2005: RHS went 8-2 that season and in a regular season game at home, Stonewall Jackson's Richard Long, who would go on to play at Appalachian State, almost single-handedly whipped the Gladiators 44-14. But in an amazing coaching job, the Gladiators then traveled to Stonewall for playoff action, where they completely controlled him and won 31-8. The next week the Gladiators fell short at William Campbell 33-10.
2006: For some of us, this is the most memorable of RHS' three state championship seasons. First of all, those nasty Green Hornets spoiled our perfect regular season on Senior Night with a late TD pass. So RHS finished 9-1 in the regular season. But we then marched through four playoff wins to capture the state crown, but there was PLENTY of drama along the way! First game was a tense 10-8 defensive battle at home against Stonewall, even though we had beaten them easier than that up in Quicksburg. Next came the game that I personally still consider the all-time best playoff win in Riverheads history. It came down at William Campbell, our third trip down there. Coach Brad whatshisname had a powerhouse going at that time and RHS seemed to be out of its league. The Generals took a ten-point lead twice in the game but committed a couple of crucial turnovers, allowing Riverheads to storm back and win 35-31, with two scores in the final few minutes. A key to RHS' success that year was a potent passing attack to go along with the running game, as we had not one, but two, deep threats in Jeremy Heizer and Justin Brake. Next week, in the calmest of these four wins, we made the long trip to Sussex Central, where we won 24-14. That sent the Big Red to JMU for "that game." Oh my!!!! Sorry to do this to you, fans of J I Burton, but I have to tell this story along with all the others! Burton was making something like its third or fourth trip to the title game. The Gladiators for some reason, and Coach Casto would agree with this I am sure, were a bunch of nervous wrecks in this game and committed something like 4-5 fumbles in the first half alone. They finally got back on track and had a 21-14 lead going down the stretch. Burton scored very late in the game to make it 21-20, but the guy who scored the touchdown (QB maybe?) was called for excessive celebration. I was very close to the play and personally did not see anything out of the ordinary about his behavior. If I am not mistaken, the VHSL even admitted later that it may have been a blown call. But wrong or not, it backed Burton up to the 18 for the two-point PAT. They failed and RHS held on to win a controversial second state crown.
2007: After an 8-2 regular season, the Gladiators hosted William Campbell. Based on what you just read above, you can imagine that they had waited an entire year for this re-match. There was some sort of controversy at the beginning of the second half about who was supposed to be warming up where, and it got kind of heated, but the game itself was never in doubt as the Generals exacted their revenge 47-14.
2008: This was a 7-3 regular season for Riverheads and darn if we didn't draw William Campbell again in the first round! This time we traveled down there, and like the guy or not, you could tell that Coach B's main objective that night was to humiliate Riverheads by as much as he possibly could. He had the talent to do it and took full advantage as the Generals ran away with a 64-6 win. Buffalo Gap met a similar fate, either that same year or the next, because they too had had the gall to beat the Generals in a playoff game. So when they came down to Naruna whatever week it was, running up the score was the order of the day that night as well. Moral of the story........don't beat a Coach B team, especially not on their own field! (I honestly don't remember the guy's name by the way, not trying to be smart about it.)
2009: This was a 9-1 regular season in which the Gladiators ended with Buffalo Gap at home and then hosted them again the next week in the playoffs. They won that one 20-7, and earned the right to host Altavista the next weekend. That one was a barnburner in which the Colonels were leading 20-17 and Riverheads was driving for a go-ahead score when a late fumble killed the drive and allowed AHS to escape with the win.
2010: This was State Championship Season Number Three. This time the perfect regular season was actually spoiled at Stuarts Draft on opening night when the Cougars amazingly converted on all four two-point conversions to win 32-31. But RHS would go on to win 13 in a row and take the crown in their first visit to Salem. The first three playoff games were easy wins, 47-21 over Amelia, 42-14 over an injury-depleted Altavista, and 35-8 on the road at Franklin. I was told there was some kind of pre-game behavioral issue that day, but it happened before I got there so I cannot give you a first hand account. Jordan Jack's five touchdowns settled the important issue of the day. In the title game, the Gladiators were matched against Eastern Montgomery, which had a passing whiz for a quarterback and came into the game undefeated. The game set scoring records as EM could not stop our running game and we could not stop their passing game. Somehow the Gladiators managed to get a two-touchdown working margin and it held up for a wild 63-49 win.
2011: This year the Gladiators were placed in Group 2-A for playoff purposes. After our fourth ever perfect regular season, the playoffs started off well enough with a 55-0 rout of Virginia High from Bristol. The Gladiators then won a tight one at home against Stuarts Draft 21-14. That brought traditional powerhouse Gretna to Greenville for the first-ever match-up between the two. The Hawks were heavy favorites, as they deserved to be, but Riverheads gave them a game before falling 28-14 to finish the season at 12-1.
