Riverheads Runs Past SMLCA 49-0

[longtimerhsfan25]

It was a typical first game full of penalties and mental mistakes, but the Gladiators unleashed a potent rushing attack to turn back the visiting Ospreys. The Big Red was in fact so dominating on the ground that they never even came close to needing to attempt a pass.

The running back trio of Jackson Fitzgerald, Skyler Shiflett, and Spencer Simpson each turned on the afterburners in the first half as each had a breakaway run, and Shiflett scored a second time from inside the ten as RHS took a 27-0 halftime lead. Fitzgerald then scored his second TD on the first play from scrimmage in the second half.

Following that score, the Gladiators went for two on a Kendal Edwards QB keeper to make the score 35-0. That might have seemed unnecessary or unsportsmanlike, but if you look at it another way, it benefited SML because it put the running clock in effect, which allowed the game to move faster and started the visitors on their way back home as much as 20-30 minutes faster than a normal clock might have.

Subs took over after the Fitzgerald TD, with Rylan Payne and back-up quarterback Carter Hartsook scoring the final two Gladiator TDs. With veteran place-kicker Zac Brooks now graduated, the Gladiators turned to a pair of juniors to test their abilities. Bryan Lopez-Rojas went 4-5 on his attempts and Jonah Williams added the last one. Hopefully all of that recap adds up to the Big Red's 49 points.

Since they pitched a shutout, the Big Red defense was also fired up tonight. The names that seemed to get the most mentions for defensive plays were Payne, who was all over the place, along with Preston McCauley, and the Dotson twins, Jayden and Chris. I am sure there were others who made great stops, so apologies if anyone feels slighted.

Despite the shutout, the Ospreys did not exactly embarrass themselves. They actually spent at least some time in Riverheads territory in all four quarters. In fact, they drove into the red zone once in the first quarter and again in the second. A quarterback sack by Payne thwarted one drive and they essentially stopped themselves on penalties the other time. They had a fair amount of success through the air, as one particularly nice pass in the third quarter gave them a first down. But in the final analysis, they were not consistent enough on offense and the RHS defense just swarmed around them too much to get anything going.

As any coach will tell you, the best thing about a first game of the season is that you only have to play one of them, so any and all teams that were in action tonight will most likely give more polished efforts next week. The Gladiators will hit the road to Altavista for another non-district game and then district play starts on the 12th with a huge road trip to Stuarts Draft.

 

[Virginia HS Football Fan]

It was a typical first game full of penalties and mental mistakes, but the Gladiators unleashed a potent rushing attack to turn back the visiting Ospreys. The Big Red was in fact so dominating on the ground that they never even came close to needing to attempt a pass.

The running back trio of Jackson Fitzgerald, Skyler Shiflett, and Spencer Simpson each turned on the afterburners in the first half as each had a breakaway run, and Shiflett scored a second time from inside the ten as RHS took a 27-0 halftime lead. Fitzgerald then scored his second TD on the first play from scrimmage in the second half.

Following that score, the Gladiators went for two on a Kendal Edwards QB keeper to make the score 35-0. That might have seemed unnecessary or unsportsmanlike, but if you look at it another way, it benefited SML because it put the running clock in effect, which allowed the game to move faster and started the visitors on their way back home as much as 20-30 minutes faster than a normal clock might have.

Subs took over after the Fitzgerald TD, with Rylan Payne and back-up quarterback Carter Hartsook scoring the final two Gladiator TDs. With veteran place-kicker Zac Brooks now graduated, the Gladiators turned to a pair of juniors to test their abilities. Bryan Lopez-Rojas went 4-5 on his attempts and Jonah Williams added the last one. Hopefully all of that recap adds up to the Big Red's 49 points.

Since they pitched a shutout, the Big Red defense was also fired up tonight. The names that seemed to get the most mentions for defensive plays were Payne, who was all over the place, along with Preston McCauley, and the Dotson twins, Jayden and Chris. I am sure there were others who made great stops, so apologies if anyone feels slighted.

