We pretty much got the game most of us expected tonight up in Metropolitan Mount Jackson as the Gladiators came away with an easy win to set the stage for next week's Big One at Stuarts Draft. Each team will enter that one with a 9-0 record and the winner could/should (?) finish with a number one playoff seed in its division. Even the loser should not drop very far down. But we will talk about that game later.
Tonight the Big Red did hold out three key senior starters. The talk in the stands is that it was mainly to save them for Stuarts Draft but also there may have been some nagging minor injuries that could use a little R and R. But reportedly everybody will be ready to go. It was a little odd to see a game without starting quarterback Chase Armstrong, the district's leading rusher and scorer Harrison Schaefer, and defensive assassin Ridge Stokes, but once the game got into its rhythm, the guys out on the field got the job done.
After a slow-starting first quarter that ended with a 7-0 RHS lead, the Gladiators blew the game open with four second quarter scores to take a 34-0 halftime lead. The only grumbling in the visiting stands revolved around the fact that a missed PAT would keep the running clock from starting with the second half kickoff.
Brett Hostetler and Devin Morris split the first four TDs with Hostetler scoring his from inside the 10, while Morris ignited the crowd with 35 and 50 yard bursts in which he simply outran the secondary once he broke the line of scrimmage. Jackson Shover, who is almost Morris' identical twin in both speed and size, added an untouched 40-ish run of his own shortly before halftime.
That running clock issue soon became a non-issue as tonight's fill-in at quarterback, Tyler Smith, took it to the house from 57 yards out on a quarterback keeper on the first play of the third quarter. The hole on that play was big enough that he could have driven a Mack truck to score his TD.
With RHS leading 41-0 and the game fully under control, the rest of the night was all about Stonewall trying to score. But truthfully RHS helped them along quite a bit to reach that goal with some very uncharacteristic Gladiator football that would have no doubt incensed the coaches if it had happened in a closer game.
First they allowed a Stonewall halfback option play to go for 28 yards despite a wobbly, wounded duck throw in which the ball finally came down with five Gladiator defenders within just a few yards of it, yet none of them turned around to make the interception. A few more Stonewall passes got them down inside the 10 before a Smith interception turned the home team away, at least for the moment.
However, Riverheads then almost self-destructed as they committed three holding penalties on the same possession. They eventually turned the ball back over to the Generals with an interception of their own, and Stonewall finally scored with only 8 seconds left in the third quarter.
That made the margin "only 34" points, so there goes that clock problem again! But Mr. Morris took care of that on the first play of the fourth quarter as he rambled about 60 yards for a career-high third touchdown of the game. Gladiator fans can look for big things out of him for the next two years, as he is only a sophomore.
Following that final TD, the Big Red got something that some fans had been hoping for all year, as senior transfer student Joshua Anikiwui, a rugby player from England who is still adapting to football, was brought on to replace normal kicker Rinaldo Martina and attempt the final PAT of the evening. He put it through the uprights to etch his name into the scorebook and even got to carry the ball on offense a time or two before the game ended.
Down the stretch, Stonewall drove into the red zone a final time and would have loved to have posted a second touchdown, but Jason Ham vetoed that idea with an interception, and the Big Red ran out the clock.
Not the prettiest of the Red Pride's 9 wins, but it got the job done, and I personally can overlook all the second half imperfections and chalk them up to the frequent substitution of players in and out of the game, as well as the three absent senior leaders, who no doubt would have been calming influences on the younger players and would likely have kept the game flowing a little smoother.
So let the talk begin about RHS vs. Stuarts Draft, and I see in fact that someone has already brought up the subject on both the 1-A and 2-A boards. It will be an interesting night to say the least and please, no rain!!!
Tonight the Big Red did hold out three key senior starters. The talk in the stands is that it was mainly to save them for Stuarts Draft but also there may have been some nagging minor injuries that could use a little R and R. But reportedly everybody will be ready to go. It was a little odd to see a game without starting quarterback Chase Armstrong, the district's leading rusher and scorer Harrison Schaefer, and defensive assassin Ridge Stokes, but once the game got into its rhythm, the guys out on the field got the job done.
After a slow-starting first quarter that ended with a 7-0 RHS lead, the Gladiators blew the game open with four second quarter scores to take a 34-0 halftime lead. The only grumbling in the visiting stands revolved around the fact that a missed PAT would keep the running clock from starting with the second half kickoff.
Brett Hostetler and Devin Morris split the first four TDs with Hostetler scoring his from inside the 10, while Morris ignited the crowd with 35 and 50 yard bursts in which he simply outran the secondary once he broke the line of scrimmage. Jackson Shover, who is almost Morris' identical twin in both speed and size, added an untouched 40-ish run of his own shortly before halftime.
That running clock issue soon became a non-issue as tonight's fill-in at quarterback, Tyler Smith, took it to the house from 57 yards out on a quarterback keeper on the first play of the third quarter. The hole on that play was big enough that he could have driven a Mack truck to score his TD.
With RHS leading 41-0 and the game fully under control, the rest of the night was all about Stonewall trying to score. But truthfully RHS helped them along quite a bit to reach that goal with some very uncharacteristic Gladiator football that would have no doubt incensed the coaches if it had happened in a closer game.
First they allowed a Stonewall halfback option play to go for 28 yards despite a wobbly, wounded duck throw in which the ball finally came down with five Gladiator defenders within just a few yards of it, yet none of them turned around to make the interception. A few more Stonewall passes got them down inside the 10 before a Smith interception turned the home team away, at least for the moment.
However, Riverheads then almost self-destructed as they committed three holding penalties on the same possession. They eventually turned the ball back over to the Generals with an interception of their own, and Stonewall finally scored with only 8 seconds left in the third quarter.
That made the margin "only 34" points, so there goes that clock problem again! But Mr. Morris took care of that on the first play of the fourth quarter as he rambled about 60 yards for a career-high third touchdown of the game. Gladiator fans can look for big things out of him for the next two years, as he is only a sophomore.
Following that final TD, the Big Red got something that some fans had been hoping for all year, as senior transfer student Joshua Anikiwui, a rugby player from England who is still adapting to football, was brought on to replace normal kicker Rinaldo Martina and attempt the final PAT of the evening. He put it through the uprights to etch his name into the scorebook and even got to carry the ball on offense a time or two before the game ended.
Down the stretch, Stonewall drove into the red zone a final time and would have loved to have posted a second touchdown, but Jason Ham vetoed that idea with an interception, and the Big Red ran out the clock.
Not the prettiest of the Red Pride's 9 wins, but it got the job done, and I personally can overlook all the second half imperfections and chalk them up to the frequent substitution of players in and out of the game, as well as the three absent senior leaders, who no doubt would have been calming influences on the younger players and would likely have kept the game flowing a little smoother.
So let the talk begin about RHS vs. Stuarts Draft, and I see in fact that someone has already brought up the subject on both the 1-A and 2-A boards. It will be an interesting night to say the least and please, no rain!!!
