The visiting Leemen may very well have left Greenville tonight feeling an odd combination of frustration yet confidence. Frustration because they penetrated the red zone five different times, but of course as the above score indicates, they failed to capitalize each time. Yet they can perhaps rightfully feel at least somewhat satisfied that they could move the ball that much against the Big Red, especially considering that one of those possessions carried all the way down to the two-yard line.
But in the end, it came down to Riverheads' experience and that old Casto adage that he repeated several times on the radio tonight "we do what we do." On offense, most of that "doing" was in the person of Player of the Game Harrison Schaefer, an all-state back last year, who scored the Gladiators' first three TDs, pretty much on the same play each time....a sweep to the right in which he got to the corner and simply outran his defender. Unofficially his scores came from 14, 24, and 29 yards out.
The Gladiators then capped off their scoring with a couple of fourth-quarter defensive gems, as they covered a Lee fumble in the end zone (didn't hear who got credit for the score) and just moments later, executed a perfect blocked punt which sophomore Devin Morris covered for the final TD of the night. Morris was one possible candidate to have scored on the fumble recovery as well. Guess the papers will tell us that.
In between all that crowd-pleasing Gladiator action (and believe me, there WAS a crowd!), the Leemen did move the ball quite effectively, but when the Big Red D wasn't coming up with the big play to stop them, they stopped themselves with miscues or penalties. So shoring up those things will certainly enable them to complete drives as the season wears on.
For example, in the first quarter, with RHS leading only 7-0, the visitors drove to the 10, but mishandled an attempted field goal. Then in the second quarter, with the lead still within reach at 14-0, they drove down to the two and seemed on the verge of scoring before Riverheads slammed the door and stopped them on downs.
RHS then gave the Leemen one final chance in the opening 30 seconds of the third quarter as they coughed up the football and Lee took over in Big Red territory. At that point, Lee's 1,000-yard rusher Brendon Witherspoon entered the game for the first time after sitting out the entire first half. (Reason unknown at least to Gladiator fans.)
His entry into the game seemed to momentarily spark the Leemen as he carried the ball successfully a few times. But again the drive stalled, this time due to a center snap rolling between the QB's legs. Shortly thereafter, Schaefer scored his third TD, and that pretty much took the wind out of the Lee sails. The two defensive TDs started the running clock at about the 8:30 mark, which was a blessing for everyone in attendance, since the game had started over an hour late due to a lightning delay.
So despite the goose egg, the Leemen can take some positives out of this game, and I have no doubt that Coach Girolmo will have them contending for the post-season come November. As for Riverheads, it was business as usual as stated above, and when Schaefer wasn't scoring, the Gladiator offense got some nice production from returning tailback Brett Hostetler and newcomer Cameron "Moose" Lee, a bruising fullback who can (and did) drag multiple tacklers with him for extra yardage on more than one occasion.
The "bent but didn't break" defensive line had to please Coach Casto and his staff as well and any coach will take a shutout on opening night when he can get one. Take away the lost fumble and a couple of holding penalties and the big guy might have been almost perfectly satisfied.
Speaking of turnovers, there was one bizarre sequence early in the fourth quarter that I could not even begin to describe to you in which there were about three turnovers on the same play, as well as an illegal forward pass flagged against the Leemen. They won the battle by ultimately getting possession of the ball after the stripes sorted it all out, but RHS won the war as one of their defensive touchdowns came just seconds later when Lee could not get out of the shadow of the goal line.
So overall a great win that gives RHS a 2-0 advantage in this new rivalry. The Gladiators will be at home again next week against Covington, which reportedly has quite a few starters back this year. Last we heard, they were giving arch-rival Alleghany a good game.
But in the end, it came down to Riverheads' experience and that old Casto adage that he repeated several times on the radio tonight "we do what we do." On offense, most of that "doing" was in the person of Player of the Game Harrison Schaefer, an all-state back last year, who scored the Gladiators' first three TDs, pretty much on the same play each time....a sweep to the right in which he got to the corner and simply outran his defender. Unofficially his scores came from 14, 24, and 29 yards out.
The Gladiators then capped off their scoring with a couple of fourth-quarter defensive gems, as they covered a Lee fumble in the end zone (didn't hear who got credit for the score) and just moments later, executed a perfect blocked punt which sophomore Devin Morris covered for the final TD of the night. Morris was one possible candidate to have scored on the fumble recovery as well. Guess the papers will tell us that.
In between all that crowd-pleasing Gladiator action (and believe me, there WAS a crowd!), the Leemen did move the ball quite effectively, but when the Big Red D wasn't coming up with the big play to stop them, they stopped themselves with miscues or penalties. So shoring up those things will certainly enable them to complete drives as the season wears on.
For example, in the first quarter, with RHS leading only 7-0, the visitors drove to the 10, but mishandled an attempted field goal. Then in the second quarter, with the lead still within reach at 14-0, they drove down to the two and seemed on the verge of scoring before Riverheads slammed the door and stopped them on downs.
RHS then gave the Leemen one final chance in the opening 30 seconds of the third quarter as they coughed up the football and Lee took over in Big Red territory. At that point, Lee's 1,000-yard rusher Brendon Witherspoon entered the game for the first time after sitting out the entire first half. (Reason unknown at least to Gladiator fans.)
His entry into the game seemed to momentarily spark the Leemen as he carried the ball successfully a few times. But again the drive stalled, this time due to a center snap rolling between the QB's legs. Shortly thereafter, Schaefer scored his third TD, and that pretty much took the wind out of the Lee sails. The two defensive TDs started the running clock at about the 8:30 mark, which was a blessing for everyone in attendance, since the game had started over an hour late due to a lightning delay.
So despite the goose egg, the Leemen can take some positives out of this game, and I have no doubt that Coach Girolmo will have them contending for the post-season come November. As for Riverheads, it was business as usual as stated above, and when Schaefer wasn't scoring, the Gladiator offense got some nice production from returning tailback Brett Hostetler and newcomer Cameron "Moose" Lee, a bruising fullback who can (and did) drag multiple tacklers with him for extra yardage on more than one occasion.
The "bent but didn't break" defensive line had to please Coach Casto and his staff as well and any coach will take a shutout on opening night when he can get one. Take away the lost fumble and a couple of holding penalties and the big guy might have been almost perfectly satisfied.
Speaking of turnovers, there was one bizarre sequence early in the fourth quarter that I could not even begin to describe to you in which there were about three turnovers on the same play, as well as an illegal forward pass flagged against the Leemen. They won the battle by ultimately getting possession of the ball after the stripes sorted it all out, but RHS won the war as one of their defensive touchdowns came just seconds later when Lee could not get out of the shadow of the goal line.
So overall a great win that gives RHS a 2-0 advantage in this new rivalry. The Gladiators will be at home again next week against Covington, which reportedly has quite a few starters back this year. Last we heard, they were giving arch-rival Alleghany a good game.
