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RE Lee dominate in win over RIverheads 23-7

Congrats, and that's about all there is to say. Lee D was honestly something I never considered a threat but they were up to the challenge and controlled the game. Williams is a star and I hope gets some looks from high profile schools.
 
Impressive win for Lee. Lee has athletes and they are a threat at the AA level. Lee (from the East) is much like Graham (from the West). Athletes all over the field and when you have great athleticism and solid coaching, you are a threat.
 
Between this thread and the one on the 1-A board, you guys have kind of hit the highlights so that may make my report a little easier tonight. As I see it, there were three factors that contributed to Lee's big win tonight. First of all, they had the bye week which gave them plenty of time to focus on Riverheads and only Riverheads. As a result, they came fully prepared for the Gladiators on both sides of the ball. Secondly, they were just so much quicker than RHS and just a more athletic team than the Big Red has faced all season.

But for my money, the real determining factor tonight was Lee cutting down on their turnovers. Obviously this was the first time I had seen them play, but I am sure they had either four or five turnovers against Buffalo Gap, and I think I read that they had four against Luray just in the first half. So I personally assumed that was their major weakness and that maybe sometimes they played too fast and got too excited. Therefore I expected to see more TO's tonight and assumed that Riverheads' usual discipline and precision would make the difference in the game. Instead the Leemen played a nearly flawless game and did not turn it over at all.

If there was a sequence that you could point to as the key to the victory, it came in the second quarter. Lee had jumped on top 14-0 but the Gladiators moved deep into the red zone, where they faced a fourth and goal from the six yard line. Tyler Smith kept the ball and tried to score but was stopped at the one. Lee then proceeded to drive the length of the field to add a back-breaking insurance touchdown. A 99-yard drive is pretty darn impressive at any level of football. They then added a field goal just before the horn to make it 23-0. If Riverheads had managed to get on the board with that second-quarter possession, 14-7 at that point would have looked a whole lot more do-able and it could have given them the confidence to make it a different game.

But once Lee thwarted that drive and took the 23-point halftime lead, everyone in the stadium knew that Riverheads did not have the big-play capability to come back and make a game of it, so the Gladiators did the only thing we could have asked of them. They showed their pride in the second half, they kept playing hard, they kept digging and digging and finally got on the scoreboard with just 9 seconds left in the third quarter. In fact the Big Red held the Leemen to just three plays and a punt in that quarter and if they keep time of possession as a stat in high school ball, the Gladiators probably held the ball for 18 or more minutes of the second half.

In addition to the sticktuitiveness of the football team, I also have to give a huge shout-out to the Gladiator fans. That may just have been the biggest contingent of Big Red fans I have ever seen at an away game. They crammed into every available seat on the bleachers, they lined the fences four and five people deep, and the overflow even spilled over into the two far left sections on the Lee side at the scoreboard end of the field. In fact, when Smith passed to Moose Lee for the Gladiator touchdown, it was that section of fans that could see it best and let the rest of us know that he had scored.

So even though all the praise justifiably goes to Coach G and his staff for a near-perfect victory, Riverheads will not let this loss define their season. In fact you could argue that this loss could be a learning experience and actually help them down the road. As for the Leemen, they looked like a serious playoff contender tonight and their goal now will be to make sure this game does not go to their heads.

RHS still has a realistic shot at a third straight appearance in Salem on Championship Saturday and if the Leemen would like to join the party in that afternoon's second game, they will be more than welcome and plenty of Big Red fans will stick around and cheer them on. We have never had two Augusta County teams appear in Salem on the same day, but if each of these teams focuses on one game at a time, it could happen!
 
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