Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
This was the third year in a row that the season ended for Riverheads with a loss deep in Region A territory. However, as the score tells you, this was by far the best of those three games and the Gladiators gave an incredible effort. In fact if a somewhat controversial call in the final seconds had gone their way, as most RHS fans thought it should have, we could have had a different ending, but I will get to that shortly.
Riverheads did what it had to do to try and win this game, which was to try and control the tempo and keep Surry from running. Based on the similar scores, I imagine Rappahannock tried the same thing and will likely do so again on Tuesday.
The pace was slow in the first quarter but RHS did manage a pair of leads at 6-4 and 8-7. But then in what was probably the winning stretch of the game, the Cougars scored 12 in a row straddling the first two quarters to take their largest lead of the game at 19-8. They had that 11 point margin another time or two, but to Riverheads' credit, they never got further behind than that.
With the halftime score at 24-16, each team scored only 7 in the third quarter, which ended with Surry on top 31-23 and set the stage for a wild fourth quarter.
Honor Robinson, who would eventually be RHS' second leading scorer on the night, scored in the post to cut it to six and getting that first hoop of the quarter seemed to be just what RHS needed to make its final push.
They kept cutting into the lead, down to 33-30, then 35-33 and 37-35, but they could never quite get the basket they needed to get over the hump. Adam Painter (the younger of the brothers) had a great second half for the Big Red and led the scoring with 12, including some of those key fourth-quarter hoops. Surry in the meantime was still attacking and trying to score but down the stretch did not have very good luck, until of course the final bucket.
As reported above, Elijah Dunlap finally tied the score for Riverheads at 39 with a pair of foul shots with only 15.6 left on the clock. Surry took a time out to set up a final play. They got it in close but the shot rimmed out and a whistle blew at the 2.8 mark. That final call was one that will likely be talked about for quite some time at both schools.
Riverheads' Zack Adams had grabbed the rebound off the Surry miss and crashed to the floor with it. The ref under the basket signaled a travel whereas the Riverheads faithful clearly thought he was pushed and that a foul should have been called or at the very least that the refs should have gotten together and talked about it.
But no such conference took place, and Surry inbounded the ball and got another in-close shot and this time it did not rim out. Gladiator fans were irate at the travel call but it is what it is.
For me personally, I cannot say that Surry lived up to my expectations. After reading about their record, and some of their scores, I quite frankly expected them to blow Riverheads out of the gym. But the Gladiators stuck with them and it turned out to be one of those games you just hated to see anyone lose.
Of course I now hope that Surry takes care of Rapp again, maybe by a comfortable margin this time, and then does the same thing to whomever comes out of the West, so the Gladiators can claim that tonight was the "real" state championship game.
Once the Gladiators think about this one, I think they will be proud of their efforts and come back next year more determined than ever to beat a Region A team. Of course (hint hint!) that would be an easier task to accomplish if a certain someone were to "come out of retirement" for his senior season and reunite the Big Red's Fab Five, one that won 17 games as eighth-graders. Wouldn't it be nice to see them go out as big-time winners next season?
Meanwhile the Lady Gladiators will now make the trip to Sussex on Tuesday to take on the Lady Cougars. Comparing scores with both Altavista and West Point, that looks like it could be a long night for RHS, but if there is one thing Gladiator fans don't do, it is underestimate Coach Wassick.
Regardless of how that turns out, Riverheads also has a state baseball championship to defend and several of the guys on tonight's team are more than ready to make the transition to the diamond and get that season underway.
This was the third year in a row that the season ended for Riverheads with a loss deep in Region A territory. However, as the score tells you, this was by far the best of those three games and the Gladiators gave an incredible effort. In fact if a somewhat controversial call in the final seconds had gone their way, as most RHS fans thought it should have, we could have had a different ending, but I will get to that shortly.
Riverheads did what it had to do to try and win this game, which was to try and control the tempo and keep Surry from running. Based on the similar scores, I imagine Rappahannock tried the same thing and will likely do so again on Tuesday.
The pace was slow in the first quarter but RHS did manage a pair of leads at 6-4 and 8-7. But then in what was probably the winning stretch of the game, the Cougars scored 12 in a row straddling the first two quarters to take their largest lead of the game at 19-8. They had that 11 point margin another time or two, but to Riverheads' credit, they never got further behind than that.
With the halftime score at 24-16, each team scored only 7 in the third quarter, which ended with Surry on top 31-23 and set the stage for a wild fourth quarter.
Honor Robinson, who would eventually be RHS' second leading scorer on the night, scored in the post to cut it to six and getting that first hoop of the quarter seemed to be just what RHS needed to make its final push.
They kept cutting into the lead, down to 33-30, then 35-33 and 37-35, but they could never quite get the basket they needed to get over the hump. Adam Painter (the younger of the brothers) had a great second half for the Big Red and led the scoring with 12, including some of those key fourth-quarter hoops. Surry in the meantime was still attacking and trying to score but down the stretch did not have very good luck, until of course the final bucket.
As reported above, Elijah Dunlap finally tied the score for Riverheads at 39 with a pair of foul shots with only 15.6 left on the clock. Surry took a time out to set up a final play. They got it in close but the shot rimmed out and a whistle blew at the 2.8 mark. That final call was one that will likely be talked about for quite some time at both schools.
Riverheads' Zack Adams had grabbed the rebound off the Surry miss and crashed to the floor with it. The ref under the basket signaled a travel whereas the Riverheads faithful clearly thought he was pushed and that a foul should have been called or at the very least that the refs should have gotten together and talked about it.
But no such conference took place, and Surry inbounded the ball and got another in-close shot and this time it did not rim out. Gladiator fans were irate at the travel call but it is what it is.
For me personally, I cannot say that Surry lived up to my expectations. After reading about their record, and some of their scores, I quite frankly expected them to blow Riverheads out of the gym. But the Gladiators stuck with them and it turned out to be one of those games you just hated to see anyone lose.
Of course I now hope that Surry takes care of Rapp again, maybe by a comfortable margin this time, and then does the same thing to whomever comes out of the West, so the Gladiators can claim that tonight was the "real" state championship game.
Once the Gladiators think about this one, I think they will be proud of their efforts and come back next year more determined than ever to beat a Region A team. Of course (hint hint!) that would be an easier task to accomplish if a certain someone were to "come out of retirement" for his senior season and reunite the Big Red's Fab Five, one that won 17 games as eighth-graders. Wouldn't it be nice to see them go out as big-time winners next season?
Meanwhile the Lady Gladiators will now make the trip to Sussex on Tuesday to take on the Lady Cougars. Comparing scores with both Altavista and West Point, that looks like it could be a long night for RHS, but if there is one thing Gladiator fans don't do, it is underestimate Coach Wassick.
Regardless of how that turns out, Riverheads also has a state baseball championship to defend and several of the guys on tonight's team are more than ready to make the transition to the diamond and get that season underway.
If you are talking about the above video that pizzza posted, it only shows the final 2.8 seconds and does not answer the foul vs. traveling question. Does anyone have a video of that play?
I saw a video of the play in question, but the angle was blocked by an official so it was impossible was impossible to see what happened although a Surry player appears to back up with his hands up as the Riverheads player goes to the floor.