Gladiator Coach Chad Coffey has led the Big Red to a 5-0 start (and with limited practice time I might add) and hopefully there will be many more wins this season, but when he looks back at the end of the year, this might be one of the sweetest wins of them all. I say that because tonight's surprisingly easy 46-29 victory in Buena Vista marks the first time ever that any Riverheads team has beaten the mastermind himself, Mike Cartolaro, on his own floor.
The Gladiators did beat PM last year at Riverheads but prior to that, my (unofficial) records indicate that Cartolaro was 6-0 all-time against the Gladiators while he was at Altavista, all neutral site playoff games, and since he has been at PM, I am pretty sure that the game at RHS last year was the first time the Big Red had defeated one of his teams on any floor. So hats off to the visitors for this one tonight and by the way to make sure I keep my audience, YES INDEED there was an officiating gaffe in this one also.......third straight night involving Riverheads if anyone is counting. (More on that shortly.)
When the above score hits the wires, the average reader will think: "couldn't have been much of a game, sounds like neither one of them shot worth a hoot," but nothing could be further from the truth. What made this one that much more satisfying was that the Gladiators beat the Blues at their own game tonight......employing a deliberate offense that was designed to get the good shot, and as a result the Gladiators were able to score all night off the give-and-go or on back door cuts which they executed beautifully for what I am sure was a respectable shooting percentage.
So much so that after the first quarter, the Gladiators pretty much abandoned their usual tendency to score from behind the arc because it was obvious that the inside lanes were going to be open all night as long as they were patient. As a result for the first time in quite a while, the Gladiators did not hit a three-pointer all night, but they certainly did not need one.
In addition to the patient inside game, the Gladiators also employed the fast break and transition game when it was there, and in one especially nice sequence, 6'5" center Honor Robinson took one coast to coast as no one could believe how open the Blues' defense left him.
And speaking of defense, if the Big Red only allowed the home team 29 points tonight, obviously their defense did its job as well. It was obvious from the get go that the Blues' major strategy this season is to establish their 6'9" sophomore center (Hamilton I believe?) in the low post but he was never a serious factor as Robinson did a great job on him all night. When he needed a break, his replacement Tye Morris did an admirable job as well.
In addition, the Gladiators denied the passing lanes all night long and used their quickness to completely take the Blues out of whatever they were trying to do. So as much as I like offense, this game plan was a strategic classic on the part of the Gladiators.
Which leads me to the officials, or at least to one of them. After an early Robinson bucket, Grant Painter took over for Riverheads with eight straight points on some nifty inside moves, and soon after that Elijah Dunlap scored from in close and shockingly the Gladiators were up 12-0. The clock was ticking along and even though the Blues had gotten some shots off, and were even awarded some free throw chances, there was still a zero on the home side of the scoreboard.
So in the final few seconds, PM made an attempt to score from in close. The shot rimmed off and the buzzer sounded, when one of their players stuck it back up and in. Even though we will never see an instant replay, to my (and never you mind how old they are!) eyes and ears, the second shot was released AT LEAST a full second after the horn sounded.
Yet one referee counted it good making the "official" score 12-2 at the end of the quarter. The entire RHS fan section howled in protest but neither of the other refs challenged the one who made the call. Maybe he just couldn't bear to see them go an entire quarter without scoring, but doggone on it all, with the defense they were playing, the Gladiators deserved to see the quarter end with that goose egg on the board! I will be very impressed and appreciative if a Blues fan will be enough of a good sport to come on here and say "yep you are right.......no way should that bucket have counted."
The Gladiators kept up the defensive intensity in the second quarter, even if their own scoring slowed down, and in fact PM did not score its first "earned" bucket (if I can borrow a baseball reference) until the 2:53 mark of the second quarter, which ended with RHS on top 19-8.
Those of us who knew what an intense competitor Cartolaro is had a feeling that the Blues were not finished and that they would make a run at Riverheads. But all they managed was to score the first bucket of the second half and they never got the lead below 7 or 8. Riverheads stayed the course and managed to keep the deliberate pace going, and more importantly did not lose their poise as they stretched the margin out to 17 by the final horn.
Painter finished with 14 and Robinson with 13, but other Gladiators had key buckets, almost all scored from the paint due to the nature of the game plan. Adam Painter finished with 5; and Zach Adams, Ryan Farris and Dunlap each added 4; with Morris scoring the remaining two Big Red points. And if I "have to" give the officials credit, they called a great game the rest of the way and in fact, they let the teams play, which is rare these days. I am pretty sure that neither team got on the bonus in either half.
Hopefully the Big Red has something left in the tank because tomorrow night they tangle with Waynesboro on the Little Giants' home floor. It will be their first meeting in 45 years and someone will get their first loss of the season as WHS is also 5-0 I believe. PM will try to bounce back on Saturday night when they host arch-rival Rockbridge County. The Wildcats beat them 49-44 earlier in the season.
