I review every game, and didn't know which of the many threads to chime in on, so I decided to start my own. If I had to choose one word to describe this game, it would be perfection.
Last year Galax stopped literally everything the Gladiators tried to do. I recall only two plays from that game last year in which Riverheads gained more than 10 yards...a breakaway run up the middle by Colt Miller and a nice juggling catch by Tyler Smith. Other than that, the Big Red was stifled completely on offense.
Well, what a difference a year makes, because this time the Tide could not stop anything Riverheads threw at them and the score reflects that. I personally was shocked at the margin of victory, as was just about everyone I have talked to. It was a mixture of Riverheads doing what it always does, along with a few wrinkles thrown in just for this game, but it also featured some outstanding individual plays that could only have been attributed to heart.
RHS got a nice kickoff return by Brett Hostetler that gave them their first play from scrimmage at the Galax 40. The Tide defense stopped them on the first three downs and RHS faced a 4th and 4. But Harrison Schaefer took off around right end and rambled down to the 3 yard line. Fullback Dalton Jordan took it in a play or two later and RHS was on the board at the 9:35 mark. To save myself some time, Rinaldo Martina was a perfect 9 for 9 on PATs today, and the Galax kicker made all three of his too, so just picture all points being scored 7 at a time.
Galax then got an even better kickoff return and set up at the RHS 29, ready to push it in for the equalizer. But the Gladiators were up to the task, as the defense held at the 22. Then came the play of the season for Riverheads, if not the play of the decade.
We all know RHS doesn't pass much and Galax obviously knew that. So a first down pass right over the middle to tight end Ridge Stokes (who also had a sensational defensive game today by the way) caught EVERYONE by surprise. But it was his individual effort that made the play so spectacular.
First of all the pass was high, which may have been by design to take advantage of his height. But it also led him a little bit, so that he had to really stretch to make the initial contact with the ball. He tipped it basically to himself, juggled it a time or two and was off to the races with no defender in sight.
However, and I say this with sincere admiration for his incredible effort on the play.........son, when you are in that situation, run like the devil himself is after you and for Pete's sake, don't look back over your shoulder to see if anyone is about to catch you! The touchdown was never in doubt but he worried me "just a little" there for a moment. The Gladiators threw to him another time later in the game and he made the same juggling kind of catch. Not too shabby for a team that doesn't throw much!
His score put RHS ahead 14-0 with still over 7 minutes left in the quarter. After stopping Galax again, the Gladiators added a third first quarter score, and this one was even more wide open than Stokes' TD. It was a fairly routine handoff to Jordan, and as we know, fullbacks are not always supposed to be that fast, but he took it right up the middle from about 55 yards completely untouched. And there were STILL 5 minutes left in the quarter.
As the clock turned over to the second quarter, it was Schaefer time and little did we know that he was about to score the next FIVE Gladiator touchdowns, four on offense and one on defense. The first came on a 16 yard run on the first play of the quarter and RHS led 28-0 with the clock showing 11:53.
Galax then drove for the first of its three touchdown passes, and with half the second quarter still left to play, no one was assuming this one was over. In fact, I said to my guys in the stands..."If they score again before halftime, we could be in trouble."
But instead Schaefer padded the margin back to four touchdowns with about a 40 yard run around right end and the teams went to the locker room with the score reading 35-7.
Galax received the second half kickoff and drove quickly for its second TD to make it 35-14. Again doubt momentarily creeped in, because if they would have scored the next one, it would have been a two-score game, with most of the second half still to be played.
But Mr. Schaefer removed all doubt in very short order. Following a Big Red recovery of an onside kick, he took off around the right side again, and this time, he brought back memories of the Buffalo Gap win when he hurdled the last defender to get into the end zone.
Since it has been a few hours, my memory is a tad shaky on the next two Riverheads scores. I know Schaefer scored both and I think the offensive one was only about a three yarder to cap a drive. But it was his defensive score that really brought the loudest cheers of the day from the Gladiator faithful.
It was still in the third quarter and understandably Galax was throwing on just about every down to try and get back in the game. But Schaefer stepped in front of one around midfield and headed down his favorite right sideline. You could see two defenders closing in on him but he juked both of them out of their shorts and hit the end zone for his fifth score.
In the fourth quarter, the Gladiators took over with about nine minutes left and of course that was too long to kill the clock. So they moved downfield and Jordan scored again from in close for his third one of the day.
Galax then added one more TD pass that some Riverheads folks thought was caught out of bounds, but of course by that time it made no difference. To their credit, the Tide did not give up and was moving the ball inside the ten for a possible fourth score when the clock ran out.
For Riverheads, they have the odd statistic of having played in the state semi-finals six times and all six of those have been on the road. Circumstances have just never worked out for RHS to host a semi-final. But since this was their fifth win out of those six, and all at different places I might add, something tells me they are quite happy with their travel agent and just might keep him around!
So it is on to play Sussex next week for the state title. This will be the first time the Gladiators have appeared in back to back state title games, and a win next week will certainly take the sting out of last year's loss. You can bet the coaching staff is already studying Sussex with a fine-tooth comb.
I just read the devastating news about the Stuarts Draft loss, so there goes our dream of a county double-header in Salem next week, but the fans at that one must have gotten their money's worth and then some! Congratulations to the Cougars on a season to remember.
One final thought unrelated to the game........you had to love those Galax gas prices! They were a good 20-30 cents cheaper than here at home, so I am betting a lot of Big Red fans filled up, whether they needed to or not! I know I did!
