Fans who thought this might be a down to the wire battle tonight were disappointed as Riverheads scored on its first two possessions and never looked back. Jonathan Talbott and Cayden Cook-Cash each rushed for over 100 yards and Brendon Fortune had a few tough carries also, including a crucial 6 yard plunge up the middle that gave the Big Red a first and goal to help put the game away. The Gladiators were without the services of running back Austin Roberts, whose injury is still being evaluated, so the rushing attack fell on the shoulders of those three.
As you can tell from the headline and from the above statistics, the Gladiator defense was just as much a factor in tonight's win. They held the Graber brothers in check all evening and in fact a stat that I heard on the radio post game show said that Baylor was held to just 29 yards. Neither brother nor any other Cougar broke a really big play tonight, although they got some key yardage out of Derrick Moore and Ryan Ramsey. Both of those are back next year along with the Grabers so the future still looks bright for the Maroon and White.
If there was a key turning point in tonight's game, it was the midway point of the second quarter. Riverheads had taken the early 14-0 lead, but a nice kickoff return put SD in good field position. As they eased across the midfield stripe a Gladiator was called for a horse collar tackle. It seemed to be a good call although one fence-warrior on the Riverheads side was so upset by it that the coaches had to step over and calm him down.
Shortly afterward, the Big Red was hit with a pass interference call and just like that the Cougars was knocking on the door with a first down at the RHS 12. But in the time it took for the Gladiators to put them in scoring position, the Cougars shot themselves in the foot and had to settle for the field goal. First they were hit with a delay of game even though they were staring straight at the play clock. That particular problem plagued the visitors tonight as they had to use two of their second-half time outs specifically to avoid that same penalty.
Soon after that delay of game call, the Cougars were hit with a holding call. So instead of possibly closing the gap to 14-7 at the break, knowing they would receive the second half kickoff, they had to settle for three.
On that first possession of the second half, the first turnover of the night went to Riverheads as a hard hit on a pass right over the middle jarred the ball loose and Brady Boehm hauled it in on the deflection. That put the Big Red in business at the Draft 37 and they drove in for touchdown number three to pretty much settle the issue at 21-3. Cook-Cash got the honors on that score after he and Talbott split the two first half touchdowns.
To the Cougars' credit, they were not giving up any big plays either but that changed midway through the fourth quarter when Talbott got to the corner and raced for about 60 yards down the near sideline. He was brought down at the 10 but the Gladiators eventually scored on a rare touchdown pass when Levi Dunlap rolled to his left and appeared to be ready to bootleg it into the end zone, when he found Nolan Tyree open in the corner. That was the first-ever touchdown for Tyree, who will now have a senior-year memory to treasure.
Due to the aforementioned time out situation, the Cougars were forced to take to the air in desperation mode after the Tyree score, but Caleb Weston intercepted their final pass attempt of the evening, and the Gladiators ran out the clock to run their record to 7-1 and capture the Shenandoah District crown. With tonight's game being SD's second district loss, that now puts Fort Defiance in the driver's seat for runner-up honors, although the Indians still have a tough one ahead with Staunton, which last we heard was pummeling Buffalo Gap 40-0 tonight.
Riverheads hits the road next Friday night as they travel to Waynesboro. They will then close out the season at home against John Marshall as they hope to finish no lower than second in the Region 2-B standings. According to some sources, they could still claim the number one spot if Central were to falter, but other sources say the Falcons will hold on to the number one seed even if they do lose somewhere along the line.
The best news of the night, other than the RHS victory, was the weather. The forecast showers moved out of the area by about 4:00 leaving us with a very nice field that did not seem to trip anyone up and the temperatures were typical for football weather.
As you can tell from the headline and from the above statistics, the Gladiator defense was just as much a factor in tonight's win. They held the Graber brothers in check all evening and in fact a stat that I heard on the radio post game show said that Baylor was held to just 29 yards. Neither brother nor any other Cougar broke a really big play tonight, although they got some key yardage out of Derrick Moore and Ryan Ramsey. Both of those are back next year along with the Grabers so the future still looks bright for the Maroon and White.
If there was a key turning point in tonight's game, it was the midway point of the second quarter. Riverheads had taken the early 14-0 lead, but a nice kickoff return put SD in good field position. As they eased across the midfield stripe a Gladiator was called for a horse collar tackle. It seemed to be a good call although one fence-warrior on the Riverheads side was so upset by it that the coaches had to step over and calm him down.
Shortly afterward, the Big Red was hit with a pass interference call and just like that the Cougars was knocking on the door with a first down at the RHS 12. But in the time it took for the Gladiators to put them in scoring position, the Cougars shot themselves in the foot and had to settle for the field goal. First they were hit with a delay of game even though they were staring straight at the play clock. That particular problem plagued the visitors tonight as they had to use two of their second-half time outs specifically to avoid that same penalty.
Soon after that delay of game call, the Cougars were hit with a holding call. So instead of possibly closing the gap to 14-7 at the break, knowing they would receive the second half kickoff, they had to settle for three.
On that first possession of the second half, the first turnover of the night went to Riverheads as a hard hit on a pass right over the middle jarred the ball loose and Brady Boehm hauled it in on the deflection. That put the Big Red in business at the Draft 37 and they drove in for touchdown number three to pretty much settle the issue at 21-3. Cook-Cash got the honors on that score after he and Talbott split the two first half touchdowns.
To the Cougars' credit, they were not giving up any big plays either but that changed midway through the fourth quarter when Talbott got to the corner and raced for about 60 yards down the near sideline. He was brought down at the 10 but the Gladiators eventually scored on a rare touchdown pass when Levi Dunlap rolled to his left and appeared to be ready to bootleg it into the end zone, when he found Nolan Tyree open in the corner. That was the first-ever touchdown for Tyree, who will now have a senior-year memory to treasure.
Due to the aforementioned time out situation, the Cougars were forced to take to the air in desperation mode after the Tyree score, but Caleb Weston intercepted their final pass attempt of the evening, and the Gladiators ran out the clock to run their record to 7-1 and capture the Shenandoah District crown. With tonight's game being SD's second district loss, that now puts Fort Defiance in the driver's seat for runner-up honors, although the Indians still have a tough one ahead with Staunton, which last we heard was pummeling Buffalo Gap 40-0 tonight.
Riverheads hits the road next Friday night as they travel to Waynesboro. They will then close out the season at home against John Marshall as they hope to finish no lower than second in the Region 2-B standings. According to some sources, they could still claim the number one spot if Central were to falter, but other sources say the Falcons will hold on to the number one seed even if they do lose somewhere along the line.
The best news of the night, other than the RHS victory, was the weather. The forecast showers moved out of the area by about 4:00 leaving us with a very nice field that did not seem to trip anyone up and the temperatures were typical for football weather.
