I know I have a reputation for my descriptions of our games, but wow, I am not sure I can do this one justice! Most definitely this was the best of our five semi-final games. First of all, let me say that I actually liked your field very much, as some other fans have commented. When I first read "concrete seats" I had trouble picturing the place, but the elevation you get from those seats is awesome!
Since I had time to think about it all the way home, I concluded that there were three main factors that contributed to Riverheads' win today. I will admit that I have cheated already and read the newspaper accounts, so some of what I may tell you is borrowed from them. By the way the article in the Bristol paper is terrific and very much slanted toward us.
Anyway, those three factors, not in any particular order, were:
1) We kept our composure the entire game and every time GW did something big that might have given them the momentum, which they did frequently, we kept our poise and had the answer for it.
2) Our third and fourth-down conversion rates were through the roof! As we all have learned over the years, Coach Casto hates punting with a passion and if he had his druthers, it would probably be taken out of the rulebook. So we gambled repeatedly today and in most cases, we got the job done, including a 34-yard TD run that was scored on a 4th and 12 play. One paper said we were 5 for 7 on 4th down plays.
3) Our yards after contact were also amazing. This too is a Riverheads trademark and it is especially impressive this year considering that none of our three running backs have what you would call big bodies. Yet they run tough and they don't go down easily. I have to highlight one play in particular today. Colt Miller, who is supposed to get the tough yards inside, managed to break into the secondary once for a few extra yards. One guy grabbed him, so he dragged him for about five extra yards. Two or three more guys piled on........no problem....he dragged them another five yards!!! It was awesome and drove our crowd into a frenzy.
And by the way, our crowd was something else today!!!!!!! Not just in numbers but in volume. You could have added all our home games together and not heard that much noise out of Riverheads fans.
To recap the game (or to try!), the Gladiators received the opening kickoff and only needed 1:38 I think it was to reach the end zone. Or perhaps I should say Landon Diehl only needed that much time, as he carried the ball for 56 of the 60 yards (got that stat from one of the papers.) He scored the TD from 7 yards out and Robson squibbed the PAT over the uprights.
Following that score, each team settled down to play some serious defense and stopped the other, at least for a while. The Gladiators dodged a huge bullet in the second quarter when a punt pinned them down deep around their own 7 yard line. But they got the all-important first first-down they needed to get out of that hole and proceeded to drive the ball about 65 yards before being stopped on downs. That special run that I mentioned by Miller occurred on that drive.
That rare stop by the defense gave GW its first chance to score and Beamer connected for the 68 yard scoring toss that tied the score with 3 1/2 minutes to go in the second. That was of course their first big attempt to take over the momentum.
Well their second attempt came moments later via an onside kick. RHS had momentarily appeared to handle it, but it squirted loose and the Maroons were back in business, ready to take a lead into the locker room.
But as I mentioned, composure took over and Riverheads kept them from scoring, despite a questionable personal-foul penalty that put them in the red zone. As the teams filed off to their locker rooms tied at 7, one might have guessed that Big Mo was on the side of the Maroons, especially with them due to receive the second half kickoff.
However, as it turned out, the first 11:45 of the third quarter belonged almost exclusively to Riverheads, until GW brought its crowd to life with a big play on the final play of the stanza. Riverheads first stopped the home team on a three and out, and then marched 60 yards for a Miller half-yard TD that gave them the lead for good.
After stopping the Maroons a second time, Riverheads drove for its second TD of the quarter. To this point, Harrison Schaefer, the leading scorer in the district, had been held in check. But in the second half, he ripped off one 30 yard run to keep a drive alive and later scored on the aforementioned 4th and 12 play. According to one of the papers, he ended up in the 150-160 yard range for the game, after being held to less than 10 yards in the first half. OBVIOUSLY somebody made some adjustments at halftime!
Diehl got the honors of putting the Big Red ahead 21-7 with a short run with only 15 seconds left in the third quarter. But then came the play of the night for GW, one that they have apparently witnessed a few times before this season. Their ace kick-off returner (forgot the name) picked up a kick around his own 12 yard line that had cleared the first row and looked like it was going to die.
Riverheads had covered it well and appeared ready to stop him in his tracks. But instead he broke several tackles down there in the danger zone. He headed laterally across the field, broke more tackles, and finally broke upfield when he got to his own sideline. RHS seemed to have several chances to nail him but he eluded them at every turn, including faking out one final defender around the 15 yard. GW converted the PAT and the eventful third quarter ended with Riverheads on top 21-14.
Instead of allowing the Maroons to use that explosive play to turn the game in their favor, the Gladiators showed that cool that I spoke of and moved methodically into scoring position, with Schaefer scoring on the 4th down play from the 34 with just under 7 minutes remaining.
GW was not finished and drove quickly down the field, scoring in about a minute and a half. However, the Gladiators made another emphatic defensive statement by blocking the PAT, leaving the score 28-20.
This time RHS successfully handled the not-fooling-anyone onside kick, and held on to the ball long enough to move into position for an insurance field goal. But due to GW's continued charges, it was not until that kick cleared the crossbar that Riverheads fans could really feel that they had the game won. The Gladiator crowd got to roar one final time when a ferocious blitz sacked Beamer on the Maroons' last-gasp play.
So again an awesome game in an awesome atmosphere. Perhaps you could sort of compare it to the old tortoise and hare story. Riverheads was quite content to keep the ball for long periods of time and score at their own pace, whereas GW apparently lives and dies by a more explosive attack. On this particular day, slow and steady won the race!
Can't wait for next week and the initial weather forecasts are calling for an even better day than today!
