Riverheads 69 Madison 14 Final
- Thread starter kwhs95fan
- Start date
@MCAthletics I don’t think it was quite what anyone expected. I thought Riverheads would win but the margin was skewed. I do want to say that #30 has the heart of a champion, he played until the very end. Compliments to that young man, lots of character shown by him and I wanted to make sure to call that out.
Tompkins is a glimpse of what MC used to be…he comes by it honest. His granddad was a stud at MC.
Having now played CW, Strasburg, Clarke and Riverheads, I think the region comes down to Riverheads and CW. Big Red is very good.
As someone has already mentioned, the margin was the surprising part, not necessarily who won. In short it was all about turnovers. The Mounties suffered an absolute nightmare of a first quarter as they fumbled the ball on their very first play from scrimmage and by the 8:53 mark of the first quarter had already thrown two interceptions.
They went on to fumble twice more in the first and Riverheads converted all five of those turnovers into touchdowns. When Madison was finally able to hold on to the ball long enough to have to punt, Riverheads took it in for a sixth touchdown, all still in the first quarter as the Gladiators grabbed an astonishing 42-0 lead.
CCC had the game of the year, if not his career, as he scored six touchdowns on the evening. The first came after the early fumble as he ran it in from 13 yards out. On Madison's second possession, he scored on a pick six that almost looked like he was the intended receiver.
He scored three more first-quarter touchdowns including one on a scoop and score, and then capped off his evening by taking it to the house from 91 yards out on the Big Red's first play of the second half. Madison's kickoff to open the half had gone deep and another Gladiator inadvertently touched his knee down at the 9, but Cayden saved his teammates the trouble of a long drive by going the distance in just one play. Once he got to the corner it was simply a foot race.
RHS started subbing as early as the second quarter and as a result, some lesser-known names got into the scoring column, including two brought up from the JVs just for the playoffs. The four non-CCC touchdowns were scored by Jonathan Talbott back in the first quarter (and he earned that one by having a long run down the sideline in which he was stopped at the one), followed by second and third quarter scores from reserve running back Brady Boehm, third-string quarterback Kendal Edwards, and Jackson Fitzgerald, the latter two being the JV graduates.
The Gladiators' second-team all-district place kicker Zac Brooks booted eight out of nine PATs, but in honor of Senior Night, the coaching staff gave Noah Ross the opportunity at one of them and he nailed it perfectly to get in the box score.
The Mounties finally shook the turnover bug and only had one more by my count after the first quarter disaster. They got their two TDs late in the game on almost identical pass plays after Riverheads had built the lead to a whopping 69-0. As someone mentioned, they kept fighting until the bitter end, but this one was settled early by that rash of turnovers.
With the win, the Gladiators have earned a second home game. I assume the opponent will be Clarke County, since the last score I heard had them on top of Buckingham 21-7. In the other semi-final game next week Strasburg and Central will have a re-match. To put it another way, Region 2-B is now three Bull Run teams vs. The Big Red Machine.
No complaints about the officiating tonight. The few flags that were thrown all seemed to be legitimate calls.
They went on to fumble twice more in the first and Riverheads converted all five of those turnovers into touchdowns. When Madison was finally able to hold on to the ball long enough to have to punt, Riverheads took it in for a sixth touchdown, all still in the first quarter as the Gladiators grabbed an astonishing 42-0 lead.
CCC had the game of the year, if not his career, as he scored six touchdowns on the evening. The first came after the early fumble as he ran it in from 13 yards out. On Madison's second possession, he scored on a pick six that almost looked like he was the intended receiver.
He scored three more first-quarter touchdowns including one on a scoop and score, and then capped off his evening by taking it to the house from 91 yards out on the Big Red's first play of the second half. Madison's kickoff to open the half had gone deep and another Gladiator inadvertently touched his knee down at the 9, but Cayden saved his teammates the trouble of a long drive by going the distance in just one play. Once he got to the corner it was simply a foot race.
RHS started subbing as early as the second quarter and as a result, some lesser-known names got into the scoring column, including two brought up from the JVs just for the playoffs. The four non-CCC touchdowns were scored by Jonathan Talbott back in the first quarter (and he earned that one by having a long run down the sideline in which he was stopped at the one), followed by second and third quarter scores from reserve running back Brady Boehm, third-string quarterback Kendal Edwards, and Jackson Fitzgerald, the latter two being the JV graduates.
The Gladiators' second-team all-district place kicker Zac Brooks booted eight out of nine PATs, but in honor of Senior Night, the coaching staff gave Noah Ross the opportunity at one of them and he nailed it perfectly to get in the box score.
The Mounties finally shook the turnover bug and only had one more by my count after the first quarter disaster. They got their two TDs late in the game on almost identical pass plays after Riverheads had built the lead to a whopping 69-0. As someone mentioned, they kept fighting until the bitter end, but this one was settled early by that rash of turnovers.
With the win, the Gladiators have earned a second home game. I assume the opponent will be Clarke County, since the last score I heard had them on top of Buckingham 21-7. In the other semi-final game next week Strasburg and Central will have a re-match. To put it another way, Region 2-B is now three Bull Run teams vs. The Big Red Machine.
No complaints about the officiating tonight. The few flags that were thrown all seemed to be legitimate calls.
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Nice write up. Congratulations on the win and breaking the streak. The Riverheads fans were great hosts. Enjoyed several good conversations.
Our QB1 has not been the same since a back injury cost him 2 games. He was very good before that though, earning first team QB honors in the BRD. Our RB broke his ankle against Strasburg. Not that it would have mattered; Riverheads was far superior in all aspects of the game. Our defense could not stop any of the top teams in the BRD. And that weakness was on display in this game.
I think your match up with Clarke will be a great game. They looked like a well oiled machine last week and just handled Buckingham on the road.
Dang, the Big Red Machine keeps on rolling along...lol. Congrats on that success!
Great work - I may have said more than a few times over the years- "Y'all should be bored by now in 1A, go on up and see if you can win it against the bigger schools, I don't see why not. Go for the challenge." Heck, we were all Group A up until fairly recently.
While, of course, winning is always fun, I don't see the satisfaction against whipping up on those whom you know that you have already defeated before the game even begins."
I'd rather fight and possibly lose in an epic battle against a superior opponent than constantly beat up on those who are known to be weak. However, to each his own.
I am pulling for you Riverheads to win it all again! Amazing accomplishments.
Hey, just give us in old Region A at least a couple of years to win back the trophy...
Great work - I may have said more than a few times over the years- "Y'all should be bored by now in 1A, go on up and see if you can win it against the bigger schools, I don't see why not. Go for the challenge." Heck, we were all Group A up until fairly recently.
While, of course, winning is always fun, I don't see the satisfaction against whipping up on those whom you know that you have already defeated before the game even begins."
I'd rather fight and possibly lose in an epic battle against a superior opponent than constantly beat up on those who are known to be weak. However, to each his own.
I am pulling for you Riverheads to win it all again! Amazing accomplishments.
Hey, just give us in old Region A at least a couple of years to win back the trophy...