2012: This was a 9-1 regular season, spoiled only by a 14-10 home loss to Wilson, which was building toward a state title run at that time. Riverheads routed Floyd County 63-20 in the first round, which earned a trip to Wilson for the second round. In one of the best-ever games between the county rivals, RHS drove the length of the field in the final two minutes to score with .8 (notice the decimal point!) left on the clock. They went for two and the win but came up short as Wilson held on to win 22-21.
2013: Another 9-1 regular season, as only Wilson's continued surge kept the Big Red from a perfect regular season. The Hornets won that year 35-24 at the Hive. In the Group 2-A playoffs, the Gladiators faced four teams they had never played before and in some cases, they were from places the average Big Red fan had never HEARD of. Arcadia, from the Eastern Shore, came to Greenville first and left with a 57-14 loss. Bruton from Williamsburg was next, and RHS whipped them 48-13. Next was the game that would rival some of the others for "best game ever." The opponent was Goochland, and I think they were the defending state champs at the time. In any case, they had made a name for themselves locally by spoiling Wilson's attempts at the state title, so of COURSE we liked them! (Sorry Trevor.) Anyway, on a nice night in Greenville, the Bulldogs came to play and had a 10-point lead late in the game. The Gladiators staged a big rally which included a blocked punt and came back to win 35-31, same score as the huge William Campbell win a few years before. Even after RHS took that lead, the Bulldogs fought back valiantly and almost pulled it out in the final few seconds. That sent Riverheads on the road to Giles County for the state semi-finals. The Spartans were on a mission that year and would go on to win the state title but Riverheads did not back down. Despite Kendall Casto being unable to play at quarterback, the Big Red hung in there and tied the score in the second quarter before the home team pulled away to win 28-7.
2014: Still competing on the 2-A level, this was Riverheads' chance to play spoiler and they did exactly that as they were the ones to deny Wilson a perfect regular season. The Hornets were a senior-dominated bunch that year and were justifiably predicted by just about everyone to make it all the way to Salem. But on a perfect night in Greenville, Gladiator kicker Tristan Robson kicked a school-record three field goals in one game as RHS won 16-14. Wilson did go on to have its banner year as they made it all the way to the championship game, where they lost an overtime heartbreaker to Glenvar. The Gladiators unfortunately had their own disappointment as they lost 28-27 in the second round to King William, after whipping Bruton again 49-0 in the opening round. Therefore RHS finished with its fifth perfect regular-season and a final mark of 11-1.
2015: Another 10-0 regular season, the sixth in school history, and so far the Gladiators have pitched a playoff shutout, blanking Altavista 41-0 and Central Lunenburg 42-0 in the first two rounds. That has the stage set for Saturday's much-anticipated state semi-final trip, where the Big Red will tangle for the first time ever with George Wythe of Wytheville. Going into this game, the Gladiators are 3-1 all-time in semi-final games.
HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE!
2006: For some of us, this is the most memorable of RHS' three state championship seasons. First of all, those nasty Green Hornets spoiled our perfect regular season on Senior Night with a late TD pass. So RHS finished 9-1 in the regular season. But we then marched through four playoff wins to capture the state crown, but there was PLENTY of drama along the way! First game was a tense 10-8 defensive battle at home against Stonewall, even though we had beaten them easier than that up in Quicksburg. Next came the game that I personally still consider the all-time best playoff win in Riverheads history. It came down at William Campbell, our third trip down there. Coach Brad whatshisname had a powerhouse going at that time and RHS seemed to be out of its league. The Generals took a ten-point lead twice in the game but committed a couple of crucial turnovers, allowing Riverheads to storm back and win 35-31, with two scores in the final few minutes. A key to RHS' success that year was a potent passing attack to go along with the running game, as we had not one, but two, deep threats in Jeremy Heizer and Justin Brake. Next week, in the calmest of these four wins, we made the long trip to Sussex Central, where we won 24-14. That sent the Big Red to JMU for "that game." Oh my!!!! Sorry to do this to you, fans of J I Burton, but I have to tell this story along with all the others! Burton was making something like its third or fourth trip to the title game. The Gladiators for some reason, and Coach Casto would agree with this I am sure, were a bunch of nervous wrecks in this game and committed something like 4-5 fumbles in the first half alone. They finally got back on track and had a 21-14 lead going down the stretch. Burton scored very late in the game to make it 21-20, but the guy who scored the touchdown (QB maybe?) was called for excessive celebration. I was very close to the play and personally did not see anything out of the ordinary about his behavior. If I am not mistaken, the VHSL even admitted later that it may have been a blown call. But wrong or not, it backed Burton up to the 18 for the two-point PAT. They failed and RHS held on to win a controversial second state crown.
2007: After an 8-2 regular season, the Gladiators hosted William Campbell. Based on what you just read above, you can imagine that they had waited an entire year for this re-match. There was some sort of controversy at the beginning of the second half about who was supposed to be warming up where, and it got kind of heated, but the game itself was never in doubt as the Generals exacted their revenge 47-14.
