Riverheads/East Rockingham
- Thread starter Gladiatorfencepatrol
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Looks like the defense is starting to put it together. Pretty good outing for them considering they have 10 new starters.
Na man, I think that answers about all of em.
I don't think anyone saw this big a victory coming but the Gladiators will certainly take it. And the fans lucked out too with the rain holding off until most if not all of us were safely tucked away at home.
The story of this game was that the Gladiators played an almost perfect first half, cooking on all cylinders, and then stood by along with their fans in the second half, wondering exactly what someone had put in the officials' water bottles at halftime. To say that some of their calls were questionable tonight would be an understatement and we were just lucky that they did not impact the outcome.
RHS received the opening kickoff and if you were to judge from the first few plays, you might have concluded that East Rock's defense was going to pick up right where they left off last year and control the Big Red running game. They were giving yards grudgingly, so the Gladiators did what any smart team would do...they took to the air as freshman quarterback Bennett Dunlap found senior Braeson Fulton out in the right flat and lofted the pass beautifully over the defender. Fulton hauled it in, his first of four catches on the night (more on that later) and he took it about 55 yards to give the visitors an early 7-0 lead. To save time I will go ahead and tell you now that our place kicker, Peyton Skillman, remains perfect on the year, going 7 for 7 tonight and adding a field goal.
East Rock essentially handed the Gladiators their next two scoring opportunities with turnovers. Following the initial RHS score, the Eagles fumbled on the second play from scrimmage and the Big Red drove about 60 yards to go up 14-0 on the first of two Zac Smiley scoring runs. ER then took to the air on its next possession and a deflected pass fell right into the arms of RHS sophomore Aiden Miller who almost took it to the house, before being tackled inside the 10 yard line. That led to a chip shot field goal from Skillman that came on the first play of the second quarter, although oddly the clock still registered 12:00 after the kick cleared and no one ever corrected it.
The Gladiators then poured it on with three more TDs before halftime. With ER pretty much demoralized already, Smiley and Fulton each scored once more on the ground and although they did not score tonight, juniors Cy Cox and Trevor Roberts deserve mentioning because each had some key runs in the Gladiators' first half dominance.
But the real surprise of the first half was Dunlap's passing. As someone has already mentioned he was 5-5 in the first half, four of those going to Fulton and two were of the highlight reel variety. That same combination would get robbed of another circus catch in a rather crazy third quarter.
Dunlap's final pass of the first half came in the final minute, as he connected with tight end Deacon Moore on a nice crossing pattern to put the Big Red ahead 38-0. The best thing about that score was that it put the running clock into effect for the entire second half and got everyone home that much sooner.
As for the officiating, it wasn't that it was "bad" or "frequent," ......it was just so illogical. For example, once (actually I think this was back in the first half) ER punted and one of their guys CLEARLY touched it around the Riverheads 38, which should have been a dead ball. But the refs waited until it was touched again three or four yards further down the field before they blew the whistle and declared the ball ready for play.
But the call that really riled up the Gladiator fans (who by the way either outnumbered ER tonight or came darn close to it) happened in that wacky third quarter. Fulton went up for a pass around the ER 40 and was tightly guarded on the play. He clearly appeared to have made the catch and the official standing 18 inches away gave the completion signal. The ball did pop out after he was tackled and on the ground, but instead of sticking with the call of a successful catch, they ruled it incomplete.
To add insult to injury, it turns out they had also thrown a flag on the play and Fulton was called for offensive interference when it appeared to most people on the RHS side that all he had done was exercise his right to go after the ball. Then there were the usual two or three odd spots of the ball, when a player appeared to be given a yard more or a yard less than he had really earned. So again nothing that impacted the game, which is the good part.
After a scoreless third quarter, the Gladiators uncovered a new weapon down the stretch in the person of back-up fullback, sophomore Cole Burton. He had already dazzled fans earlier this season with a 60 yard run against W & L, but tonight when he came in to replace Roberts, all he did was reel off THREE long runs that put him close to 100 yards on the night, including scoring the next Gladiator TD from about 30 yards out.
