By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

NEW ORLEANS — Newman coach Nelson Stewart admitted his Greenies were outflanked Friday night in its District 8-2A showdown with Riverside, saying his team simply didn’t have the defensive personnel to slow down all of the Rebels’ weaponry.

Heck, even Riverside’s kicker can run.

Placekicker/wide receiver Tyler Gauthier’s first quarter 52-yard touchdown reception was just one explosive, tone-setting play in a night full of them, as the Rebels dismantled host Newman 55-14, leaving Riverside in sole possession of first place in 8-2A.

“It shows we have a good football team,” Riverside coach Bill Stubbs said. “Tonight, for three-and-a-half quarters, we played extremely, extremely well. The way these kids have played through mistakes, learned from them and gotten better along the way … watching them through it all, makes a night like this really enjoyable for me.”

Jordan Loving passed for four touchdowns, and Von Julien scored four of his own to lead Riverside (7-0, 4-0), which has defeated Newman (6-1, 3-1) the past three seasons. 

The Rebels entered the game ranked third in Class 2A in the LSWA poll, behind Many and Catholic-New Iberia. Newman was sixth.

“Everyone doubted us when Deuce (Wallace) left,” Julien said, referring to Riverside’s former quarterback who moved with his family to Tennessee prior to the season. “They didn’t think we had someone who could step into that position. We knew Jordan could do it and we knew we could do it.

“We knew Newman was going to come at us hard. This is their last year with Kendall (Bussey) and Jay (Tyler), and we beat them the last two years.”

Loving, meanwhile, put forth perhaps his most impressive performance in a sterling freshman campaign.

“Newman’s a perennial 2A powerhouse,” Loving said. “This is really a signature win for us. Our defense and special teams really gave our offense a huge boost tonight.”

It indeed was a defensive play that ignited the Rebels when Blake Doming intercepted Miles Lapeyre on Newman’s third play of the night, deep in Greenie territory. A play later, Brandon Sanders scored on an 8-yard run to give RA a 7-0 lead.

Newman answered via Lapeyre’s 65-yard connection with Bussey on a screen pass, tying things up.

That tied knot was a loose one. Just 22 seconds later, Loving hit Gauthier for a 52-yard score, and Riverside never looked back.

RA reached into its bag of tricks for its third touchdown, when Herb McGee took the ball on an end-around and uncorked a long touchdown pass to Julien to make it 21-7 early in the second quarter.

Lapeyre was intercepted again, this time by Jacob Venus. Sanders again made Newman pay, this time on a 7-yard scoring run.

Gauthier put more points — of his own and for his team — on the scoreboard on a 40-yard field goal that pushed the lead to 31-7.

But perhaps the most telling score came at the end of the first half. A Newman drive was stopped in the redzone on Kendall Martin’s interception, but it backed up Riverside on its own 1-yard line with just over two minutes left.

Stubbs elected to allow his young quarterback and offense to push for one more score, rather than playing conservatively. The result was a 10-play, 99-yard drive capped by a 6-yard Loving to Julien touchdown pass.

“It’s what we have to do,” Stubbs said. “That kind of thing establishes so much confidence within your team and your players throughout.”

Said Loving, “When your coach believes in you like that, it just makes you believe in yourself and your teammates that much more. It’s a great feeling.”

Loving (17 for 25, 272 yards, no interceptions) and Julien (eight catches for 192 yards) connected for two more touchdowns and Gauthier a field goal in the second half.