Lady Luck smiled on the visiting Riverheads Gladiators tonight as they picked up their second impressive road win of the young season. First of all, they were apparently one of the few teams in this part of the state that were able to get their game started on time and played without any weather interruption. Apparently the nice people in Covington requested that their gully-washer come and go earlier in the day.
The Gladiators were also fortunate in that they were able to experiment with the line-up so they could rest a couple of injured troops. It also appeared that no further injuries were recorded tonight, which should allow the team to be at full strength for the tough home opener against Waynesboro two weeks from tonight.
RHS wasted little time in this one as they rolled to a 33-0 halftime lead. Junior running back Harrison Schaeffer was the major workhorse as he scored the first three Gladiator TDs, and Landon Diehl added a fourth one. The opportunistic Gladiators added a safety on a punt snap that sailed out of the end zone, and an impressive 39-yard field goal by Tristan Robson to cap a 19-point second stanza.
Schaeffer's third quarter TD, his fourth of the game, put the Big Red ahead 40-0 and started the running clock, which most Gladiator fans didn't mind, as it meant a quicker trip home. In the fourth quarter, quarterback Chase Armstrong added a pair of sneaks to close out the Riverheads scoring.
To further illustrate the above reference to the Big Red's experimentation in this one, Garrett Campbell started behind center tonight for the Big Red instead of Armstrong, who had quarterbacked last week's win over R E Lee. Each has done an excellent job running the offense here in the early season, and tonight Campbell had a couple of nice bootlegs to add to RHS' impressive running attack. Having two capable, yet very different, signal-callers can only make the Gladiators more difficult to defend from week to week and should present further challenges for the opposition.
The home team had its moments tonight despite the lopsided score. They used a little bit of trickeration in the first half as a faked punt pass play got them deep into RHS territory late in the first quarter. That drive carried them down inside the ten yard line where a jump pass that hit the receiver perfectly in the end zone was somehow dropped, allowing RHS to dodge that particular bullet. The Cougars finally scored against the Gladiator reserves in the fourth quarter on a long sweep around the right end, long after the issue had been decided.
As mentioned above, the Big Red now has a bye week before finally opening at home against Waynesboro on the 18th. The 1-1 Little Giants were unexpectedly shut out tonight by Staunton River but will host arch-rival Stuarts Draft next week as a warm-up for their trip to Riverheads.
The Gladiators were also fortunate in that they were able to experiment with the line-up so they could rest a couple of injured troops. It also appeared that no further injuries were recorded tonight, which should allow the team to be at full strength for the tough home opener against Waynesboro two weeks from tonight.
RHS wasted little time in this one as they rolled to a 33-0 halftime lead. Junior running back Harrison Schaeffer was the major workhorse as he scored the first three Gladiator TDs, and Landon Diehl added a fourth one. The opportunistic Gladiators added a safety on a punt snap that sailed out of the end zone, and an impressive 39-yard field goal by Tristan Robson to cap a 19-point second stanza.
Schaeffer's third quarter TD, his fourth of the game, put the Big Red ahead 40-0 and started the running clock, which most Gladiator fans didn't mind, as it meant a quicker trip home. In the fourth quarter, quarterback Chase Armstrong added a pair of sneaks to close out the Riverheads scoring.
To further illustrate the above reference to the Big Red's experimentation in this one, Garrett Campbell started behind center tonight for the Big Red instead of Armstrong, who had quarterbacked last week's win over R E Lee. Each has done an excellent job running the offense here in the early season, and tonight Campbell had a couple of nice bootlegs to add to RHS' impressive running attack. Having two capable, yet very different, signal-callers can only make the Gladiators more difficult to defend from week to week and should present further challenges for the opposition.
The home team had its moments tonight despite the lopsided score. They used a little bit of trickeration in the first half as a faked punt pass play got them deep into RHS territory late in the first quarter. That drive carried them down inside the ten yard line where a jump pass that hit the receiver perfectly in the end zone was somehow dropped, allowing RHS to dodge that particular bullet. The Cougars finally scored against the Gladiator reserves in the fourth quarter on a long sweep around the right end, long after the issue had been decided.
As mentioned above, the Big Red now has a bye week before finally opening at home against Waynesboro on the 18th. The 1-1 Little Giants were unexpectedly shut out tonight by Staunton River but will host arch-rival Stuarts Draft next week as a warm-up for their trip to Riverheads.
