After laying 56 points on Wilson in last week's season-opener, the Gladiators faced a far more formidable foe in Fort Defiance tonight as they needed all four quarters plus a tense overtime session to eke out a 24-22 win and remain unbeaten on the season. At times the Big Red appeared to be dead in the water, especially when they were trailing 16-0 with the fourth quarter clock ticking away, but they kept plugging away and pulled out the miraculous win.
The game featured contrasting offenses as Riverheads relied on the running back quartet of David Austin, Logan Hostetter, Shay Archie and Brendan Fortune; whereas the Indians had an impressive air attack that produced three touchdowns and another circus catch. Forgive me if I am wrong on names for either team but I believe the major passing combination for the Fort was Trey Miller to Landon Barr. (Best guesses I can make just from listening to the PA announcer.)
Despite the final score, the game was actually deadlocked at 0-0 as the teams went to the locker room. The Indians had dodged a pair of bullets, stopping RHS first at the two with an interception, and then stopping the home team a second time on downs at the 20. The half then ended with a rather odd sequence that may have left some fans on both sides scratching their heads.
The Indian defense had stopped Riverheads yet another time but the G'men got a very friendly roll on a punt that was downed at the five. The clock showed 2:14 left, meaning the Indians were faced with the challenging task of getting out of that hole without creating a turnover and giving the Pride a chance at a late score. So the visitors played it safe and kept it on the ground, but netted only about 4 yards on the first three plays. Fans on the home side were grumbling, wondering why Riverheads had not called 1, 2, or maybe all 3 of its timeouts to get the ball back. Even as fourth down came along with the clock still showing 30 seconds or more, Riverheads just allowed the time run out without forcing the Indians into a potentially precarious punt from the end zone. Water under the bridge now since all is well that ends well, but it seemed strange at the time.
After the break, the Indians came out as a brand new team, got the passing game going, and in all honesty, dominated the Big Red for almost a quarter and a half. The above-mentioned passing combination connected twice for scores, and ironically each time the Indians scored, it was immediately following a major penalty called against them. First it was a chop block and the second time it was a holding penalty.
Since those penalties left them facing long yardage situations in both cases, the Indians rolled the dice and tossed a pair of TD passes to Barr (sp.?) The first covered 60 yards as he got to the sideline in front of his own bench and just outran the defense, and the second came from about 23 yards out and was more a case of outjumping the defender and highpointing the ball. The youngster would later catch a third TD pass in the overtime so watch out Shenandoah District for that weapon over the next few seasons!
With the Fort on top 16-0 and their sideline fired up, it looked as if Riverheads was going to face a rare defeat. (I don't have stats to back this up but my guess would be that the Gladiators have lost fewer than 10 JV games over the last 8-10 seasons.) So in Fat Lady fashion, they found a way to pull out the win.
The rally-starting play came with roughly 7 minutes left when Austin rambled around the left side for about 35 yards. That gave RHS the confidence they needed and by the five minute mark, they were in the end zone and added the two-point PAT to close to within 16-8. They then caught a major break when the kickoff died awkwardly inside the 10 yard line, forcing the Indians to start from there and attempt to kill some time.
But the Gladiator D held and got the ball back with still around 3-4 minutes left to try and score the equalizer. They moved in and sure enough tied the game up with around 2:45 still left. But not before the refs had to make both sides a bit nervous by throwing a flag on Riverheads' PAT try. That would have been OK if they had known WHY they threw it. Instead they tossed the hankie and then decided to have a conference to decide what the call was. After a few anxious moment, the final decision was encroachment, which made the yard-and-a-half PAT easier to accomplish.
With a brand new ball game at 16-16, the Indians darn near won it in regulation as they threw a deep pass down into Riverheads territory to a Mr. Armentrout I believe it was, and he made a sensational diving catch around the 30 yard line. With the momentum briefly back on the side of the visitors, the Riverheads defense held and we headed to overtime.
The Gladiators got the ball first and scored on three plays, with I believe Archie doing the honors, followed by a Fortune conversion. Everyone knew that the Fort would go to Barr again and sure enough he hauled in TD pass number three in the left corner of the end zone to make it 24-22. That set the stage for a game-tying two-point try.
If the Gladiator fans questioned their coach over that time-out situation, then some Indian fans may have gone "Whaaaaaaat" over what happened next. Instead of going north and south or trying to find Barr in the end zone again, they tried to run a toss-sweep to the left but the Gladiators were all over it and dropped the ball carrier back around the 8, preserving the amazing come-from-behind win.
