The first thing I will say is that this was not what you think of when you think of a 35-7 game. As relayed already, it was only 7-0 at the half and Chilhowie had the ball down inside the 15 yard line with a chance to tie it. But two great individual plays by RHS' Jaden Phillips within seconds of one another midway through the third quarter opened up the game and gave the Big Red some breathing room. So to recap for one final time this season........
RHS received the kickoff and ran the ball up the middle on the first two plays. On the second one, a face mask call gave them 15 yards and put them in business at the Warrior 45. At that point, Chilhowie was understandably thinking "run" so the quick look-in pass to Moose Lee faked them out and was the perfect call for the situation. I believe I had read someplace that Chilhowie had not trailed in a game all season and it took the Big Red 54 seconds to change that.
But as I just mentioned, the Warriors kept it close for the first half. They drove down into the red zone where RHS stopped them on downs. It then appeared that Riverheads might drive the length of the field and score on them just before halftime as they did last year, but the Gladiators made their only ball-handling mistake of the day when a mishandled snap led to about a 15 yard loss and squelched that drive, ending the half at 7-0.
The second half was mainly about field position, the Big Red defense, and some poor punting by the Warriors. First of all, in that all-important first series of the half, they stopped the Warriors cold on a three and out, and a short punt put the Gladiators in business in Chilhowie territory.
Phillips, who started the season quietly but has had a phenomenal second half of the year, burst off tackle and was finally brought down at the 1. McWhorter took it in on the next play for a 14-0 lead. Within 30 seconds of clock time, RHS was on the board again due to a great pick-six by Phillips in which he tipped the ball to himself and had smooth sailing to the end zone from about 35 yards out.
Trailing 21-0, the Warriors then came to life and marched down the field to score with about four minutes left in the third. But RHS matched that score with one of their own on another Phillips run to open the fourth quarter and make it 28-7.
Chilhowie was then forced to go to the passing game and RHS picked off two more passes. One of those was a diving interception by Elijah Dunlap who was then rewarded by being put in at quarterback to finish things out. The junior, who will likely be next year's signal-caller, then turned in one of the most amazing plays in recent Riverheads memory.
The Gladiators were going for a routine first down around midfield when he called his own number on a sneak. He put his head down and literally disappeared into a sea of humanity in the middle of the line.
Today's officiating crew had been consistent all day in terms of letting the action go before blowing the whistle and in this case, the scrum was still continuing when all of a sudden, Dunlap somehow burst out of the pile and raced untouched into the end zone. I remember seeing RHS pull off a similar play once at Wilson but it has probably been 40 years or more.
That one put the nail in the coffin for sure and minutes later the celebration was on as the crowd cheered "threepeat." Coach Casto tried his best to avoid the ice bath but it was not to be!
So congrats to the Big Red for another incredible season and as mentioned somewhere on here, the Gladiators lose a lot but they will have enough talent returning to make a run again next year and with this year's sensational unbeaten JV team, maybe even a few years beyond that.
If there was one thing that surprised me today, it was that we won the game by this margin without TDs by either Morris or Smiley. Those two had been the Gladiators' leading scorers this season and Chilhowie did a decent job on both of them, preventing either from breaking the big one.
A few days ago I told you guys that I had a hunch about what would happen today but I wanted to keep it to myself. So now I can tell you.........I felt as if the game would come down to Riverheads' poise and discipline vs. Chilhowie's determination and desire. So I was honestly a little bit worried that this might be one of those cases where the adrenaline rush would be strong enough to get the job done IF Riverheads made the mistakes that gave them some openings. But the Big Red did not make those mistakes and as a result, slow and steady won the race.
Moving forward, Gladiator basketball kicks into high gear this week with games at Stonewall on Friday and East Rock on Saturday. I have not heard about any make-up dates for games that may have already been missed.
RHS received the kickoff and ran the ball up the middle on the first two plays. On the second one, a face mask call gave them 15 yards and put them in business at the Warrior 45. At that point, Chilhowie was understandably thinking "run" so the quick look-in pass to Moose Lee faked them out and was the perfect call for the situation. I believe I had read someplace that Chilhowie had not trailed in a game all season and it took the Big Red 54 seconds to change that.
But as I just mentioned, the Warriors kept it close for the first half. They drove down into the red zone where RHS stopped them on downs. It then appeared that Riverheads might drive the length of the field and score on them just before halftime as they did last year, but the Gladiators made their only ball-handling mistake of the day when a mishandled snap led to about a 15 yard loss and squelched that drive, ending the half at 7-0.
The second half was mainly about field position, the Big Red defense, and some poor punting by the Warriors. First of all, in that all-important first series of the half, they stopped the Warriors cold on a three and out, and a short punt put the Gladiators in business in Chilhowie territory.
Phillips, who started the season quietly but has had a phenomenal second half of the year, burst off tackle and was finally brought down at the 1. McWhorter took it in on the next play for a 14-0 lead. Within 30 seconds of clock time, RHS was on the board again due to a great pick-six by Phillips in which he tipped the ball to himself and had smooth sailing to the end zone from about 35 yards out.
Trailing 21-0, the Warriors then came to life and marched down the field to score with about four minutes left in the third. But RHS matched that score with one of their own on another Phillips run to open the fourth quarter and make it 28-7.
Chilhowie was then forced to go to the passing game and RHS picked off two more passes. One of those was a diving interception by Elijah Dunlap who was then rewarded by being put in at quarterback to finish things out. The junior, who will likely be next year's signal-caller, then turned in one of the most amazing plays in recent Riverheads memory.
The Gladiators were going for a routine first down around midfield when he called his own number on a sneak. He put his head down and literally disappeared into a sea of humanity in the middle of the line.
Today's officiating crew had been consistent all day in terms of letting the action go before blowing the whistle and in this case, the scrum was still continuing when all of a sudden, Dunlap somehow burst out of the pile and raced untouched into the end zone. I remember seeing RHS pull off a similar play once at Wilson but it has probably been 40 years or more.
That one put the nail in the coffin for sure and minutes later the celebration was on as the crowd cheered "threepeat." Coach Casto tried his best to avoid the ice bath but it was not to be!
So congrats to the Big Red for another incredible season and as mentioned somewhere on here, the Gladiators lose a lot but they will have enough talent returning to make a run again next year and with this year's sensational unbeaten JV team, maybe even a few years beyond that.
If there was one thing that surprised me today, it was that we won the game by this margin without TDs by either Morris or Smiley. Those two had been the Gladiators' leading scorers this season and Chilhowie did a decent job on both of them, preventing either from breaking the big one.
A few days ago I told you guys that I had a hunch about what would happen today but I wanted to keep it to myself. So now I can tell you.........I felt as if the game would come down to Riverheads' poise and discipline vs. Chilhowie's determination and desire. So I was honestly a little bit worried that this might be one of those cases where the adrenaline rush would be strong enough to get the job done IF Riverheads made the mistakes that gave them some openings. But the Big Red did not make those mistakes and as a result, slow and steady won the race.
Moving forward, Gladiator basketball kicks into high gear this week with games at Stonewall on Friday and East Rock on Saturday. I have not heard about any make-up dates for games that may have already been missed.
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