In a rather odd little game, the Gladiators ripped their neighbors 30-0 despite the fact that the homestanding Cougars were the "ball control" team of the night and probably had about a 3-1 advantage in time of possession. But the RHS trio of Jackson Fitzgerald, Spencer Simpson, and Skyler Shiflett used their big-play capability to put the game away early as all three of them were in the scoring column by the midway point of the first quarter and the stout RHS defense kept the Cougars out of the end zone.
Fitzgerald got the party started with every football player's dream.......taking a kick-off all the way back for a touchdown. He received the opening boot around his own 30 and then dodged and weaved his way down the field, scoring untouched. The lead quickly grew to 16-0 with the other two getting in on the action by scoring either a TD or a two-point conversion.
Fitzgerald then swept right end from about 20 yards out on the first play of the second quarter to put RHS in command 22-0. From that point on, the fact that SD failed to score was nothing short of a miracle, considering the way the game unfolded.
First of all the second quarter was the flagfest part of the game. (Every game has to have one you know.) By my count, Riverheads was hit with four major penalties over the rest of the period, including two that were called on back to back plays. That moved the Cougars into Gladiator territory and when they connected on a pass down to the 12-yard line, the home fans got excited about the prospect for a score before halftime.
But the Gladiator D rose to the occasion and stopped them on downs to take the comfortable 22-point advantage into the locker room. Speaking of "downs", the Cougars were riverboat gamblers all night long as they simply refused to punt and went for it on every single fourth down, no matter where they were on the field. To their credit, they converted a fair number of them, which added to their ball-control minutes.
The third quarter turned out to be the most frustrating of all for the home team. First of all, in a call you don't see very often, they were flagged for delay of game for staying in the locker room too long. That enabled RHS to kick it deep so the first Draft drive of the second half started on their own 20.
They moved the ball steadily up the field, all on the ground, converting some of those fourth downs along the way. Meanwhile the clock just ticked merrily along as they used up an astonishing 8 1/2 minutes on that one drive. However, when they decided to try their luck going to the air, RHS' Joel Maybush stepped in front of the receiver and picked it off around his own 20 to end the threat.
To add insult to injury, the Gladiators were then able to go almost the entire length of the field and score in the minute and a half that remained in the quarter, with Simpson getting the honors from about 45 or 50 yards out. Nothing major happened from that point and due to the autumn chill (finally had some "real football weather") fans on both sides were probably happy that the game ended earlier than usual, by about 7:40 or so.
With the win, the Gladiators are now 6-1 and have one more regular season game remaining, which will be at home against Waynesboro next Wednesday. As mentioned earlier, a JV championship game will then be held on November 6th, which quite possibly will be a Waynesboro/Riverheads re-match.
Last but not least, all eyes will turn to Riverheads this Friday night for the varsity game that will settle the Shenandoah title. The term being used by local weathermen is "scattered showers." I for one would like to see them scatter someplace else, but it is what it is.
Fitzgerald got the party started with every football player's dream.......taking a kick-off all the way back for a touchdown. He received the opening boot around his own 30 and then dodged and weaved his way down the field, scoring untouched. The lead quickly grew to 16-0 with the other two getting in on the action by scoring either a TD or a two-point conversion.
Fitzgerald then swept right end from about 20 yards out on the first play of the second quarter to put RHS in command 22-0. From that point on, the fact that SD failed to score was nothing short of a miracle, considering the way the game unfolded.
First of all the second quarter was the flagfest part of the game. (Every game has to have one you know.) By my count, Riverheads was hit with four major penalties over the rest of the period, including two that were called on back to back plays. That moved the Cougars into Gladiator territory and when they connected on a pass down to the 12-yard line, the home fans got excited about the prospect for a score before halftime.
But the Gladiator D rose to the occasion and stopped them on downs to take the comfortable 22-point advantage into the locker room. Speaking of "downs", the Cougars were riverboat gamblers all night long as they simply refused to punt and went for it on every single fourth down, no matter where they were on the field. To their credit, they converted a fair number of them, which added to their ball-control minutes.
The third quarter turned out to be the most frustrating of all for the home team. First of all, in a call you don't see very often, they were flagged for delay of game for staying in the locker room too long. That enabled RHS to kick it deep so the first Draft drive of the second half started on their own 20.
They moved the ball steadily up the field, all on the ground, converting some of those fourth downs along the way. Meanwhile the clock just ticked merrily along as they used up an astonishing 8 1/2 minutes on that one drive. However, when they decided to try their luck going to the air, RHS' Joel Maybush stepped in front of the receiver and picked it off around his own 20 to end the threat.
To add insult to injury, the Gladiators were then able to go almost the entire length of the field and score in the minute and a half that remained in the quarter, with Simpson getting the honors from about 45 or 50 yards out. Nothing major happened from that point and due to the autumn chill (finally had some "real football weather") fans on both sides were probably happy that the game ended earlier than usual, by about 7:40 or so.
With the win, the Gladiators are now 6-1 and have one more regular season game remaining, which will be at home against Waynesboro next Wednesday. As mentioned earlier, a JV championship game will then be held on November 6th, which quite possibly will be a Waynesboro/Riverheads re-match.
Last but not least, all eyes will turn to Riverheads this Friday night for the varsity game that will settle the Shenandoah title. The term being used by local weathermen is "scattered showers." I for one would like to see them scatter someplace else, but it is what it is.
