Riverheads Jamboree is Today

[longtimerhsfan]

I do not have the entire line-up at my fingertips but I believe Amelia and William Campbell are both in attendance, as is East Hardy, a traditionally-strong team from West Virginia. This is an all-day affair but my sources tell me that RHS does not swing into action until about 5:00. So I will plan to roll by around then. I will try to have a report by the end of the evening.

 

[Firstdown22]

Went and watched. Riverheads and William Campbell we're the best teams there both looked really good.

 

[longtimerhsfan]

I only attended the two Riverheads scrimmages, which were the last two of the day. But my sources who were there the entire day confirmed that you were right that William Campbell was the other team looking good.

Riverheads first scrimmaged East Hardy, a team that has contended for the West Virginia Class A title the last two years. They had easily handled Amelia earlier in the day from what I understand.

But Riverheads did what it does best and unleashed a whole stable full of running backs at the Cougars and took a 21-0 victory that came one play away from being 28-0. The Gladiators were so deep and versatile at the running back slot that seven different guys scored touchdowns between this game and the nightcap.

The first 10 minute quarter saw two long Gladiator TD drives, each one entirely on the ground. Blake Smith scored the first TD and freshman Zac Smiley, who completely dominated JV action last year and is going to be a good one, scored the second.

East Hardy meanwhile was getting nowhere on the ground against a strong Gladiator defense. Another freshman, 215 pounder Colin Armstrong, had some nice tackles, as did returning defensive stalwarts Davis Cogar, Alex Diehl, and Forrest Shuey to name a few. The Cougars tried the airwaves and had a little success here and there, but never came close to scoring in the game.

As the second quarter drew to a close, the Big Red surprised everyone on the field, maybe even themselves, as they went to the air. Starting QB Tyler Smith found a wide open Garrett Phifer out in the right flat for a 39 yard gain all the way down to the one yard line. Moose Lee, who is a bit trimmer this year but just as tough, pushed it across for the third RHS score.

In the ten untimed downs portion of this scrimmage, each team played everybody as you would expect but the Gladiators got the better end of that deal as EH was only able to move it about 15 total yards on its possession, whereas Riverheads' 10 plays saw the game end at the one-yard line.

The Gladiators then took on cross-county rival Fort Defiance, a team that we have not played in regular season action for many years, mainly due to the number of members in the Indians' Valley District. Fort is a team that badly needs to turn its program around and they had some flashes today, even though RHS also took a three-TD win in this one, by a 27-7 count if you were keeping score.

RHS opened the game trying to establish a passing attack but eventually went back to its bread and butter. Regulation touchdowns were scored by Smith on a fumbled quarterback keeper and by three of the many backs in the Gladiator stable, Jackson Shover, Dalton Jordan, and Lane Cash. At least four or five other backs toted the ball in one scrimmage or another but failed to score.

The Indians had their biggest moment on a defensive play. Riverheads was leading 14-0 in the second quarter and appeared to be on the verge of making it 21-0. However, they had a mishandled snap and a Fort defender alertly picked it up and rambled about 90 yards before Gladiator speedster Devin Morris brought him down at the six. For a while, it appeared that Morris' heroics were going to preserve the shutout, but the Indians pushed across a score on fourth down.

Riverheads then moved ahead 21-7 before the end of the quarter and this time in the untimed portion of the game, they did push it across on the 10th play to technically make the final 27-7. Since it was the final play of the Gladiator sequence, a PAT was not attempted but sophomore Peyton Skillman was a perfect six for six on the ones before. So perhaps the Big Red's long line of prolific kickers will continue.

All in all a decent start for the Gladiators but we will need real-game action to see how truly good they will be this year. Next week the Blue Ridge School, a private school from the Charlottesville area will pay a visit for RHS' second scrimmage, followed by the regular season opener at home against Bath County on September 1st. But with all due respect to the Chargers, most Riverheads fans have the following week's game (September 8th at Stuarts Draft) penciled in as the first "biggie" of the season. After last year, that mindset is of course quite understandable and the Cougars probably feel the same way.