Riverheads 28 Fort Defiance 0 Final
- Thread starter kwhs95fan
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With Riverheads clinging to a 7-0 halftime lead, you knew that someone was going to have to make a big play to settle this one, and junior running back Zac Smiley came through with not one, but two, great runs in the third quarter to open things up as the Gladiators turned back their county rivals. As mentioned earlier this week, this was their first meeting since 1981 and with the win, RHS now leads the overall series 13-8.
Fort Defiance won the opening toss but deferred and Riverheads took the first possession in for the only score of the first half as they covered 65 yards in a drive that consumed half the first quarter. Fort was giving yards grudgingly and at one point the Big Red faced a fourth and 6 gamble from the Indian 42. But they rolled the dice and kept the drive alive with a completion in the right flat to Deacon Moore. The eventual touchdown came on yet another pass from Elijah Dunlap to Braeson Fulton. The senior running back extended to make a diving catch in the back of the end zone as the referee took his good old time signaling the score.
The Indians as expected went often to their talented running back Trevor Bartley but their nicest play of the first half was about a 35 yard completion from Monroe to Knicely. (Sorry for lack of first names and/or spelling errors as I did not get a program tonight.) But Riverheads stiffened and did not give up a score. To be fair about it, the Indians did a lot of things right tonight and kept this one close, including an interception of Dunlap in the red zone and they also coffin-cornered a punt at the 1 yard line and backed the Big Red up to its own 15 with another one. But in the final analysis RHS kept Bartley from breaking the big one, whereas Smiley ran wild for 181 yards, including the big second half gains.
The first of those occurred on RHS' first possession, as he swept left end from about 42 yards out, stiff-armed his final defender around the 15 and took it in for the score. Later in the quarter, after the second of the above-mentioned punts had pinned Riverheads deep, he swept left again, hurdled a defender around the 30 and took it another 20 yards to get the Big Red out of the hole. That drive would culminate early in the fourth with a wide open pass to Moore for his second TD of the season.
As the game wound down, a popular Gladiator lineman, Jameson Shover, thought he had the TD that every defensive player dreams of when he picked up an Indian fumble and rumbled about 45 yards for an apparent score. But the refs ruled that his knee was down when he recovered the fumble. Instead that final RHS TD came on a bootleg around right end by Dunlap.
Smiley had one final long run late in the game that put RHS in position to possibly make it a five score game, but as the clock ticked down under a minute, Dunlap took a couple of knees to put the game in the victory column. The key to the win would have to be the Gladiators' versatility and depth on offense as they also got solid running games from Cole Burton, Trevor Roberts and Cy Cox, which of course kept the Indian defense confused. By contrast the Fort went to Bartley almost constantly except for half a dozen pass attempts to Knicely and that lack of variety made the Gladiator assignments easier once they got into the rhythm of the game.
With the win, the Big Red moves to 7-0 with the Staunton Storm coming to Greenville next Friday night. Everyone is still looking forward to that potential Battle of the Unbeatens at Stuarts Draft on the final night of the season, but this Indian bunch showed enough tonight to make me think they just might give SD a game next Friday. With that game being played at home, if the Fort can catch an early break and gain the confidence that Riverheads did not allow them to have tonight, then that one just might be a trap game for the Cougars. I will have to think a little more about my prediction for that one!
Another treat of tonight's game was an extremely well-deserved halftime tribute to Dr. Lynn Moore, perhaps one of the most well-known and well-respected fixtures of the Riverheads athletic program. He has amazingly been the only team doctor in the almost-60-year history of the school and according to the testimonial read tonight by another local doctor, he has missed only ONE football game, home or away, during that period. He and his family were presented with a generous gift certificate and received an extended standing ovation. And believe it or not, he apparently has every intention of staying on as the team doctor for the foreseeable future. As they like to say around Riverheads..........."Once a Gladiator, always a Gladiator."
Fort Defiance won the opening toss but deferred and Riverheads took the first possession in for the only score of the first half as they covered 65 yards in a drive that consumed half the first quarter. Fort was giving yards grudgingly and at one point the Big Red faced a fourth and 6 gamble from the Indian 42. But they rolled the dice and kept the drive alive with a completion in the right flat to Deacon Moore. The eventual touchdown came on yet another pass from Elijah Dunlap to Braeson Fulton. The senior running back extended to make a diving catch in the back of the end zone as the referee took his good old time signaling the score.
The Indians as expected went often to their talented running back Trevor Bartley but their nicest play of the first half was about a 35 yard completion from Monroe to Knicely. (Sorry for lack of first names and/or spelling errors as I did not get a program tonight.) But Riverheads stiffened and did not give up a score. To be fair about it, the Indians did a lot of things right tonight and kept this one close, including an interception of Dunlap in the red zone and they also coffin-cornered a punt at the 1 yard line and backed the Big Red up to its own 15 with another one. But in the final analysis RHS kept Bartley from breaking the big one, whereas Smiley ran wild for 181 yards, including the big second half gains.
