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Tompkins is a glimpse of what MC used to be…he comes by it honest. His granddad was a stud at MC.@MCAthletics I don’t think it was quite what anyone expected. I thought Riverheads would win but the margin was skewed. I do want to say that #30 has the heart of a champion, he played until the very end. Compliments to that young man, lots of character shown by him and I wanted to make sure to call that out.
Nice write up. Congratulations on the win and breaking the streak. The Riverheads fans were great hosts. Enjoyed several good conversations.As someone has already mentioned, the margin was the surprising part, not necessarily who won. In short it was all about turnovers. The Mounties suffered an absolute nightmare of a first quarter as they fumbled the ball on their very first play from scrimmage and by the 8:53 mark of the first quarter had already thrown two interceptions.
They went on to fumble twice more in the first and Riverheads converted all five of those turnovers into touchdowns. When Madison was finally able to hold on to the ball long enough to have to punt, Riverheads took it in for a sixth touchdown, all still in the first quarter as the Gladiators grabbed an astonishing 42-0 lead.
CCC had the game of the year, if not his career, as he scored six touchdowns on the evening. The first came after the early fumble as he ran it in from 13 yards out. On Madison's second possession, he scored on a pick six that almost looked like he was the intended receiver.
He scored three more first-quarter touchdowns including one on a scoop and score, and then capped off his evening by taking it to the house from 91 yards out on the Big Red's first play of the second half. Madison's kickoff to open the half had gone deep and another Gladiator inadvertently touched his knee down at the 9, but Cayden saved his teammates the trouble of a long drive by going the distance in just one play. Once he got to the corner it was simply a foot race.
RHS started subbing as early as the second quarter and as a result, some lesser-known names got into the scoring column, including two brought up from the JVs just for the playoffs. The four non-CCC touchdowns were scored by Jonathan Talbott back in the first quarter (and he earned that one by having a long run down the sideline in which he was stopped at the one), followed by second and third quarter scores from reserve running back Brady Boehm, third-string quarterback Kendal Edwards, and Jackson Fitzgerald, the latter two being the JV graduates.
The Gladiators' second-team all-district place kicker Zac Brooks booted eight out of nine PATs, but in honor of Senior Night, the coaching staff gave Noah Ross the opportunity at one of them and he nailed it perfectly to get in the box score.
The Mounties finally shook the turnover bug and only had one more by my count after the first quarter disaster. They got their two TDs late in the game on almost identical pass plays after Riverheads had built the lead to a whopping 69-0. As someone mentioned, they kept fighting until the bitter end, but this one was settled early by that rash of turnovers.
With the win, the Gladiators have earned a second home game. I assume the opponent will be Clarke County, since the last score I heard had them on top of Buckingham 21-7. In the other semi-final game next week Strasburg and Central will have a re-match. To put it another way, Region 2-B is now three Bull Run teams vs. The Big Red Machine.
No complaints about the officiating tonight. The few flags that were thrown all seemed to be legitimate calls.
EonsHow long has it been since Riverhead had to play a round 1 game?
Forever how long their enrollment was below the magic number of 475Eons