After that score made it 45-0, ER finally got on the board with a pass play that covered about 20 yards but they badly botched the PAT and the ball ended up almost out to midfield. Miller then closed out the Big Red scoring in the final few minutes with about an eight yard run.
Both Gladiator teams now take the week off. The JVs, who hammered East Rock 62-6 on Wednesday night, will next play at Covington on Sept. 25, while the varsity team will next take the field on the 27th for a Homecoming clash against Colonial Beach. Based on other scores around the area so far this season, it looks like the district race, which will not swing into action until October 11th, will likely come down to the Gladiators and possibly the Cougars or Bison. Ironically those are the Gladiators' last two games and both are on the road. But we have a longgg way to go before those two events.
The story of this game was that the Gladiators played an almost perfect first half, cooking on all cylinders, and then stood by along with their fans in the second half, wondering exactly what someone had put in the officials' water bottles at halftime. To say that some of their calls were questionable tonight would be an understatement and we were just lucky that they did not impact the outcome.
RHS received the opening kickoff and if you were to judge from the first few plays, you might have concluded that East Rock's defense was going to pick up right where they left off last year and control the Big Red running game. They were giving yards grudgingly, so the Gladiators did what any smart team would do...they took to the air as freshman quarterback Bennett Dunlap found senior Braeson Fulton out in the right flat and lofted the pass beautifully over the defender. Fulton hauled it in, his first of four catches on the night (more on that later) and he took it about 55 yards to give the visitors an early 7-0 lead. To save time I will go ahead and tell you now that our place kicker, Peyton Skillman, remains perfect on the year, going 7 for 7 tonight and adding a field goal.
East Rock essentially handed the Gladiators their next two scoring opportunities with turnovers. Following the initial RHS score, the Eagles fumbled on the second play from scrimmage and the Big Red drove about 60 yards to go up 14-0 on the first of two Zac Smiley scoring runs. ER then took to the air on its next possession and a deflected pass fell right into the arms of RHS sophomore Aiden Miller who almost took it to the house, before being tackled inside the 10 yard line. That led to a chip shot field goal from Skillman that came on the first play of the second quarter, although oddly the clock still registered 12:00 after the kick cleared and no one ever corrected it.
The Gladiators then poured it on with three more TDs before halftime. With ER pretty much demoralized already, Smiley and Fulton each scored once more on the ground and although they did not score tonight, juniors Cy Cox and Trevor Roberts deserve mentioning because each had some key runs in the Gladiators' first half dominance.
But the real surprise of the first half was Dunlap's passing. As someone has already mentioned he was 5-5 in the first half, four of those going to Fulton and two were of the highlight reel variety. That same combination would get robbed of another circus catch in a rather crazy third quarter.
Dunlap's final pass of the first half came in the final minute, as he connected with tight end Deacon Moore on a nice crossing pattern to put the Big Red ahead 38-0. The best thing about that score was that it put the running clock into effect for the entire second half and got everyone home that much sooner.
As for the officiating, it wasn't that it was "bad" or "frequent," ......it was just so illogical. For example, once (actually I think this was back in the first half) ER punted and one of their guys CLEARLY touched it around the Riverheads 38, which should have been a dead ball. But the refs waited until it was touched again three or four yards further down the field before they blew the whistle and declared the ball ready for play.
But the call that really riled up the Gladiator fans (who by the way either outnumbered ER tonight or came darn close to it) happened in that wacky third quarter. Fulton went up for a pass around the ER 40 and was tightly guarded on the play. He clearly appeared to have made the catch and the official standing 18 inches away gave the completion signal. The ball did pop out after he was tackled and on the ground, but instead of sticking with the call of a successful catch, they ruled it incomplete.
To add insult to injury, it turns out they had also thrown a flag on the play and Fulton was called for offensive interference when it appeared to most people on the RHS side that all he had done was exercise his right to go after the ball. Then there were the usual two or three odd spots of the ball, when a player appeared to be given a yard more or a yard less than he had really earned. So again nothing that impacted the game, which is the good part.
