Riverheads vs Galax Updates Here
- Thread starter kwhs95fan
- Start date
That might have been the most ridiculous kickoff return for a TD that I've ever seen. He could barely pick it up then it was like he had a force field around him!
So Riverheads’ freshman back has 4 touchdowns abs their sophomore quarterback has 3 touchdown passes. Doesn’t look good for the rest of 1A in the future
And both their fullbacks are juniors, plus they have a bevy of other freshmen backs who are very good as well
Riverheads can't defend the pas well s, but Galax can't defend anything Riverheads does
Riverheads- 65 Galax- 29 Final. Congrats to the Gladiators on the 5 peat!!!
The combined total offense and return yardage figures for this game are going to be outlandish
Wow! Where to start???? Since KW has summarized the scoring, at least that will save me some time.
First of all, can I get an Amen for the weather??? What a shame it would have been to play this game in rain.
If I had to sum up this game, as others have already alluded this Riverheads team is scary young to have put up such gaudy numbers today. In fact, the worst news I can give any other 1-A fan is to tell you that 59 of those 65 points were scored by guys that will be back next year, or excuse me THIS FALL! (And can I get an Amen for that as well???)
For almost an entire quarter, meaning the first, things started out as a defensive battle (3-3 late in the quarter) but then the offenses took over and for the rest of the game, neither team could consistently stop the other's strength. But in the final analysis, Riverheads just had too many weapons and could score too many different ways, whereas Galax had a great passing game but could not establish the run to speak of, and did not benefit from any special teams plays either.
Speaking of the Galax air attack, Pickett certainly came as advertised. When he had time to throw he was deadly. When he was rushed, he could still find the target. When he was in the grasp, he could still locate someone and get a completion more often than not. Heck when he threw a lame duck, as he did once or twice, he could STILL find someone to pull it down. The Big Red only intercepted him once I believe, but that was in the end zone and stopped a potential TD.
However, I would lose my Riverheads fan license and be kicked off this board if I did not also give MAJOR praise to RHS quarterback Bennett Dunlap. Since Riverheads is primarily thought of as a 3 yards/cloud of dust team, anytime they go to the air, it makes the news. But he was sensational today, not only with his arm but with his leadership. I was told he was 3-3 for 132 yards at halftime, with all three completions going for touchdowns, and if I am not mistaken, he did not even attempt a second half pass.
So how can you top perfection? I have said from the beginning that he will be one of the all-time great multi-sport athletes to ever come through Riverheads by the time he graduates.
Which makes this a great time to bring up the name of Zac Smiley. Look above at KW's game summary and you will see 0 touchdowns scored today by number 8. As most of you know, he had almost single-handedly re-written the record books for Riverheads this year in terms of rushing yardage and career touchdowns. He had been a huge factor in last year's game in Salem, so it is only natural that the Tide came into today's game determined that he was not going to beat them again.
So it came as no surprise when they gang-tackled the senior running back on his first carry for a four yard loss, which led to a short RHS punt and gave Galax the opportunity to take that early lead. But later in the quarter, he ripped off that 58 yarder that gave the Big Red its chance to tie. But after that, Coach Casto and his savvy staff (try saying that one five times fast!) made the wise choice to take some of the focus away from Zac and let the young whippersnappers show their stuff. Even his fellow senior Cy Cox carried the ball a lot less than usual, so from my vantage point, it looked as if the RHS braintrust picked up on the fact that Galax had prepared for ABC from the Big Red, so let's cross them up and hit them with some XYZ plays instead.
As a result, we got a sensational three touchdown effort (I don't believe it was four as someone said above) from freshman phenom Cayden Cook-Cash, who of course was a new face to the Tide. Also the two touchdown passes to Landon Lightner might not have been on the Galax radar. The third Riverheads TD pass went to senior Trevor Roberts, which was a very satisfying ending to his career. In fact, if the Gladiators did not have such an avalanche of running backs, Roberts could have easily been a major cog in the backfield as well, based on his early years with the team.
Cole Burton, who had put the final nail in the Galax coffin last time out, also had a two-TD effort and will be back next year. As will be Aiden Miller who scored for the Big Red. Last but not least, place kicker Cooper Robson may have had one blocked but hit the field goal to get the party started and in one of the most crowd-pleasing moments of the day, laid a major hit on a Galax return man, proving that kickers can be tough too.
So state title number eight is in the books and the new VHSL record is set for consecutive titles, but congrats also to Galax, which quite frankly provided some challenges today. But in the end it was a difference in overall depth and a more explosive than usual approach from the Big Red.
We will see you back here in four short months to start all over again!!!
First of all, can I get an Amen for the weather??? What a shame it would have been to play this game in rain.
If I had to sum up this game, as others have already alluded this Riverheads team is scary young to have put up such gaudy numbers today. In fact, the worst news I can give any other 1-A fan is to tell you that 59 of those 65 points were scored by guys that will be back next year, or excuse me THIS FALL! (And can I get an Amen for that as well???)