Despite the shutout, the Ospreys did not exactly embarrass themselves. They actually spent at least some time in Riverheads territory in all four quarters. In fact, they drove into the red zone once in the first quarter and again in the second. A quarterback sack by Payne thwarted one drive and they essentially stopped themselves on penalties the other time. They had a fair amount of success through the air, as one particularly nice pass in the third quarter gave them a first down. But in the final analysis, they were not consistent enough on offense and the RHS defense just swarmed around them too much to get anything going.

As any coach will tell you, the best thing about a first game of the season is that you only have to play one of them, so any and all teams that were in action tonight will most likely give more polished efforts next week. The Gladiators will hit the road to Altavista for another non-district game and then district play starts on the 12th with a huge road trip to Stuarts Draft.

I know that getting non-district games for brand named schools can be tough. But, Riverheads has no business playing a team like that. They should have done better in finding a better quality opponent.

And I don't have a dog in the fight by the way. I will say this as it pertains to any of these fringe schools (Virginia Jaguars...whatever they are) which have been scheduled in the past or others. I personally can't stand public versus privates or teams playing out of state schools when there are so many in state schools to play.

If you (any team out there) want to schedule someone tough, then be creative. Go with something wacky. If you're a 1A or 2A, try to find a school that might be 4A who may reside in a district which doesn't use the old power points system. Go out and test yourself. Maybe save the fringe games for scrimmages and benefit games in the preseason.

 

[longtimerhsfan25]

Thanks for your input and I will add the very little bit of insight I have on the subject, because I do not have real inside connections.

One thing I can tell you is that this school (Smith Mountain) is in the process of joining the VHSL as a Class 1 program. In fact, according to the RHS athletic director, they are already considered members of the Dogwood District and Region 1-B. So hypothetically, the game Friday night could have been a preview of a future playoff game. So I wonder if possibly they (The Ospreys) are actually seeking to get more involved with public schools, so they can establish their program as soon as possible and become competitive.

The second thing I can say is that Riverheads has always had trouble finding non-district opponents. Again this is bleacher-gossip, but the theory was that other Class 1 programs did not want to play us because it would not help them one way or another; and higher classification schools did not want to play us because they did not want to risk losing to a lower classification school.

I could name 10 or more schools within an hour of us that would make excellent non-district opponents, but we never play them. The most puzzling one has always been Rockbridge County, which is 20 miles away and for some Riverheads fans it would be a 10 minute drive. We will finally play them this year as a district opponent but we should have been playing them all along.

Instead we have had regular-season games over the years with Skyline, Greenbrier West, Colonial Beach, Christiansburg, and most recently a five-game series with Tazewell, which was roughly four hours away. In short, if there is an easy solution, I don't know what it is.

 

[CountyBoyGeneral]

Thanks for your input and I will add the very little bit of insight I have on the subject, because I do not have real inside connections.

One thing I can tell you is that this school (Smith Mountain) is in the process of joining the VHSL as a Class 1 program. In fact, according to the RHS athletic director, they are already considered members of the Dogwood District and Region 1-B. So hypothetically, the game Friday night could have been a preview of a future playoff game. So I wonder if possibly they (The Ospreys) are actually seeking to get more involved with public schools, so they can establish their program as soon as possible and become competitive.

The second thing I can say is that Riverheads has always had trouble finding non-district opponents. Again this is bleacher-gossip, but the theory was that other Class 1 programs did not want to play us because it would not help them one way or another; and higher classification schools did not want to play us because they did not want to risk losing to a lower classification school.

I could name 10 or more schools within an hour of us that would make excellent non-district opponents, but we never play them. The most puzzling one has always been Rockbridge County, which is 20 miles away and for some Riverheads fans it would be a 10 minute drive. We will finally play them this year as a district opponent but we should have been playing them all along.

Instead we have had regular-season games over the years with Skyline, Greenbrier West, Colonial Beach, Christiansburg, and most recently a five-game series with Tazewell, which was roughly four hours away. In short, if there is an easy solution, I don't know what it is.

Thank you for the read. I didn’t realize they were in the process of joining the VHSL. Even more interesting that they’ll join the Dogwood. The Dogwood already has a non traditional program, Galileo, who only offers 3-4 sports (no football or basketball).