By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — The first teams of Riverside and St. Thomas Aquinas played to a draw in Wednesday’s scrimmage at STA’s Strawberry Stadium, each squad scoring a pair of touchdowns.
The Rebels second team scored two times to none for STA.
Riverside’s defense made its share of big plays throughout the evening, forcing six Falcon turnovers on the night.
Both first-team offenses scored their touchdowns in the controlled scrimmage and were held scoreless in the timed session.
Riverside coach Bill Stubbs said he came away from the session with “mixed feelings,” noting he saw some positive things but didn’t see enough evidence of something that has become his mantra this offseason: consistency.
“We need to compete at our highest level on each and every play,” said Stubbs.
“I felt it was really evident at times, especially defensively, that there was some confusion in spots. It’s fixable things.’
“But at a certain point, you could see guys start to let their foot off the gas, and it had nothing to do with conditioning. It’s a personality quirk that needs to change. Right now, we’re not Evangel-ready, and that really tells the tale.”
Stubbs said he was pleased with a handful of nice individual efforts.
Defensively, linebacker Brandon Hymel was a difference-maker, he said, calling him the most solid and consistent performer on that side of the ball.
Offensively, running back Brandon Sanders and wide receiver Darrion Cook each caught his eye in a positive light.
“I thought (Sanders) did a real, real nice job running it in spots,” said Stubbs. “(Cook) caught it really well and then he did a few things after catching it.”
On the other side of the coin, he said he felt the secondary struggled in run support, and that the Rebels’ primary offensive playmakers didn’t make their usual impact.
“It wasn’t that they didn’t play hard or take it seriously. The effort was there,” said Stubbs. “But if you’re not consistently doing the things you need to do out there, you aren’t going to make a difference.”
The biggest bright spot, he felt, was the team’s offensive line play.
“St. Thomas has a pretty good defensive front. Our guys played with theirs,” said Stubbs. “I feel like they’ve adapted to the environment we’ve been cultivating. It’s a nice group.”
Individual stats from the scrimmage were not available at presstime.