2008: This was a 7-3 regular season for Riverheads and darn if we didn't draw William Campbell again in the first round! This time we traveled down there, and like the guy or not, you could tell that Coach B's main objective that night was to humiliate Riverheads by as much as he possibly could. He had the talent to do it and took full advantage as the Generals ran away with a 64-6 win. Buffalo Gap met a similar fate, either that same year or the next, because they too had had the gall to beat the Generals in a playoff game. So when they came down to Naruna whatever week it was, running up the score was the order of the day that night as well. Moral of the story........don't beat a Coach B team, especially not on their own field! (I honestly don't remember the guy's name by the way, not trying to be smart about it.)
2009: This was a 9-1 regular season in which the Gladiators ended with Buffalo Gap at home and then hosted them again the next week in the playoffs. They won that one 20-7, and earned the right to host Altavista the next weekend. That one was a barnburner in which the Colonels were leading 20-17 and Riverheads was driving for a go-ahead score when a late fumble killed the drive and allowed AHS to escape with the win.
2010: This was State Championship Season Number Three. This time the perfect regular season was actually spoiled at Stuarts Draft on opening night when the Cougars amazingly converted on all four two-point conversions to win 32-31. But RHS would go on to win 13 in a row and take the crown in their first visit to Salem. The first three playoff games were easy wins, 47-21 over Amelia, 42-14 over an injury-depleted Altavista, and 35-8 on the road at Franklin. I was told there was some kind of pre-game behavioral issue that day, but it happened before I got there so I cannot give you a first hand account. Jordan Jack's five touchdowns settled the important issue of the day. In the title game, the Gladiators were matched against Eastern Montgomery, which had a passing whiz for a quarterback and came into the game undefeated. The game set scoring records as EM could not stop our running game and we could not stop their passing game. Somehow the Gladiators managed to get a two-touchdown working margin and it held up for a wild 63-49 win.
2011: This year the Gladiators were placed in Group 2-A for playoff purposes. After our fourth ever perfect regular season, the playoffs started off well enough with a 55-0 rout of Virginia High from Bristol. The Gladiators then won a tight one at home against Stuarts Draft 21-14. That brought traditional powerhouse Gretna to Greenville for the first-ever match-up between the two. The Hawks were heavy favorites, as they deserved to be, but Riverheads gave them a game before falling 28-14 to finish the season at 12-1.
2012: This was a 9-1 regular season, spoiled only by a 14-10 home loss to Wilson, which was building toward a state title run at that time. Riverheads routed Floyd County 63-20 in the first round, which earned a trip to Wilson for the second round. In one of the best-ever games between the county rivals, RHS drove the length of the field in the final two minutes to score with .8 (notice the decimal point!) left on the clock. They went for two and the win but came up short as Wilson held on to win 22-21.
2013: Another 9-1 regular season, as only Wilson's continued surge kept the Big Red from a perfect regular season. The Hornets won that year 35-24 at the Hive. In the Group 2-A playoffs, the Gladiators faced four teams they had never played before and in some cases, they were from places the average Big Red fan had never HEARD of. Arcadia, from the Eastern Shore, came to Greenville first and left with a 57-14 loss. Bruton from Williamsburg was next, and RHS whipped them 48-13. Next was the game that would rival some of the others for "best game ever." The opponent was Goochland, and I think they were the defending state champs at the time. In any case, they had made a name for themselves locally by spoiling Wilson's attempts at the state title, so of COURSE we liked them! (Sorry Trevor.) Anyway, on a nice night in Greenville, the Bulldogs came to play and had a 10-point lead late in the game. The Gladiators staged a big rally which included a blocked punt and came back to win 35-31, same score as the huge William Campbell win a few years before. Even after RHS took that lead, the Bulldogs fought back valiantly and almost pulled it out in the final few seconds. That sent Riverheads on the road to Giles County for the state semi-finals. The Spartans were on a mission that year and would go on to win the state title but Riverheads did not back down. Despite Kendall Casto being unable to play at quarterback, the Big Red hung in there and tied the score in the second quarter before the home team pulled away to win 28-7.
2014: Still competing on the 2-A level, this was Riverheads' chance to play spoiler and they did exactly that as they were the ones to deny Wilson a perfect regular season. The Hornets were a senior-dominated bunch that year and were justifiably predicted by just about everyone to make it all the way to Salem. But on a perfect night in Greenville, Gladiator kicker Tristan Robson kicked a school-record three field goals in one game as RHS won 16-14. Wilson did go on to have its banner year as they made it all the way to the championship game, where they lost an overtime heartbreaker to Glenvar. The Gladiators unfortunately had their own disappointment as they lost 28-27 in the second round to King William, after whipping Bruton again 49-0 in the opening round. Therefore RHS finished with its fifth perfect regular-season and a final mark of 11-1.
2015: Another 10-0 regular season, the sixth in school history, and so far the Gladiators have pitched a playoff shutout, blanking Altavista 41-0 and Central Lunenburg 42-0 in the first two rounds. That has the stage set for Saturday's much-anticipated state semi-final trip, where the Big Red will tangle for the first time ever with George Wythe of Wytheville. Going into this game, the Gladiators are 3-1 all-time in semi-final games.
HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE!
