According to my VERY unofficial records, these two neighborhood rivals met on the basketball court for the 111th time tonight. It stands to reason that there have been slobberknockers in that stretch, but you would be hard-pressed to find one that had a stranger ending than this one.
For those of you who have not followed Riverheads' season, tonight's game marks their 7th Shenandoah District loss against just one win. On the surface, one might say......."well they must not be a very good team." But all seven of those losses have been by single-digit margins, and in five of the seven, including tonight, they had a lead at one time or another in the fourth quarter. So call them a "bad team" if you choose to, but I prefer the term "snakebit" or anything that implies that they just can't catch the breaks when they need to. After all would a "bad" team have been able to knock off defending state champ Parry McCluer as the Big Red did back in December?
Of those seven district losses, tonight's might be the most frustrating because coming down the stretch, meaning the final few SECONDS of the game, the Gladiators appeared to have it won, yet victory slipped away once again. Here is a recap of the final minute or so.........
A Bennett Dunlap triple that you could just TELL was going in found the bottom of the net and broke a 45-45 tie with just over a minute left. The Gladiators then made a defensive stand and got the ball back with that 48-45 lead. They attempted of course to kill some clock and the Cougars did what they had to do....foul.
Ryan Farris, one of five seniors honored tonight, stepped to the line where he had made two just a few minutes before. With a chance to give RHS a five-point lead, the front half of the 1 and 1 rimmed out. The Cougars rushed down the floor and at the 12 second mark, swished in the tying three pointer. I think it came from Devin Brydge but don't quote me.
After a time-out, the Gladiators hustled up court, hoping to pull out a last-second victory and get the monkey off their back. With just under six seconds left, they were called for a double-dribble. That play was on the opposite side of the court from my vantage point, and there were plenty of bodies in between, so I can't speak for the accuracy of the call. But the Riverheads player who was whistled either disagreed or else was just angry at himself, so he slammed the ball hard to the court but forgot that part where you are supposed to stop it on its way back up!
That resulted in an immediate technical and as you have no doubt figured out by now, SD sank the two foul shots to get the win. Riverheads only had three team fouls at that point, so even if they had wanted to foul to get the ball back, there would not have been enough time for it to do any good. So when the Cougars successfully inbounded the ball after the two foul shots, that was all she wrote.
Prior to all that last minute drama, the game had been dead even with lots of momentum swings, and neither team ever led by more than six points. The Cougars held the upper hand early but a late second-quarter surge by Riverheads trimmed the halftime score to 25-23. RHS then had its best stretch of the game, taking a five point lead at 36-31, and once again, it looked as if they just "might" get lucky this time.
But a corner triple from Cougar freshman Landon Graber closed out the third quarter at 36-34. The Cougars then went on an 8-0 spurt to start the fourth period and matched their largest lead of the game at 42-36. But instead of laying down and giving up, Farris and Dunlap with a little help from their friends went on a 12-3 run, capped off by the aforementioned trey from Dunlap. The rest as they say is history.
That duo led the scoring for RHS tonight with 15 points each. But also worthy of mention for Riverheads was an outstanding hustle game off the bench from junior Carter Mooneyham. He hit a triple very soon after entering the game in the first quarter (the Gladiators finished with six of them from four different guys) and he also contributed in other ways as he definitely made his presence felt. He and Tye Morris each added 7 points to the RHS total, with Levi Byer scoring the remaining four RHS points.
We did not have our regular PA guy tonight who has done a great job this season, and as a result I hesitate to speculate on who led the scoring for SD. Graber and Brydge's buckets were of course crucial but I can't single out any other individuals that stood out for the visitors.
As usual the officials caused some heads to shake from time to time. The T called at the end was of course mandatory, so no complaints there, but prior to that they seemed to be consistently inconsistent at times. There were at least three occasions when two whistles blew simultaneously and if you watched them, you could see that they had not called the play the same way. So it became a question of whose call was it. Then there was the time when it appeared that they both made the same call, yet the final outcome on the play ended up being the opposite. Then there was a horrific no-call on one of the most obvious walks you could ever hope to see that took place right in front of everybody, yet all three of them missed it.
I still like to tell the story of the JV game up at Stonewall one night many years ago when no referees showed up to call the game. So after a delay of half an hour or so, someone from Stonewall put on a whistle and that one guy called a better game by himself than I have seen three of them call. Point being referees are only human......annoying humans at times, but human nevertheless.
As dramatic as the varsity game was tonight, the JV game was downright shocking and sadly it did not go well for the homestanding Gladiators either. As you may recall, both earlier games at Stuarts Draft had gone into overtime. Therefore it was logical to assume that Riverheads had at least a chance in both games tonight. But someone forgot to tell the Baby Cougars that. They roared out of the gates blazing and well, there is no other way to say it.........they outplayed RHS in every sense of the word and took home a resounding 57-26 win.
They used their height advantage to control the boards, and their quick feet and hands seemed to deflect every pass and beat the Gladiators to every loose ball. Meanwhile the normally dependable Big Red offense, which had scored 64 at Staunton Tuesday and 71 at Mountain View Wednesday, simply could not throw it in the ocean tonight.
So it was just one of those nights for the Junior G'men and if Coach Snead is as smart as I am pretty sure he is, he has already convinced them to put this game in the rear view mirror and concentrate on what lies ahead. Fortunately for the Gladiators, that means a home game with Mountain View Monday night, where they should be heavily favored in each game.