In tonight's JV game, Riverheads stunk up the gym in the first half, scoring only one point in the second quarter. But first year coach Travis Brake must have said all the magic words in the locker room as the Gladiators roared back with a 19-point third quarter and knocked off the Baby Blues 45-36. The RHS Juniors are now 3-2 on the season.
The Gladiators did beat PM last year at Riverheads but prior to that, my (unofficial) records indicate that Cartolaro was 6-0 all-time against the Gladiators while he was at Altavista, all neutral site playoff games, and since he has been at PM, I am pretty sure that the game at RHS last year was the first time the Big Red had defeated one of his teams on any floor. So hats off to the visitors for this one tonight and by the way to make sure I keep my audience, YES INDEED there was an officiating gaffe in this one also.......third straight night involving Riverheads if anyone is counting. (More on that shortly.)
When the above score hits the wires, the average reader will think: "couldn't have been much of a game, sounds like neither one of them shot worth a hoot," but nothing could be further from the truth. What made this one that much more satisfying was that the Gladiators beat the Blues at their own game tonight......employing a deliberate offense that was designed to get the good shot, and as a result the Gladiators were able to score all night off the give-and-go or on back door cuts which they executed beautifully for what I am sure was a respectable shooting percentage.
So much so that after the first quarter, the Gladiators pretty much abandoned their usual tendency to score from behind the arc because it was obvious that the inside lanes were going to be open all night as long as they were patient. As a result for the first time in quite a while, the Gladiators did not hit a three-pointer all night, but they certainly did not need one.
In addition to the patient inside game, the Gladiators also employed the fast break and transition game when it was there, and in one especially nice sequence, 6'5" center Honor Robinson took one coast to coast as no one could believe how open the Blues' defense left him.
And speaking of defense, if the Big Red only allowed the home team 29 points tonight, obviously their defense did its job as well. It was obvious from the get go that the Blues' major strategy this season is to establish their 6'9" sophomore center (Hamilton I believe?) in the low post but he was never a serious factor as Robinson did a great job on him all night. When he needed a break, his replacement Tye Morris did an admirable job as well.
In addition, the Gladiators denied the passing lanes all night long and used their quickness to completely take the Blues out of whatever they were trying to do. So as much as I like offense, this game plan was a strategic classic on the part of the Gladiators.
Which leads me to the officials, or at least to one of them. After an early Robinson bucket, Grant Painter took over for Riverheads with eight straight points on some nifty inside moves, and soon after that Elijah Dunlap scored from in close and shockingly the Gladiators were up 12-0. The clock was ticking along and even though the Blues had gotten some shots off, and were even awarded some free throw chances, there was still a zero on the home side of the scoreboard.
So in the final few seconds, PM made an attempt to score from in close. The shot rimmed off and the buzzer sounded, when one of their players stuck it back up and in. Even though we will never see an instant replay, to my (and never you mind how old they are!) eyes and ears, the second shot was released AT LEAST a full second after the horn sounded.
Yet one referee counted it good making the "official" score 12-2 at the end of the quarter. The entire RHS fan section howled in protest but neither of the other refs challenged the one who made the call. Maybe he just couldn't bear to see them go an entire quarter without scoring, but doggone on it all, with the defense they were playing, the Gladiators deserved to see the quarter end with that goose egg on the board! I will be very impressed and appreciative if a Blues fan will be enough of a good sport to come on here and say "yep you are right.......no way should that bucket have counted."
The Gladiators kept up the defensive intensity in the second quarter, even if their own scoring slowed down, and in fact PM did not score its first "earned" bucket (if I can borrow a baseball reference) until the 2:53 mark of the second quarter, which ended with RHS on top 19-8.
Those of us who knew what an intense competitor Cartolaro is had a feeling that the Blues were not finished and that they would make a run at Riverheads. But all they managed was to score the first bucket of the second half and they never got the lead below 7 or 8. Riverheads stayed the course and managed to keep the deliberate pace going, and more importantly did not lose their poise as they stretched the margin out to 17 by the final horn.
Painter finished with 14 and Robinson with 13, but other Gladiators had key buckets, almost all scored from the paint due to the nature of the game plan. Adam Painter finished with 5; and Zach Adams, Ryan Farris and Dunlap each added 4; with Morris scoring the remaining two Big Red points. And if I "have to" give the officials credit, they called a great game the rest of the way and in fact, they let the teams play, which is rare these days. I am pretty sure that neither team got on the bonus in either half.
Hopefully the Big Red has something left in the tank because tomorrow night they tangle with Waynesboro on the Little Giants' home floor. It will be their first meeting in 45 years and someone will get their first loss of the season as WHS is also 5-0 I believe. PM will try to bounce back on Saturday night when they host arch-rival Rockbridge County. The Wildcats beat them 49-44 earlier in the season.
In tonight's JV game, Riverheads stunk up the gym in the first half, scoring only one point in the second quarter. But first year coach Travis Brake must have said all the magic words in the locker room as the Gladiators roared back with a 19-point third quarter and knocked off the Baby Blues 45-36. The RHS Juniors are now 3-2 on the season.
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