Mother Nature was in a great mood tonight and gave us spectacular weather for RHS and arch-rival Stuarts Draft to settle the Shenandoah District regular season title. Riverheads clinched that title and more importantly guaranteed themselves home field advantage for the Class 1 playoffs with a hard-fought win in the battle of Rt. 340.
However, Ma Nature's first cousin Lady Luck was in a different mood tonight as she blessed the Gladiators with quite a few lucky breaks and bounces whereas the poor Cougars were about as snakebit as a team could be in this one. They played as hard as they could have and most definitely displayed the raw talent to stay with Riverheads but along the way, they had a 60 yard TD run called back on a penalty, had a sure-fire touchdown pass dropped in the end zone, missed two field goals and a PAT, and had a miserable night punting, which gave the home team some advantageous field position.
Conversely, Riverheads earned at least half a dozen first downs by a yard or less, converted two incredible pass plays including their prettiest touchdown of the year, and gave two of the crowd favorites a highlight reel play that they will remember for the rest of their lives. In short, it was a good night to be a Gladiator!
Each team marched into the other's territory on their first possessions but the defenses held. Riverheads then opened the scoring on a 77 yard drive that consumed almost the rest of the first quarter. Cayden Cook Cash scored the first of his three TDs with a one yard run to put the Big Red ahead 7-0.
It took SD less than a minute to answer as star running back Da'Shea Smith darted straight up the middle from about 60 yards out and crossed the goal line with only 9 seconds left in the quarter. The PAT tied the score at 7-7 but RHS almost re-took the lead on the ensuing possession, when Triple C reeled off about a 50 yard run that put them right back in the red zone. Luke Bryant scored a play or two later to give RHS a 14-7 lead early in the second period.
Midway through the period came the sequence of events that allowed Riverheads to open up the game and put the Cougars in catch-up mode. It began when the seas parted again for Smith and he took it to the house for almost an identical second touchdown. However, a holding penalty, the first flag of the game on either team, brought it back. Although the Cougars still had the ball for a first and three after the mark-off, RHS held and forced a punt, which Triple C returned to his own 31.
Then came the most exciting play of the season for Riverheads.....or at least one of them. Although they had over 3 minutes to work with, the Big Red went for the home run ball on the very first play and QB Bennett Dunlap lofted his first pass of the night. It caught the Cougars off guard but yet they covered it reasonably well.
It was straight down the middle and covered roughly half the 69 yards in the air. It momentarily appeared to be overthrown but Triple C stretched out, hauled it in perfectly in stride and beat the defense to the end zone. RHS doesn't throw many TD passes which is why this one was such a thing of beauty.
But the Cougars were not through yet with the first half. They marched into scoring position and had some chances at the end zone. But RHS held and they settled for a field goal attempt. The Gladiators blocked it on the last play of the half and the teams went to the locker room with RHS ahead 21-7.
SD opened the second half with a long kickoff return and that gave Riverheads kick-off specialist Pablo Chavez his chance to do something he reportedly had set as a personal goal........to make a tackle. Well let's say he "assisted" on a tackle. The SD player was heading down the near sideline when Pablo grabbed him by the shirttail "just" hard enough to slow him down until a teammate could make the actual tackle.
SD's frustrations continued as they went to their bag of tricks and executed a perfect halfback option play. Riverheads was fooled and the Cougars actually had two receivers open in the end zone. The ball hit one of them right in the numbers but it popped right back out. So instead of a brand new ball game at 21-14, the Cougars again had to settle for a field goal and this one sailed right leaving them two full TDs behind.
Riverheads took over at the 20 and drove downfield ready to put the Draft away. However in what was just about their only mistake of the night, they fumbled at the one and the Cougars recovered. SD could not manage a first down and the first of two awful punts put RHS right back in business around the Cougar 25. This time they scored on a Triple C run to make it 28-7.
The Draft scored early in the fourth to make it 28-13 but missed the PAT. On the ensuing kickoff, Riverheads enjoyed its second "Little-Guy-Makes-Good" play of the night when Australian exchange student Caleb Weston fielded the ball on the deepest Cougar kick of the night, found an opening up the right sideline and momentarily looked like he might take it the distance.
He did not score but he took it about 65 yards for his best moment yet as a Gladiator. Dunlap eventually scored on a sneak to end the scoring for the night. (Actually I may have those last two RHS touchdowns reversed but the point is that Triple C had three on the night and Dunlap one.)
Another encouraging development tonight for RHS was a serious reduction in penalties. They had been somewhat undisciplined in that department for most of this season, but tonight there were no silly ones, and no personal fouls or unsportsmanlike calls. In fact both teams played a clean neighborhood game like you should be expected to at this level.
Riverheads now gets a bye and will host the winner of next week's Sussex Central/Franklin game on the 18th. Meanwhile SD will open post-season play next week in Class 2. Based on the dominance that the Bull Run has shown in Region 2-B, the Draft could be facing one of the big guys from up north, either Luray, Strasburg or Central.......kind of a pick your poison situation.
Both RHS and SD will of course make the most of THIS post-season but with the Gladiators moving up to Class 2 next year and Stuarts Draft being a very young team with an unbeaten JV bunch stepping up, we may be having a totally different discussion this time next year.
Last but not least..........Mother Nature we won't mind if you let tonight's weather hang around for a few more weeks!
