RESERVE – The Riverside Academy Rebels won the battle of field position, and as a result took their opening round playoff game 30-14 against the Oakdale Warriors last night at Rebel Stadium. “We had good field position in the first half. We get an interception, and block a punt and we had very short drives,” said Riverside coach Mickey Roussel.

On Oakdale’s second possession of the game, Rebel defensive back Jordan Poirrier intercepted Taimiak Griffin’s pass at the Riverside 47 yard line, and retuned the ball 29 yards down to the Warrior 24. Three plays later, quarterback A. J. Delaneuville scored the Rebel’s first touchdown on a three yard keeper. The point after made the score 10-0 three seconds into the second quarter.

The Warriors went three and out on their next possession and were forced to punt from their 27 yard line. Tad Brack broke through to block the punt, and Timmy Stein recovered the ball at the Oakdale 20, and took it down to the eight. Jared Caesar was stopped just short of the goal line on first down, and on the next play, Andrew Herring did the rest taking it in for the touchdown, giving the Rebels a 17-0 lead at the 9:30 mark of the second quarter.

In the second half, Riverside picked up where they left off, with Caesar taking the kickoff at his 20 and returning it to the Riverside 49. On first down, Delaneuville carried on a quarterback keeper to the Warrior 43 yard line, and a flagrant facemask penalty against Oakdale added 15 yards, down to the 28. Delaneuville scored from a yard out six plays later giving the Rebels a 23-0 lead.

Oakdale finally made shook off the rust and went on an 11 play, 66 yard drive, culminated by a 15 yard touchdown run by Derrian Webb, who although listed in the game program as a cornerback/split end, played several downs at quarterback. Griffin ran in the two-point conversion, and the lead was cut to 23-8.

The Warriors began a long, time-consuming drive on their next possession, starting at their 25 yard line. They methodically moved the ball downfield with some skillful running by Webb and David Aclis. On second and goal from the Rebel nine, Griffin scrambled out of trouble and into the end zone for an apparent touchdown, but the play was nulified by an illegal shift penalty. The Rebel defense stiffened, and they took over on downs, ending the threat. The drive went 65 yards in 18 plays with Oakdale coming up empty.

Riverside then began their own time consuming march, starting at their eight yard line, and moving 92 yards in 10 plays, aided by a 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Warrior bench. The drive was capped off with Herring scoring his second touchdown of the evening on a 20 yard run around the right side. The extra point was good, and the Rebels led 30-8 with 4:01 left in the game.

There was no quit in the Warriors, however, and Griffin scored on a nine yard run as the game clock ran out.

Lance Simon opened the scoring for Riverside kicking a 25 yard field goal on the Rebel’s first possession.

Delaneuville rushed for 69 yards on 18 carries and two touchdowns, Caesar carried 13 times for 57 yards, and Herring had three carries for 38 yards and two touchdowns.

Coach Roussel said, “You don’t script it any better than that,” referring to the two short drives in the first half. “All I know is we have to go on the road next week,” said Roussel.