berry becomes maestro at midfield in leading Blue Devils to state tourney

Sohn’s control of pace and play leads to magical state run by Blue Devils

Ability to communicate, control back line led to Higgins’ historic career

Absorbing coaching enables Evans to elevate himself, teammates

Buying in early put Forbes on path to becoming dynamite defender