Last year Galax stopped literally everything the Gladiators tried to do. I recall only two plays from that game last year in which Riverheads gained more than 10 yards...a breakaway run up the middle by Colt Miller and a nice juggling catch by Tyler Smith. Other than that, the Big Red was stifled completely on offense.
Well, what a difference a year makes, because this time the Tide could not stop anything Riverheads threw at them and the score reflects that. I personally was shocked at the margin of victory, as was just about everyone I have talked to. It was a mixture of Riverheads doing what it always does, along with a few wrinkles thrown in just for this game, but it also featured some outstanding individual plays that could only have been attributed to heart.
RHS got a nice kickoff return by Brett Hostetler that gave them their first play from scrimmage at the Galax 40. The Tide defense stopped them on the first three downs and RHS faced a 4th and 4. But Harrison Schaefer took off around right end and rambled down to the 3 yard line. Fullback Dalton Jordan took it in a play or two later and RHS was on the board at the 9:35 mark. To save myself some time, Rinaldo Martina was a perfect 9 for 9 on PATs today, and the Galax kicker made all three of his too, so just picture all points being scored 7 at a time.
Galax then got an even better kickoff return and set up at the RHS 29, ready to push it in for the equalizer. But the Gladiators were up to the task, as the defense held at the 22. Then came the play of the season for Riverheads, if not the play of the decade.
We all know RHS doesn't pass much and Galax obviously knew that. So a first down pass right over the middle to tight end Ridge Stokes (who also had a sensational defensive game today by the way) caught EVERYONE by surprise. But it was his individual effort that made the play so spectacular.
First of all the pass was high, which may have been by design to take advantage of his height. But it also led him a little bit, so that he had to really stretch to make the initial contact with the ball. He tipped it basically to himself, juggled it a time or two and was off to the races with no defender in sight.
However, and I say this with sincere admiration for his incredible effort on the play.........son, when you are in that situation, run like the devil himself is after you and for Pete's sake, don't look back over your shoulder to see if anyone is about to catch you! The touchdown was never in doubt but he worried me "just a little" there for a moment. The Gladiators threw to him another time later in the game and he made the same juggling kind of catch. Not too shabby for a team that doesn't throw much!
His score put RHS ahead 14-0 with still over 7 minutes left in the quarter. After stopping Galax again, the Gladiators added a third first quarter score, and this one was even more wide open than Stokes' TD. It was a fairly routine handoff to Jordan, and as we know, fullbacks are not always supposed to be that fast, but he took it right up the middle from about 55 yards completely untouched. And there were STILL 5 minutes left in the quarter.
As the clock turned over to the second quarter, it was Schaefer time and little did we know that he was about to score the next FIVE Gladiator touchdowns, four on offense and one on defense. The first came on a 16 yard run on the first play of the quarter and RHS led 28-0 with the clock showing 11:53.
Galax then drove for the first of its three touchdown passes, and with half the second quarter still left to play, no one was assuming this one was over. In fact, I said to my guys in the stands..."If they score again before halftime, we could be in trouble."
But instead Schaefer padded the margin back to four touchdowns with about a 40 yard run around right end and the teams went to the locker room with the score reading 35-7.
Galax received the second half kickoff and drove quickly for its second TD to make it 35-14. Again doubt momentarily creeped in, because if they would have scored the next one, it would have been a two-score game, with most of the second half still to be played.
But Mr. Schaefer removed all doubt in very short order. Following a Big Red recovery of an onside kick, he took off around the right side again, and this time, he brought back memories of the Buffalo Gap win when he hurdled the last defender to get into the end zone.
Since it has been a few hours, my memory is a tad shaky on the next two Riverheads scores. I know Schaefer scored both and I think the offensive one was only about a three yarder to cap a drive. But it was his defensive score that really brought the loudest cheers of the day from the Gladiator faithful.
It was still in the third quarter and understandably Galax was throwing on just about every down to try and get back in the game. But Schaefer stepped in front of one around midfield and headed down his favorite right sideline. You could see two defenders closing in on him but he juked both of them out of their shorts and hit the end zone for his fifth score.
In the fourth quarter, the Gladiators took over with about nine minutes left and of course that was too long to kill the clock. So they moved downfield and Jordan scored again from in close for his third one of the day.
Galax then added one more TD pass that some Riverheads folks thought was caught out of bounds, but of course by that time it made no difference. To their credit, the Tide did not give up and was moving the ball inside the ten for a possible fourth score when the clock ran out.
For Riverheads, they have the odd statistic of having played in the state semi-finals six times and all six of those have been on the road. Circumstances have just never worked out for RHS to host a semi-final. But since this was their fifth win out of those six, and all at different places I might add, something tells me they are quite happy with their travel agent and just might keep him around!
So it is on to play Sussex next week for the state title. This will be the first time the Gladiators have appeared in back to back state title games, and a win next week will certainly take the sting out of last year's loss. You can bet the coaching staff is already studying Sussex with a fine-tooth comb.
I just read the devastating news about the Stuarts Draft loss, so there goes our dream of a county double-header in Salem next week, but the fans at that one must have gotten their money's worth and then some! Congratulations to the Cougars on a season to remember.
One final thought unrelated to the game........you had to love those Galax gas prices! They were a good 20-30 cents cheaper than here at home, so I am betting a lot of Big Red fans filled up, whether they needed to or not! I know I did!
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