Riverside’s football team found its groove in the second half against visiting Upper Scioto Valley Friday and pulled away for a 20-6 Northwest Central Conference victory.
The Pirates even their record to 4-4 overall and 3-2 in the NWCC, while the Rams fall to 3-5, 1-4.
“That was the first time we’ve won two in a row this season, so that was a good confidence booster,” said RHS head coach Bryce Hodge. “We have a big game at home next week with Perry and this is what we needed.”
Upper Scioto Valley opened the scoring in the first quarter when Kadyn Hurley threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Devan Sousley with 6:59 left to go in the period. The two-point conversion failed for a 6-0 lead.
The Pirates were able to pull away in the second half with two scores.
Long added a 1-yard TD run in the third quarter at the 8:35 mark to give his team a 13-6 advantage.
In the fourth quarter, Long threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Jackson with 9:33 left to play in the game. That put the Pirates up 20-6.
“We had to make some adjustments at halftime,” said Hodge. “Once we did that, the guys did a nice job of coming out and finishing the game strong.”
Long finished with 79 rushing yards on 25 carries and completed 7-of-13 passes for 98 yards. Jackson tallied 74 rushing yards on two carries, Landon Stewart had 41 receiving yards on two catches and Levi Godwin had 33 receiving yards on one catch.
Defensively for the Pirates, Ethan Burrows led the team with 13 tackles and two tackles for loss, Max Stephens had seven tackles with two sacks, Walker Whitaker had seven tackles with two for loss, Long had seven tackle with one for loss, Jackson had seven tackles, Deven Frilling had two interceptions and Stewart had one interception.
Riverside hosts Lima Perry on Friday for a key NWCC matchup.
PHOTO IN SATURDAY’S EXAMINER: Riverside’s Levi Godwin makes a catch in front of Upper Scioto Valley’s Jason Helton during the third quarter of their game Friday in DeGraff.