Caesar, Delaneuville are offensive stars

RESERVE— SHOWDOWN!!

That’s the situation for Riverside and West St. John next Friday night when the district 10-2A championship will be on the line.

Riverside upheld their end of that bargain at Fisher on Friday night as they blasted the home team in a 30-0 win.

That boosts Riverside to 4-0 in district, tied with West St. John for first place as the two teams will clash next Friday night for the league championship.

While that is certainly a goal Riverside is shooting for, head coach Mickey Roussel said on Friday night that his team is currently going to enjoy the fact that last night’s win gave them a home playoff site, regardless of what happens next week.

“We entered this game like it was already a playoff game, since a win tonight meant we are assured of a home field playoff opener,” he said. “Of course we still want to beat West St. John, but the win tonight was real important also.”

Riverside had a big rushing night for talented running back Jarid Caesar, who rushed for 171 yards n 20 carries. He electrified the crowd and pretty much broke the game open with a sparkling 91-yard TD scamper in the third period.

That helped Riverside break away from a 10-0 halftime lead and they weren’t slowed down after that.

“We struggled a little in the first half, and I don’t think it was because we were looking ahead to next week. We harped on that all week with our kids. But when Caesar broke that big run, it seemed to really spark us,” Roussel noted. “And we still had great defense all night.”

A.J. Delaneuville added 32 yards rushing, and hit four of five passes for 141 yards in a big night throwing the ball. He ran a yard for the first TD of the night for Riverside in the first quarter, with Lance Simon kicking the extra point for a 7-0 lead.

In the second period, Simon booted a 21-yard field goal, then Caesar’s long run in the third period made it a 17-0 lead.

In the fourth period, Chase Emerson caught a 39 yard TD strike from Delaneuville on a beautiful pass play, then Andrew Herring capped the scoring with a nine yard run in the fourth quarter.

Defensively the Rebels were outstanding, led by Nick Falgout with two interceptions and Jordan Poirrier with one interception from their defensive back positions.

Also leading the defense were nose guard Matt Pursell, and tackle Anthony Trosclair.