After a scoreless third quarter, the Gladiators uncovered a new weapon down the stretch in the person of back-up fullback, sophomore Cole Burton. He had already dazzled fans earlier this season with a 60 yard run against W & L, but tonight when he came in to replace Roberts, all he did was reel off THREE long runs that put him close to 100 yards on the night, including scoring the next Gladiator TD from about 30 yards out.
After that score made it 45-0, ER finally got on the board with a pass play that covered about 20 yards but they badly botched the PAT and the ball ended up almost out to midfield. Miller then closed out the Big Red scoring in the final few minutes with about an eight yard run.
Both Gladiator teams now take the week off. The JVs, who hammered East Rock 62-6 on Wednesday night, will next play at Covington on Sept. 25, while the varsity team will next take the field on the 27th for a Homecoming clash against Colonial Beach. Based on other scores around the area so far this season, it looks like the district race, which will not swing into action until October 11th, will likely come down to the Gladiators and possibly the Cougars or Bison. Ironically those are the Gladiators' last two games and both are on the road. But we have a longgg way to go before those two events.
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Excellent write up again @longtimerhsfan. I would add that the ER team is good and will be competitive down the stretch. My humble opinion is that they are a little predictable this year on offense and while the QB is very good, he is not quite as accurate as I anticipated. Could have been an off night because he hit “around” several receivers, but never seemed truly at home in the pocket delivering the ball. Another Bright spot to mention is #5 for ER, Trenton Morris. High football IQ and a motor to go with it. As an opposing fan, he is a player that stands out clearly when watching the game. Good luck to them in the Bull Run and I think this years game with their next door neighbor Page will be a good one to catch.
We had quite the crew last night as well. But I will preface that it probably had more to do with the score than anything else. There were a couple calls late in 1st half that probably would be called in a closer game, but the really funny part was the white hat with the running clock. I think he stopped it once in 2nd half, on a timeout. But every time he should have stopped it, he wound it. We got a big kick out of it in press box. Just made for a shorter 2nd half so it was a good thing and I am sure Covington didn't mind either
Redpridenation:
You hit upon something that I had intended to mention but ran out of time.......that being the "close but no cigar" nature of the Eagles' offense. The quarterback McNair definitely has an arm on him and quite a few times passes were close to being completed or just plain dropped. In fact in the third quarter he threw a perfect spiral to a wide open receiver around the 10 that had touchdown written all over it, but the guy just failed to hold on to it. Although a bye week can sometimes help a team prepare for a tough opponent, I think in this case being off a week this early in the season may have actually hurt ER. If they had played a game last week, especially if they had won it, then some of these timing issues might have been worked out. I agree there is some talent on that squad. All eyes will be on Swoope next week to see what they can do out there.
You hit upon something that I had intended to mention but ran out of time.......that being the "close but no cigar" nature of the Eagles' offense. The quarterback McNair definitely has an arm on him and quite a few times passes were close to being completed or just plain dropped. In fact in the third quarter he threw a perfect spiral to a wide open receiver around the 10 that had touchdown written all over it, but the guy just failed to hold on to it. Although a bye week can sometimes help a team prepare for a tough opponent, I think in this case being off a week this early in the season may have actually hurt ER. If they had played a game last week, especially if they had won it, then some of these timing issues might have been worked out. I agree there is some talent on that squad. All eyes will be on Swoope next week to see what they can do out there.
Point of accuracy here............both local newspapers today are reporting that Riverheads has a bye next week, which is correct, but that their next game is at Skyline. But trust this old geezer here when I tell you that they are wrong. RHS' next game is at home for Homecoming on Friday the 27th against Colonial Beach and THEN they travel to Skyline on October 4th.
Riverheads is better than I thought coming into season losing so much off defensive side thought they would struggle a little but the defense is getting better each week we will make a run at the title but anybody can be beat on any given day
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