As for the Cougars, congrats on coming prepared to play tonight and for not giving up when they could have in the varsity game. They too had suffered some frustrating losses this season, but may have turned a corner here tonight with their gutsy victory.
For those of you who have not followed Riverheads' season, tonight's game marks their 7th Shenandoah District loss against just one win. On the surface, one might say......."well they must not be a very good team." But all seven of those losses have been by single-digit margins, and in five of the seven, including tonight, they had a lead at one time or another in the fourth quarter. So call them a "bad team" if you choose to, but I prefer the term "snakebit" or anything that implies that they just can't catch the breaks when they need to. After all would a "bad" team have been able to knock off defending state champ Parry McCluer as the Big Red did back in December?
Of those seven district losses, tonight's might be the most frustrating because coming down the stretch, meaning the final few SECONDS of the game, the Gladiators appeared to have it won, yet victory slipped away once again. Here is a recap of the final minute or so.........
A Bennett Dunlap triple that you could just TELL was going in found the bottom of the net and broke a 45-45 tie with just over a minute left. The Gladiators then made a defensive stand and got the ball back with that 48-45 lead. They attempted of course to kill some clock and the Cougars did what they had to do....foul.
Ryan Farris, one of five seniors honored tonight, stepped to the line where he had made two just a few minutes before. With a chance to give RHS a five-point lead, the front half of the 1 and 1 rimmed out. The Cougars rushed down the floor and at the 12 second mark, swished in the tying three pointer. I think it came from Devin Brydge but don't quote me.
After a time-out, the Gladiators hustled up court, hoping to pull out a last-second victory and get the monkey off their back. With just under six seconds left, they were called for a double-dribble. That play was on the opposite side of the court from my vantage point, and there were plenty of bodies in between, so I can't speak for the accuracy of the call. But the Riverheads player who was whistled either disagreed or else was just angry at himself, so he slammed the ball hard to the court but forgot that part where you are supposed to stop it on its way back up!
That resulted in an immediate technical and as you have no doubt figured out by now, SD sank the two foul shots to get the win. Riverheads only had three team fouls at that point, so even if they had wanted to foul to get the ball back, there would not have been enough time for it to do any good. So when the Cougars successfully inbounded the ball after the two foul shots, that was all she wrote.
Prior to all that last minute drama, the game had been dead even with lots of momentum swings, and neither team ever led by more than six points. The Cougars held the upper hand early but a late second-quarter surge by Riverheads trimmed the halftime score to 25-23. RHS then had its best stretch of the game, taking a five point lead at 36-31, and once again, it looked as if they just "might" get lucky this time.
But a corner triple from Cougar freshman Landon Graber closed out the third quarter at 36-34. The Cougars then went on an 8-0 spurt to start the fourth period and matched their largest lead of the game at 42-36. But instead of laying down and giving up, Farris and Dunlap with a little help from their friends went on a 12-3 run, capped off by the aforementioned trey from Dunlap. The rest as they say is history.
That duo led the scoring for RHS tonight with 15 points each. But also worthy of mention for Riverheads was an outstanding hustle game off the bench from junior Carter Mooneyham. He hit a triple very soon after entering the game in the first quarter (the Gladiators finished with six of them from four different guys) and he also contributed in other ways as he definitely made his presence felt. He and Tye Morris each added 7 points to the RHS total, with Levi Byer scoring the remaining four RHS points.
We did not have our regular PA guy tonight who has done a great job this season, and as a result I hesitate to speculate on who led the scoring for SD. Graber and Brydge's buckets were of course crucial but I can't single out any other individuals that stood out for the visitors.
As usual the officials caused some heads to shake from time to time. The T called at the end was of course mandatory, so no complaints there, but prior to that they seemed to be consistently inconsistent at times. There were at least three occasions when two whistles blew simultaneously and if you watched them, you could see that they had not called the play the same way. So it became a question of whose call was it. Then there was the time when it appeared that they both made the same call, yet the final outcome on the play ended up being the opposite. Then there was a horrific no-call on one of the most obvious walks you could ever hope to see that took place right in front of everybody, yet all three of them missed it.
I still like to tell the story of the JV game up at Stonewall one night many years ago when no referees showed up to call the game. So after a delay of half an hour or so, someone from Stonewall put on a whistle and that one guy called a better game by himself than I have seen three of them call. Point being referees are only human......annoying humans at times, but human nevertheless.
As dramatic as the varsity game was tonight, the JV game was downright shocking and sadly it did not go well for the homestanding Gladiators either. As you may recall, both earlier games at Stuarts Draft had gone into overtime. Therefore it was logical to assume that Riverheads had at least a chance in both games tonight. But someone forgot to tell the Baby Cougars that. They roared out of the gates blazing and well, there is no other way to say it.........they outplayed RHS in every sense of the word and took home a resounding 57-26 win.
They used their height advantage to control the boards, and their quick feet and hands seemed to deflect every pass and beat the Gladiators to every loose ball. Meanwhile the normally dependable Big Red offense, which had scored 64 at Staunton Tuesday and 71 at Mountain View Wednesday, simply could not throw it in the ocean tonight.
So it was just one of those nights for the Junior G'men and if Coach Snead is as smart as I am pretty sure he is, he has already convinced them to put this game in the rear view mirror and concentrate on what lies ahead. Fortunately for the Gladiators, that means a home game with Mountain View Monday night, where they should be heavily favored in each game.
As for the Cougars, congrats on coming prepared to play tonight and for not giving up when they could have in the varsity game. They too had suffered some frustrating losses this season, but may have turned a corner here tonight with their gutsy victory.
