Riverheads scored all the points it would need in the first quarter as the Big Red dominated both sides of the ball en route to an impressive season-opening victory. Although significantly outweighed by the home team, RHS drove steadily down the field for TDs on both first-quarter possessions. There was no program and I didn't catch very many player names but both TDs were scored on the ground, as well as a pair of two-point conversions.
The middle two quarters were then played mainly between the 30s, with the only memorable play being Lee's first first-down of the game, which came on a nice pass across the middle midway through the second period that put them in Riverheads' territory. But the Gladiator defense stiffened and stopped the drive.
Riverheads' final TD drive started late in the third with the score coming on a 20 yard pass play on the first play of the fourth quarter. Following that play, the Leemen responded with their best drive of the game as the QB option play worked well for them. They strung together several first downs in a row before a fumble turned the ball back over to RHS with about 4 minutes left as the Gladiators preserved the shutout.
It was a noticeably clean game with RHS' only obvious weakness being some timing issues as they were hit with 4 or 5 false starts or delay of game penalties, but those things of course will work themselves out with time. As near as I could tell, both teams came out of the game injury free as the Gladiators had a few cramping issues and one hand injury that didn't seem overly serious. If the Leemen had any injuries at all, I did not notice them.
Nice visiting crowd from RHS as I would say they outnumbered the very-slow arriving home fans. But support both home and away has been a Riverheads tradition for years and with that in mind, you can bet the hill will be jam-packed tomorrow night when the varsity teams take the field at Riverheads for Chapter Two of their new rivalry.
The middle two quarters were then played mainly between the 30s, with the only memorable play being Lee's first first-down of the game, which came on a nice pass across the middle midway through the second period that put them in Riverheads' territory. But the Gladiator defense stiffened and stopped the drive.
Riverheads' final TD drive started late in the third with the score coming on a 20 yard pass play on the first play of the fourth quarter. Following that play, the Leemen responded with their best drive of the game as the QB option play worked well for them. They strung together several first downs in a row before a fumble turned the ball back over to RHS with about 4 minutes left as the Gladiators preserved the shutout.
It was a noticeably clean game with RHS' only obvious weakness being some timing issues as they were hit with 4 or 5 false starts or delay of game penalties, but those things of course will work themselves out with time. As near as I could tell, both teams came out of the game injury free as the Gladiators had a few cramping issues and one hand injury that didn't seem overly serious. If the Leemen had any injuries at all, I did not notice them.
Nice visiting crowd from RHS as I would say they outnumbered the very-slow arriving home fans. But support both home and away has been a Riverheads tradition for years and with that in mind, you can bet the hill will be jam-packed tomorrow night when the varsity teams take the field at Riverheads for Chapter Two of their new rivalry.
