It wasn’t a certainty that the high school football season would make the finish line in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, but only one local game remains for the 2020 campaign.
Some teams were not able to get in a full 10 games, with Bellefontaine being limited to eight and West Liberty-Salem nine.
Benjamin Logan and Riverside, though, are set to reach their full allotment when they battle tonight at Ben Logan.
The Pirates, who went three weeks deep into the postseason to reach the regional semifinals for only the second time in school history, hope to finish off their memorable season with an eighth victory.
“(Athletic director Rod Yoder) and I talked at the beginning of the season and we wanted to do everything we could to get our seniors 10 football games this fall,” said Riverside head coach Bryce Hodge. “It’s been a crazy year obviously, I’m happy we’ve been able to play, but I want these seniors to get the 10 games that all other senior classes typically play. “
“Our motivation has been pretty simple. We are the smallest school in the county, playing a bigger school in the county. We’ve only beat Ben Logan a few times in our history, so our guys are excited about the challenge of playing another county school. That has taken care of the motivation and intensity, our guys are excited about the opportunity and challenge in playing Ben Logan.”
For the Raiders (3-6), they will try to finish the campaign with two straight wins after knocking off county rival Bellefontaine last week.
“We are beaten up, tired and sore from 3 1/2 solid months of football,” said Ben Logan head coach Jeff Fay. “We worked hard to maintain 10 games for the program in light of what is going on in the world. Many schools stopped at eight. Kids get to play together one more time this week and that should be all the confidence they need. However, for our kids, there is nothing better than getting that win.”
Headlining Friday’s game is the clash of the two top running backs in the area in Riverside senior Kale Long and Ben Logan senior Kainan Stoner.
Long has been phenomenal this fall, piling up 2,013 yards and 22 touchdowns on 204 carries. He has established school records for most rushing yards in a game and in a season.
Fay believes his defense will be up to the challenge of slowing down Long.
“They have multiple tendencies in their offense, so really this week we are just teaching those to the kids so they can just have fun,” said Fay. “We think the ability of our offensive and defensive lines will be a huge benefit this Friday in regards to their ground game.”
Stoner has been stellar in his own right. He has rushed for 1,247 yards and 14 touchdowns on 222 carries. He is coming off a 246-yard, three-touchdown game against Bellefontaine.
“We need to do our best to stop the run,” said Hodge. “Much like us, everything seems to hinge on their running game. We need to make sure we do a better job tackling this week, we need to wrap Stoner up or he’s going to run us over. We have to stop the run, and we need to be able to run the ball and be more efficient offensively this week.”