Riverbend kicker LanceDaSilva connects on the game-winner
Following their 17-14 regular season game won by Colonial Forge, the postseason meeting between the Eagles and the Riverbend Bears figured to be among the most exciting in the state for the opening weekend of the playoffs, despite the fact that Forge was the one seed and Riverbend was the eight.
As advertised, the contest lived up to expectations and then some as the Bears connected on a game-winning field goal as time expired to score a 16-14 upset and avenging victory over the Eagles.
The victory sends the Bears to the second round for the first time in school history as they will travel down I-95 to Richmond next week to take on the Cosby Titans.SCORING SUMMARY
TEAM TIME SCORING PLAY GAME SCORE
RB 9:38 (1) Ford 60-yard interception, PAT DaSilva 7-0
RB 5:09 (1) Dorr 8 yards, PAT no good 13-0
CF 1:00 (2) Sarratt 1 yard, PAT Redding 13-7
CF 0:15 (3) Garwood to Sarratt 23 yards, PAT Redding 14-13
RB 0:02 (4) DaSilva 33-yard field goal 16-14
KEYS TO VICTORY
GAME-WINNING HEROICS
Leading 14-13 with just under nine minutes to play, the Colonial Forge Eagles took over the ball on their own 31-yard line with a chance to potentially shake off a Bears team that was just looking for one more opportunity. After driving the ball into Bears' territory, Forge successfully converted a fourth-and-two at the 33-yard line and seemed headed for what figured to be a game-clinching score.
It was an opportunity that they did not waste.
Three Jordan DeMarco (pictured) scrambles accounted for big yards as Riverbend moved the ball from their own 20-yard line to the Eagles' 35 with two minutes remaining in the contest. Four plays later, DeMarco hit junior C.J. Washington on a slant pass on fourth-and-five to keep the Bears' hopes alive.
Following a Demarco to Orlando Jones connect to the Bears' 19, a three-yard run by Jones and a timeout with 2.3 seconds on the clock. Coach Tony DeMarco sent out his field goal kicking unit for a game-winning try after the group had already missed an extra point and flubbed an earlier field goal attempt when the snap was mishandled.
However, this time, the snap and hold were true and senior kicker Lance DeSilva split the uprights from 33 yards out to seal the victory and send the Bears into the second round for the first time in school history winning their first ever postseason game following first round losses in both 2009 and 2014.
QUICK START
The reason that the Bears were in the game at the end, in the first place, was because they had come out of the locker room so ready to play.
Ford then thwarted Colonial Forge's next drive by picking off his second pass of the evening at his own 39-yard line snuffing out a potential scoring opportunity for the Eagles.
That pick led to a second Bears touchdown as the offense took the field for the first time and promptly drove 61 yards for a score capped by a 16-yard run by senior Lorenzo Dorr.
They held that 13-0 lead until just before halftime as Colonial Forge found the end zone with just a minute left in the second quarter when freshman Joshua Sarratt found room around the right edge for a one-yard score cut the Riverbend lead to six points.
Back-to-back interceptions killed the first two drives of the third quarter before Riverbend ended the third with a punt.
The quarter nearly ended scoreless, but a scrambling Ethan Garwood found Sarratt on a crossing route up the middle of the field for a 23-yard score. The touchdown gave the Eagles their first lead of the ball game as they held a 14-13 advantage with 15 seconds left in the period setting up the fourth quarter heroics.
BEND, BUT DON'T BREAK
Most of the night, the Colonial Forge offense was able to move the ball as they 263 yards in the contest (to Riverbend's 314) but, when the Bears most needed a play, they got it from their defense.
They followed up their start with a stuff on fourth down to kill a drive, picked off another pass (senior Dean Hasan, pictured) and forced a punt before Colonial Forge stuck one in from a yard out to make it 13-7 at the half.
However, it was in the second half when they made their two biggest plays.
On their opening possession in the second half, Forge drove from their own 33-yard line into the Riverbend red zone. But on third-and-goal from the eight, Bears defensive back C.J. Washington stepped in front of an Eagles receiver in the end zone to secure his team's fourth pick of the night and to snuff the scoring attempt.
Though Forge scored on their next drive to take th e14-13 lead, they had only one possession in the fourth quarter which ended with the interception in the front corner of the end zone to set up the game-winning drive.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
LANCE DASILVA
With the game on the line and, after missing an extra point earlier in the game and having a snap mishandled in front of him, the Bears' senior kicker nailed a 33-yard field goal as time expired to win the first postseason game in school history topping the top-ranked team in their pod, to boot.
C.J. WASHINGTON
A two-way player, the junior impacted the game on both sides of the ball coming up with an interception in the end zone in the third quarter with his team leading 13-7 on the defensive side. Meanwhiile, when his team had the ball, Washington caught six passes for 45 yards with none bigger than the six-yard slant on fourth-and-five that kept the Bears' final drive alive setting the stage for DaSilva.
JORDAN DEMARCO
On the night, DeMarco connected on 15 of 21 passes for 153 yards with one interception and he rushed for 40 yards on six attempts, but the senior signal caller was a big-time playmaker on the final drive of the night. He hit on 6 of 7 passes during the final drive and kept things alive with his feet scrambling three times for big yards to move his team into Forge territory.
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