There was a TON of excitement in Page County tonight and some of it was even related to football, but we will get back to that in a minute.
The big event was some sort of "guy with a gun" incident that started an hour or so before kickoff in the town of Shenandoah. As most of you know, to get from Riverheads to PCHS, you have to go through that town. So the story was just developing as most of us came through town, but it escalated and fans were hardly able to concentrate on the game, as every law enforcement vehicle within a 50-mile radius roared by the stadium at breakneck speed.
It was still an ongoing thing by the end of the game, so the PA announcer strongly encouraged (even ordered) RHS fans to take the alternate route home by going north on 340 to 211 and over to New Market, which really wasn't that much of an inconvenience. So tune in to your local media if interested to learn more about the outcome of that situation. Last we heard, no one was actually injured.
OK back to the game. As if the gun story wasn't enough of a distraction, yours truly was a tad late to the game due to a combination of construction on Rt. 33, the required Log Cabin Bar b q stop, and a couple of slowpokes on that diagonal road that connects 33 to 340. I still got there by the 9:00 minute mark of the first quarter, but I still missed the first two RHS touchdowns, which gives you an idea of how quickly the Big Red took charge of this one.
My posse tells me that I missed a wide open 36 yard touchdown pass from Chase Armstrong to Brett Hostetler, followed by a 37 yard QB gallop right up the middle by Armstrong himself. So it was 14-0 by the time I made it to the bleachers. Kicker Rinaldo Martina would go on to have a perfect 9 for 9 evening by the way.
But what I did see almost immediately were back-to-back Page turnovers very deep in their own territory, both of which RHS turned into quick scores. It is not easy to throw an interception at your own 3 yard line and fumble at your own 13, but the Panthers did both, and Harrison Schaefer ran it in for the score on the very first play after each turnover. Those two TDs turned out be his last action of the night as the Gladiators amazingly had a 28-0 lead with over half the first quarter still remaining.
It got worse for the Homecoming crowd as Hostetler broke loose for another long TD and seconds later, after yet another Panther mistake, Dalton Jordan scored an easy one also, as the lead ballooned to 42-0, with time still left in the first.
Although it may not have been obvious to the Page crowd, Riverheads pulled its starters on the very first series of the second quarter and it became an "everybody gets to play" evening for the Big Red. That led to two more scores, a nice 50-yard dance down the right sideline by Jackson Shover and a nine-yard QB keeper by back-up Tyler Smith.
Those scores made it 56-0, still with plenty of time left before the halftime festivities, but Page finally had something to cheer about as they scored and added the two-point conversion before the break to take away some of the sting.
The second half of course featured the running clock, which was much appreciated, since the first half had dragged out. Each team only produced one more score, a 45-yard dash up the middle by Riverheads speedster Devin Morris and an equally impressive gallop in the fourth by the Panthers' Heizer.
That gave us the final score although each team came within a gnat's eyelash of scoring again. Riverheads could have easily hit the 70 point mark after a 28-yard run by Jaden Phillips put them on the 1 yard line. But even though there were nearly four minutes left, the Big Red took the high road and intentionally took a series of delay of game penalties and kneel downs so as to avoid scoring again.
That gave Page one final chance and they almost capitalized on it. First they had the longest play of the night by either team with a 65-yard pass over the middle that carried down to the Riverheads' 10. They only had one more down to produce a third TD before the final horn, but RHS stopped them on the 5 and the visiting fans, if they followed instructions, headed UP Rt. 340 instead of down as they normally would have, no doubt satisfied with their big win.
So not your conventional night of football by any stretch, but the Gladiators are now 7-0 and will host Wilson next week for Senior Night. I believe Page's next two games take them to Stuarts Draft and Buffalo Gap, but I am not sure in what order. They then also get to host Wilson for Senior Night on November 4th.
The big event was some sort of "guy with a gun" incident that started an hour or so before kickoff in the town of Shenandoah. As most of you know, to get from Riverheads to PCHS, you have to go through that town. So the story was just developing as most of us came through town, but it escalated and fans were hardly able to concentrate on the game, as every law enforcement vehicle within a 50-mile radius roared by the stadium at breakneck speed.
It was still an ongoing thing by the end of the game, so the PA announcer strongly encouraged (even ordered) RHS fans to take the alternate route home by going north on 340 to 211 and over to New Market, which really wasn't that much of an inconvenience. So tune in to your local media if interested to learn more about the outcome of that situation. Last we heard, no one was actually injured.
OK back to the game. As if the gun story wasn't enough of a distraction, yours truly was a tad late to the game due to a combination of construction on Rt. 33, the required Log Cabin Bar b q stop, and a couple of slowpokes on that diagonal road that connects 33 to 340. I still got there by the 9:00 minute mark of the first quarter, but I still missed the first two RHS touchdowns, which gives you an idea of how quickly the Big Red took charge of this one.
My posse tells me that I missed a wide open 36 yard touchdown pass from Chase Armstrong to Brett Hostetler, followed by a 37 yard QB gallop right up the middle by Armstrong himself. So it was 14-0 by the time I made it to the bleachers. Kicker Rinaldo Martina would go on to have a perfect 9 for 9 evening by the way.
But what I did see almost immediately were back-to-back Page turnovers very deep in their own territory, both of which RHS turned into quick scores. It is not easy to throw an interception at your own 3 yard line and fumble at your own 13, but the Panthers did both, and Harrison Schaefer ran it in for the score on the very first play after each turnover. Those two TDs turned out be his last action of the night as the Gladiators amazingly had a 28-0 lead with over half the first quarter still remaining.
It got worse for the Homecoming crowd as Hostetler broke loose for another long TD and seconds later, after yet another Panther mistake, Dalton Jordan scored an easy one also, as the lead ballooned to 42-0, with time still left in the first.
Although it may not have been obvious to the Page crowd, Riverheads pulled its starters on the very first series of the second quarter and it became an "everybody gets to play" evening for the Big Red. That led to two more scores, a nice 50-yard dance down the right sideline by Jackson Shover and a nine-yard QB keeper by back-up Tyler Smith.
Those scores made it 56-0, still with plenty of time left before the halftime festivities, but Page finally had something to cheer about as they scored and added the two-point conversion before the break to take away some of the sting.
The second half of course featured the running clock, which was much appreciated, since the first half had dragged out. Each team only produced one more score, a 45-yard dash up the middle by Riverheads speedster Devin Morris and an equally impressive gallop in the fourth by the Panthers' Heizer.
That gave us the final score although each team came within a gnat's eyelash of scoring again. Riverheads could have easily hit the 70 point mark after a 28-yard run by Jaden Phillips put them on the 1 yard line. But even though there were nearly four minutes left, the Big Red took the high road and intentionally took a series of delay of game penalties and kneel downs so as to avoid scoring again.
That gave Page one final chance and they almost capitalized on it. First they had the longest play of the night by either team with a 65-yard pass over the middle that carried down to the Riverheads' 10. They only had one more down to produce a third TD before the final horn, but RHS stopped them on the 5 and the visiting fans, if they followed instructions, headed UP Rt. 340 instead of down as they normally would have, no doubt satisfied with their big win.
So not your conventional night of football by any stretch, but the Gladiators are now 7-0 and will host Wilson next week for Senior Night. I believe Page's next two games take them to Stuarts Draft and Buffalo Gap, but I am not sure in what order. They then also get to host Wilson for Senior Night on November 4th.
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