Although they have a regular-season match-up scheduled down the road that will count in the district standings, Riverheads and neighboring Stuarts Draft put their heads together this week and realized that it would benefit both schools to play a season-opening game tonight to see what their squads look like. The homestanding Gladiators took command early and in all fairness to them, dominated this game much more thoroughly than the score might indicate.
The Big Red was efficient and disciplined on offense, tough on defense, and they made very few mistakes for a first game. Other than one short third-quarter drive from SD, they took the visitors completely out of whatever game plan they may have had coming in to the contest.
The Gladiators took the opening kickoff and just like their varsity counterparts did last Friday, they marched down the field to score on the opening possession. We soon learned that their go-to running back this season will apparently be freshman Rylan Payne. Not only did he score the Big Red's first touchdown, but he later added a two-point conversion, he was all over the Cougars on defense, and he even handled the kick-off and punting chores.
Also on that first drive, quarterback Carter Hartsook ran the sneak to perfection, as he called his own number three times and averaged about 8 yards per carry on those three scrum-like attempts. Later in the game, he would score RHS' insurance touchdown.
In between the Payne and Hartsook scores, the Gladiators manufactured a second-quarter drive to put themselves ahead 12-0 on a Cason Croft touchdown run. The Big Red was not being flashy as they did not have a run of more than 12-15 yards all night. They were just being efficient and running their offense to perfection.
However they were even more impressive on defense. They dropped the Cougars for losses at least a dozen times and were so dominant that SD did not even run a play for positive yardage until well into the second quarter. Making matters worse for the Cougars were a number of pre-snap penalties and mishandled exchanges that kept them from being as efficient as they had hoped to be.
With the score 12-0 at the break, the Cougars opened the second half scoring with their only productive drive of the night. They took a short kickoff and a Gladiator penalty soon put them in business at the RHS 35. A few plays later, a pretty pass, easily the best play of the night for either team, found Wyatt Carter connecting on a crossing route to Za'Karre Hymes-Williams for about a 20 yard score. It may have been the best play of the night but it was their only successful one, whereas Riverheads won tonight on consistency and ball control.
Following that Cougar score, the Gladiators embarked on a long drive that culminated in a one yard sneak by Hartsook, followed by the Payne PAT. That wrapped up the scoring for the evening and although a two-touchdown margin might not seem that dominating, there was a night and day difference between the two teams in terms of poise and execution.
The Gladiators will be at home next Thursday for their first district game, as they will host Fort Defiance. That will be a warm-up event for the huge varsity contest the next night on the Indians home field. Of course the Gladiator varsity is hosting Tazewell THIS Friday night, as in today by the time most of you read this. That one looks to be a contrast in styles between the Big Red's power rushing game and Tazewell's throw-it-all-over-the-field approach.
Congrats to each Gladiator team for their 1-0 start and let's see if we can build on those two wins. As for the Cougars, the best thing to remember about a first game of the season is that you only have one of them. Tonight was not their night but their next game will likely be a home game and they will no doubt work hard to impress their home fans.