All you folks who opted to stay in and watch the ACC Tournament missed a dandy! I have not checked yet to see if the video is available somewhere but I suspect Mrs. C. was on the job again. If so, this one will be well worth your time to view. Congratulations to both teams for a great game that you almost hated to see anyone lose. I will be quite surprised if these don't turn out to be the best two JV teams in the district this year.
The game featured contrasting offenses as Riverheads relied on the running back quartet of David Austin, Logan Hostetter, Shay Archie and Brendan Fortune; whereas the Indians had an impressive air attack that produced three touchdowns and another circus catch. Forgive me if I am wrong on names for either team but I believe the major passing combination for the Fort was Trey Miller to Landon Barr. (Best guesses I can make just from listening to the PA announcer.)
Despite the final score, the game was actually deadlocked at 0-0 as the teams went to the locker room. The Indians had dodged a pair of bullets, stopping RHS first at the two with an interception, and then stopping the home team a second time on downs at the 20. The half then ended with a rather odd sequence that may have left some fans on both sides scratching their heads.
The Indian defense had stopped Riverheads yet another time but the G'men got a very friendly roll on a punt that was downed at the five. The clock showed 2:14 left, meaning the Indians were faced with the challenging task of getting out of that hole without creating a turnover and giving the Pride a chance at a late score. So the visitors played it safe and kept it on the ground, but netted only about 4 yards on the first three plays. Fans on the home side were grumbling, wondering why Riverheads had not called 1, 2, or maybe all 3 of its timeouts to get the ball back. Even as fourth down came along with the clock still showing 30 seconds or more, Riverheads just allowed the time run out without forcing the Indians into a potentially precarious punt from the end zone. Water under the bridge now since all is well that ends well, but it seemed strange at the time.
After the break, the Indians came out as a brand new team, got the passing game going, and in all honesty, dominated the Big Red for almost a quarter and a half. The above-mentioned passing combination connected twice for scores, and ironically each time the Indians scored, it was immediately following a major penalty called against them. First it was a chop block and the second time it was a holding penalty.
Since those penalties left them facing long yardage situations in both cases, the Indians rolled the dice and tossed a pair of TD passes to Barr (sp.?) The first covered 60 yards as he got to the sideline in front of his own bench and just outran the defense, and the second came from about 23 yards out and was more a case of outjumping the defender and highpointing the ball. The youngster would later catch a third TD pass in the overtime so watch out Shenandoah District for that weapon over the next few seasons!
With the Fort on top 16-0 and their sideline fired up, it looked as if Riverheads was going to face a rare defeat. (I don't have stats to back this up but my guess would be that the Gladiators have lost fewer than 10 JV games over the last 8-10 seasons.) So in Fat Lady fashion, they found a way to pull out the win.
The rally-starting play came with roughly 7 minutes left when Austin rambled around the left side for about 35 yards. That gave RHS the confidence they needed and by the five minute mark, they were in the end zone and added the two-point PAT to close to within 16-8. They then caught a major break when the kickoff died awkwardly inside the 10 yard line, forcing the Indians to start from there and attempt to kill some time.
But the Gladiator D held and got the ball back with still around 3-4 minutes left to try and score the equalizer. They moved in and sure enough tied the game up with around 2:45 still left. But not before the refs had to make both sides a bit nervous by throwing a flag on Riverheads' PAT try. That would have been OK if they had known WHY they threw it. Instead they tossed the hankie and then decided to have a conference to decide what the call was. After a few anxious moment, the final decision was encroachment, which made the yard-and-a-half PAT easier to accomplish.
With a brand new ball game at 16-16, the Indians darn near won it in regulation as they threw a deep pass down into Riverheads territory to a Mr. Armentrout I believe it was, and he made a sensational diving catch around the 30 yard line. With the momentum briefly back on the side of the visitors, the Riverheads defense held and we headed to overtime.
The Gladiators got the ball first and scored on three plays, with I believe Archie doing the honors, followed by a Fortune conversion. Everyone knew that the Fort would go to Barr again and sure enough he hauled in TD pass number three in the left corner of the end zone to make it 24-22. That set the stage for a game-tying two-point try.
If the Gladiator fans questioned their coach over that time-out situation, then some Indian fans may have gone "Whaaaaaaat" over what happened next. Instead of going north and south or trying to find Barr in the end zone again, they tried to run a toss-sweep to the left but the Gladiators were all over it and dropped the ball carrier back around the 8, preserving the amazing come-from-behind win.
All you folks who opted to stay in and watch the ACC Tournament missed a dandy! I have not checked yet to see if the video is available somewhere but I suspect Mrs. C. was on the job again. If so, this one will be well worth your time to view. Congratulations to both teams for a great game that you almost hated to see anyone lose. I will be quite surprised if these don't turn out to be the best two JV teams in the district this year.
