A pair of fourth down gambles near midfield in the first quarter backfired on the Bison tonight and gave Riverheads the opportunity to strike first and ultimately build a 34-8 lead late in the game. To their credit the Bison kept fighting and scored two late TDs to close the final margin but it was too little too late.
BG had gotten off to a decent enough start as they forced a three and out on RHS' first possession. They then started their first drive and found themselves facing a 4th and 2 around the 48 or 49 yard line. They opted to go for it but the Gladiators stopped them and went in for their first score of the evening. Spencer Simpson earned two first downs on that drive before quarterback Levi Dunlap sneaked it across for the score. Zac Brooks, the busiest guy on the field tonight, kicked the PAT for a 7-0 Riverheads lead.
Moments later, the Bison found themselves in the exact same situation but this time they fumbled to give the ball back to Riverheads. This time the Gladiators took a slow march into Bison territory but settled for a Brooks field goal to go up 10-0. The Bison fumbled again soon after that, which led to a second Dunlap score and a 17-0 lead.
From that point on, the Bison duo of Goff and Yeago moved the ball more effectively and punched across a score of their own in the final minutes of the half. But RHS made the most of the minute or so that they had and worked the ball in for Brooks' second field goal of the quarter, which he nailed with just .2 on the clock for a 20-8 halftime lead.
The Gladiators stopped the Gap cold on the opening possession of the second half and then did what Riverheads does best.....controlled the ball for about seven minutes before scoring on a short Jonathan Talbott run to forge ahead 27-8. Early in the fourth quarter, a Brady Boehm TD made it 34-8.
The Bison then punched in a score to close to 34-16 with about five minutes left. With nothing to lose, they tried an onside kick and recovered it. They scored again with around a minute left and of course tried a second onside kick. Chris Dotson fell on that one to clinch the victory for the Big Red.
With the win, the Gladiators remain one of three teams with just one district loss. They meet one of the others (Stuarts Draft) next week, while the third one, Staunton, was off tonight. Fort Defiance lost at Wilson tonight 28-21 for their second loss of the season in district play.
With three weeks left in the regular season, there are still a handful of games that will have something to say about who wins the district. Next week's RHS/SD battle is certainly one of those, but there are still games with Fort vs. Staunton and Stuarts Draft vs. Wilson that will also impact things.
For the Bison, they are mathematically out of the title race, but still have games with Staunton and Fort Defiance, and they would like nothing better than to spoil someone else's title plans.