For almost an entire quarter, meaning the first, things started out as a defensive battle (3-3 late in the quarter) but then the offenses took over and for the rest of the game, neither team could consistently stop the other's strength. But in the final analysis, Riverheads just had too many weapons and could score too many different ways, whereas Galax had a great passing game but could not establish the run to speak of, and did not benefit from any special teams plays either.
Speaking of the Galax air attack, Pickett certainly came as advertised. When he had time to throw he was deadly. When he was rushed, he could still find the target. When he was in the grasp, he could still locate someone and get a completion more often than not. Heck when he threw a lame duck, as he did once or twice, he could STILL find someone to pull it down. The Big Red only intercepted him once I believe, but that was in the end zone and stopped a potential TD.
However, I would lose my Riverheads fan license and be kicked off this board if I did not also give MAJOR praise to RHS quarterback Bennett Dunlap. Since Riverheads is primarily thought of as a 3 yards/cloud of dust team, anytime they go to the air, it makes the news. But he was sensational today, not only with his arm but with his leadership. I was told he was 3-3 for 132 yards at halftime, with all three completions going for touchdowns, and if I am not mistaken, he did not even attempt a second half pass.
So how can you top perfection? I have said from the beginning that he will be one of the all-time great multi-sport athletes to ever come through Riverheads by the time he graduates.
Which makes this a great time to bring up the name of Zac Smiley. Look above at KW's game summary and you will see 0 touchdowns scored today by number 8. As most of you know, he had almost single-handedly re-written the record books for Riverheads this year in terms of rushing yardage and career touchdowns. He had been a huge factor in last year's game in Salem, so it is only natural that the Tide came into today's game determined that he was not going to beat them again.
So it came as no surprise when they gang-tackled the senior running back on his first carry for a four yard loss, which led to a short RHS punt and gave Galax the opportunity to take that early lead. But later in the quarter, he ripped off that 58 yarder that gave the Big Red its chance to tie. But after that, Coach Casto and his savvy staff (try saying that one five times fast!) made the wise choice to take some of the focus away from Zac and let the young whippersnappers show their stuff. Even his fellow senior Cy Cox carried the ball a lot less than usual, so from my vantage point, it looked as if the RHS braintrust picked up on the fact that Galax had prepared for ABC from the Big Red, so let's cross them up and hit them with some XYZ plays instead.
As a result, we got a sensational three touchdown effort (I don't believe it was four as someone said above) from freshman phenom Cayden Cook-Cash, who of course was a new face to the Tide. Also the two touchdown passes to Landon Lightner might not have been on the Galax radar. The third Riverheads TD pass went to senior Trevor Roberts, which was a very satisfying ending to his career. In fact, if the Gladiators did not have such an avalanche of running backs, Roberts could have easily been a major cog in the backfield as well, based on his early years with the team.
Cole Burton, who had put the final nail in the Galax coffin last time out, also had a two-TD effort and will be back next year. As will be Aiden Miller who scored for the Big Red. Last but not least, place kicker Cooper Robson may have had one blocked but hit the field goal to get the party started and in one of the most crowd-pleasing moments of the day, laid a major hit on a Galax return man, proving that kickers can be tough too.
So state title number eight is in the books and the new VHSL record is set for consecutive titles, but congrats also to Galax, which quite frankly provided some challenges today. But in the end it was a difference in overall depth and a more explosive than usual approach from the Big Red.
We will see you back here in four short months to start all over again!!!
It's clear Smiley is a stud, but let's give a nod to the Riverheads offensive line which is absolutely vicious. They aren't doing any craziness on O. They are winging it, but so many of those runs are in between the tackles. When you do that year after year after year, it's clear that the line is more than stellar. Riverheads offensive line to me, looked big, strong, fast, and just absolutely having a vicious attitude coming off the ball. That's the same offensive line I have seen for years. Their kids also throw some vicious licks on special teams and defense and this is just a nasty and mean team (in a good way). They always seem to play with controlled anger and just violence up front. That's culture which comes from coaching.
well said as usual, history was made as rhs won there 5th title in a row, and smiley and armstong are the first 2 players at rhs with 4 rings as they were the only 2 srs that started as freshman, and there overall record was 50 and 3, pickett was the real deal at qb, over 300 yards passing, u can see why he will be walk on at va tech, great overall talent and he did everything he could do, but rhs had to much fire power today, 6 rushing tds and 3 tds in the air and none of them were either of the smileys, rhs has had seasons where they had not had 3 passing tds, so 3 passing tds today were impressive, rhs loses some great srs but has alot of talent coming up, so keep the streak a going come august and GO BIG RED
I said this on the 2A board about Appo and Draft and it's clear imo about Riverheads in that............there's almost no point in looking at what Appo or Riverheads returns. These two programs are past that point. They are on autopilot. The culture established by excellent coaching has intertwined its way into these two programs that it's a given, they reload. They could start 5 sophomore and they would still be a threat to win the whole thing. I think Draft is close to that point. I could be wrong, and maybe Draft a fantastic junior and senior class the last 2 years, but with the way they are also coached, I just get the feeling they are going to be in the mix for the future. Congrats to Riverheads.