The first of those occurred on RHS' first possession, as he swept left end from about 42 yards out, stiff-armed his final defender around the 15 and took it in for the score. Later in the quarter, after the second of the above-mentioned punts had pinned Riverheads deep, he swept left again, hurdled a defender around the 30 and took it another 20 yards to get the Big Red out of the hole. That drive would culminate early in the fourth with a wide open pass to Moore for his second TD of the season.
As the game wound down, a popular Gladiator lineman, Jameson Shover, thought he had the TD that every defensive player dreams of when he picked up an Indian fumble and rumbled about 45 yards for an apparent score. But the refs ruled that his knee was down when he recovered the fumble. Instead that final RHS TD came on a bootleg around right end by Dunlap.
Smiley had one final long run late in the game that put RHS in position to possibly make it a five score game, but as the clock ticked down under a minute, Dunlap took a couple of knees to put the game in the victory column. The key to the win would have to be the Gladiators' versatility and depth on offense as they also got solid running games from Cole Burton, Trevor Roberts and Cy Cox, which of course kept the Indian defense confused. By contrast the Fort went to Bartley almost constantly except for half a dozen pass attempts to Knicely and that lack of variety made the Gladiator assignments easier once they got into the rhythm of the game.
With the win, the Big Red moves to 7-0 with the Staunton Storm coming to Greenville next Friday night. Everyone is still looking forward to that potential Battle of the Unbeatens at Stuarts Draft on the final night of the season, but this Indian bunch showed enough tonight to make me think they just might give SD a game next Friday. With that game being played at home, if the Fort can catch an early break and gain the confidence that Riverheads did not allow them to have tonight, then that one just might be a trap game for the Cougars. I will have to think a little more about my prediction for that one!
Another treat of tonight's game was an extremely well-deserved halftime tribute to Dr. Lynn Moore, perhaps one of the most well-known and well-respected fixtures of the Riverheads athletic program. He has amazingly been the only team doctor in the almost-60-year history of the school and according to the testimonial read tonight by another local doctor, he has missed only ONE football game, home or away, during that period. He and his family were presented with a generous gift certificate and received an extended standing ovation. And believe it or not, he apparently has every intention of staying on as the team doctor for the foreseeable future. As they like to say around Riverheads..........."Once a Gladiator, always a Gladiator."
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Just read a newspaper account of this game and it mentioned an interesting stat that had escaped my notice. According to the reporter, Riverheads has received the opening kickoff in all seven games this season and has scored on the opening possession all seven times.
Great write up and I would like to add to a few points. From my perspective this may have been the biggest line we have played in recent years. Of those a couple stand out to me in #58 or #53 (can’t remember this morning which number he was was) and #61. Sorry for not remembering the first ones number but he played LT and flipped back and forth at DE. He was a load to move and won more of those individual match ups than he lost. #61 was another massive young man that surprised our fence row “crew” when he had a couple of one arm tackles where he just stuck his arm out and grabbed the Riverheads back while he was being blocked. Both are tremendous athletes and I hope they both get an opportunity to further their education and play some ball after high school.
In game adjustments were needed to get the O on track but the D also had a couple of slight changes that were required. The Indians came out with a similar offense to Skyline so that part wasn’t a surprise. The difference was Fort having a much better back to contend with. The defense was adjusting to missing a starting DB when yet another injury occurred. This should be fine in the next few weeks and isn’t a huge concern based on the player adjustments that were made.
I will finish up on my soap box and say Fort has a good team and I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a decent game against Stuarts Draft. I think they win easily against Gap and Wilson so a realistic shot at 6-4 two years after going 1-9 is pretty dang good and should have them solidly in the playoffs. Not sure if it’s because of the group of athletes coming through right now but kudos to them on turning things around and getting kids involved.
On a side note this was one of the larger visiting crowds for us this year on our Little League Night, so I imagine the gate was a good one.
In game adjustments were needed to get the O on track but the D also had a couple of slight changes that were required. The Indians came out with a similar offense to Skyline so that part wasn’t a surprise. The difference was Fort having a much better back to contend with. The defense was adjusting to missing a starting DB when yet another injury occurred. This should be fine in the next few weeks and isn’t a huge concern based on the player adjustments that were made.
I will finish up on my soap box and say Fort has a good team and I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a decent game against Stuarts Draft. I think they win easily against Gap and Wilson so a realistic shot at 6-4 two years after going 1-9 is pretty dang good and should have them solidly in the playoffs. Not sure if it’s because of the group of athletes coming through right now but kudos to them on turning things around and getting kids involved.
On a side note this was one of the larger visiting crowds for us this year on our Little League Night, so I imagine the gate was a good one.
