Riverheads erupted for a 27-point second quarter, including a 13-0 run and never looked back as they pulled away from the Bulldogs tonight. The Big Red is now 2-0 on the young season and more importantly 1-0 in district play.
The most impressive thing about tonight's game was that RHS turned to its "Diaper Dandies" as Dickie V would call them. Senior team leader Brett Hostetler was out sick tonight and the Big Red only dressed 10 after dropping one of its freshmen back to JVs, where he had an excellent game tonight by the way.
The remaining three freshmen then led the way as Braeson Fulton scored 16, Grant Painter 15, and Elijah Dunlap added 10, including a nearly perfect charity stripe night. The Gladiators almost put five in double figures as Bradley Roberts added nine points and Austin Craft eight.
However, things did not look especially rosy in the first quarter as it initially appeared that Luray's Twin Towers of J. R. Green and Devazen Frye would be too much for RHS to handle, since the Gladiators do not have a substantial inside game themselves. As a result, Luray took a 15-8 first quarter lead.
But the Gladiators more than compensated for that size disadvantage by turning to their major weapon...their speed. With Luray having just taken its largest lead of the game at 19-11, Fulton started the charge with back-to-back steals. A three pointer from Painter put the Big Red ahead to stay at 22-19 and the lead ballooned to 26-19 before Luray could stop the onslaught.
RHS built the lead to double digits by halftime at 35-24 and early in the third, another Painter trey gave the home team its biggest lead to that point at 40-27. But the Dogs had one last run in them.
With Riverheads electing to slow the tempo and attempt to salt the game away at the foul line, the visitors crawled back to within four at 53-49. But just when it looked like they might make it all the way back, RHS slammed the door with a final 10-0 run, which featured another great steal and lay-up by Fulton and a foul-shooting clinic by Dunlap.
The Gladiators now take their two-game win streak to Buffalo Gap Tuesday, where they would very much like to pick up district win number two and build some confidence going into next Thursday's home challenge against powerful East Rockingham. The Big Red JV's picked up their first win of the season as they scored the first 11 points of the second half and pulled away to a 46-34 win. Eighth-grader Adam Painter (younger brother of Grant) scorched the nets from outside in the first half, whereas the second half charge was led by Zack Adams, the previously-mentioned freshman who stepped down from the varsity team after the Fort win Wednesday. We are also hearing that the Lady Gladiators remained unbeaten with a tough 39-38 win tonight up at Luray.
It is early of course but with the job these freshmen are doing, the future looks bright at RHS, not just for this season, but the next few to follow!
The most impressive thing about tonight's game was that RHS turned to its "Diaper Dandies" as Dickie V would call them. Senior team leader Brett Hostetler was out sick tonight and the Big Red only dressed 10 after dropping one of its freshmen back to JVs, where he had an excellent game tonight by the way.
The remaining three freshmen then led the way as Braeson Fulton scored 16, Grant Painter 15, and Elijah Dunlap added 10, including a nearly perfect charity stripe night. The Gladiators almost put five in double figures as Bradley Roberts added nine points and Austin Craft eight.
However, things did not look especially rosy in the first quarter as it initially appeared that Luray's Twin Towers of J. R. Green and Devazen Frye would be too much for RHS to handle, since the Gladiators do not have a substantial inside game themselves. As a result, Luray took a 15-8 first quarter lead.
But the Gladiators more than compensated for that size disadvantage by turning to their major weapon...their speed. With Luray having just taken its largest lead of the game at 19-11, Fulton started the charge with back-to-back steals. A three pointer from Painter put the Big Red ahead to stay at 22-19 and the lead ballooned to 26-19 before Luray could stop the onslaught.
RHS built the lead to double digits by halftime at 35-24 and early in the third, another Painter trey gave the home team its biggest lead to that point at 40-27. But the Dogs had one last run in them.
With Riverheads electing to slow the tempo and attempt to salt the game away at the foul line, the visitors crawled back to within four at 53-49. But just when it looked like they might make it all the way back, RHS slammed the door with a final 10-0 run, which featured another great steal and lay-up by Fulton and a foul-shooting clinic by Dunlap.
The Gladiators now take their two-game win streak to Buffalo Gap Tuesday, where they would very much like to pick up district win number two and build some confidence going into next Thursday's home challenge against powerful East Rockingham. The Big Red JV's picked up their first win of the season as they scored the first 11 points of the second half and pulled away to a 46-34 win. Eighth-grader Adam Painter (younger brother of Grant) scorched the nets from outside in the first half, whereas the second half charge was led by Zack Adams, the previously-mentioned freshman who stepped down from the varsity team after the Fort win Wednesday. We are also hearing that the Lady Gladiators remained unbeaten with a tough 39-38 win tonight up at Luray.
It is early of course but with the job these freshmen are doing, the future looks bright at RHS, not just for this season, but the next few to follow!
